Asembia AXS26: Rethinking Specialty Pharmacy as a Care Management Platform

Live from Asembia AXS26 in Las Vegas, Bill McElnea, vice president of Population Health, and Hinal Sharma, diabetes care coach at Shields Health Solutions explore how health system specialty pharmacy is shifting from a traditional dispensing model to a broader care management platform. As specialty drug costs and clinical complexity continue to rise, health systems are working to close the gap between prescription fill and real-world patient use.

McElnea describes this evolution as a shift in the care model built around the dispense itself. He explains that this involves close collaboration with health system partners, including deploying pharmacy liaisons in clinic settings to help address administrative and pharmacy-related burdens tied to specialty prescriptions. He also notes the addition of care team members like Hinal Sharma, who support patients with adherence, side effects, and medication education to help maintain continuity of care.

Sharma highlights how this approach affects patients directly. By combining medication counseling with ongoing support for adherence, lifestyle changes, and social determinants of health, the model helps address barriers that can prevent patients from staying on therapy.

Together, the interview underscores how specialty pharmacy is expanding beyond dispensing to become a more continuous, patient-centered care model that supports outcomes and value-based care goals.