Today in Henrico – Amy Yarcich, Rx Partnership

Amy Yarcich, executive director of the nonprofit RX Partnership, chats with Tara Gray about the organization and its mission.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); (The transcription below is provided through an automated service and may contain some errors or omissions.)

Tara Gray – I’m Tara Gray. Today in Henrico, my guest is Amy Yarcich. She is the executive director of the non-profit Rx Drug Access Partnership. Amy has been with the nonprofit for 13 years. Welcome, Amy.

Amy Yarcich – Thanks so much for having me today. And we definitely go by Rx Partnership. We kind of shortened it up a little bit, but we've got our official name and then what you'll find us at when you go and look on the website.

Tara Gray – Okay, good. So that's a good place to start. Let's start with the website and contact information.

Amy Yarcich – Great. So it's very simple. RxPartnership.org. It's much more engaging. We've got some short videos, great pictures as an organization that's dedicated to getting medication for folks who are uninsured, who need access to medication.

It's great to hear directly from them about what the access has meant. And for a lot of free clinics, especially who are serving people who need that access to medication to have them tell their story. So we think it's really about the the storytelling. And so our our website does a lot more of information sharing and getting the word out about what it means to people, real people, to be able to have that access.

Tara Gray – Right. OK. You guys are active on social media, right?

Amy Yarcich – We are very active. And I think it's been so much more important. And that's when I think back to my 13 years with the organization where, you know, social media was not something we were active in.

But now using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, we have a lot of different mechanisms to let people know what we're doing and share some of those stories, those things that are important in terms of where people can get medication they need, how important it is for people's health. And just the environment that we're in now, certainly with COVID.

Tara Gray – Yes, OK. Straight into it here. What is Rx Drug Access Partnership.

Amy Yarcich – So Rx Partnership was formed back in 2003 and it was really one purpose alone and that was increasing access to medication.

So I think what I love about the organization is certainly the fact that it has that very laser focus. It's not trying to be everything to everyone. But by doing this one thing exceptionally well, we've been able to help over 75,000 Virginians from all over the Commonwealth receive more than 800,000 prescriptions since we since we launched.

And I think that's where it's really key that we are based here in Richmond. We work closely with Crossover Ministry and other clinics in the Greater Richmond area, but we actually are statewide. So we are well known to the folks that we work closely with, which is typically free clinics, and they see how we help them and help them to make sure their resources go further and they can help their patients get the meds to treat their chronic conditions.

Tara Gray – Ok. How and why did the nonprofit begin? I'm always interested in hearing about the history. There is always a why and there's always a story. So how did this nonprofit start?

Amy Yarcich – You are exactly right. For us, it was really about being able to look at the problem and kind of deal with it and think about innovation as far as how can we go about looking at what it is that people need and getting it to them quicker, easier with less paperwork. And so it was a group of folks who were very much interested in the free clinic population, folks who worked with foundations, who got their heads together and thought there just had to be a better way. And so they were able to at that time, back in 2003, form this nonprofit that had this very tight mission, had the focus on innovation. And we were actually the first in the nation to have this kind of approach to helping patients get access to medication.

So it's done nowhere else in the country. And really, it was our partnership. And here in Virginia that we pioneered it.

Tara Gray – Ok, this is a good time, then, for you to go over the services. What type of services do you provide?

Amy Yarcich – So our partnership is kind of unique and reason a lot of people haven't necessarily heard our name. And it's not kind of commonplace is that we're considered a supporting organization. So we are there to help clinics, especially access the medications that they need for their patients. So when we started out, we only worked with clinics that had licensed pharmacies back in 2017. We actually expanded that. And so now we're also working with clinics that don't have a licensed pharmacy but are seeing patients and getting them their medications.

So our office here in Richmond, in Henrico actually does not have a pharmacy. There's no medication closet or anything like that. We are a coordinating organization. But what we do is we make sure that as patients are needing access to medication, they're signing up and being eligible through a clinic like Crossover here in Richmond. And then we're stocking the shelves and making sure that the medications are there and ready to go. And I think oftentimes people don't realize, you know, you may have a friend, a neighbor, especially these days, someone who's recently unemployed and doesn't have health insurance. And they may be wondering, well, how do I get the help that I need?

There's lots of great resources out there. Certainly clinics like Crossover, Rx Partnership can help people navigate. There's even something called Needymeds.org, which is another website to just point out, if someone is on a particular medication for a chronic condition, they may be able to go there and say, well, who makes that medication? Is that Pfizer? Is that GSK? Which company? And do they have a patient assistance program? Is there a way I can even go direct to them to get what I need?

Tara Gray – Wow. That's wonderful. That's. I did not know that. That's really good information. So that leads me to my next question. How would a listener that needs assistance with prescriptions get help? Is there an income guideline? What type of form do they have to fill out?

Amy Yarcich – Sure. And I think sometimes people are intimidated thinking, well, that's going to be such a huge process or I'm not going to qualify.

I think what's been amazing to me, and it's been a learning experience as well since I started with our partnership in that it's simplified as much as possible. Yes, there is some paperwork. Typically, it's going to be an eligibility screening that's done at the clinic level. So we encourage people to reach out to get some health care, to be able to be a part of clinic services and be seen by a provider who writes a prescription.

From there, once they complete eligibility and and are providing some documentation, typically the income threshold have raised a lot. So somebody might be 300 percent of federal poverty level, maybe even up to 400 percent, and qualify for many of these different pharmaceutical company programs. So, you know, a family of of two or a family of four shouldn't feel that, you know, they make too much to be able to qualify for assistance. There's a lot more flexibility and especially even these days. I think everyone's looking to be able to help patients as much as possible during these difficult times.

Tara Gray – Yes, agreed. On your website. Under our impact, there are stories from a few of the patients. There are some photos. It makes the nonprofit a bit more real. And as a parent of a young child needing prescriptions to live, I understand the impact that a nonprofit such as this could have on the community. And I just think it's really great that you guys exist and are able to reach the community in the way that you are.

Amy Yarcich – Well, I was just gonna say it's really amazing to because what actually brought me to Rx Partnership in the first place was the fact that I have a son who was born in 2003 with some special needs and he needed a particular medication, which, even though I was insured, was not going to be covered for him.

And so I had to follow that that detective trail to figure out how to get him the medication. He needed it. As a parent, you would think, well, I'll sell whatever I need to or I'll pay whatever I have to in order to to get this for my child. And then when I found out about patient assistance programs and later on found out about Rx Partnership, it felt very personal to me as far as something that was that was needed in the community. It was a huge benefit to patients. And especially we focus on a lot of chronic conditions hypertension, diabetes, COPD, asthma, and especially with COGAT right now, these are all things that are making people at greater risk and they're vulnerable and they need that access to medication.

Tara Gray – Yes, that's true. Well, thanks for sharing that. I appreciate you sharing that story with us. It's obvious you guys have been affected by COVID. I was just going to say I don't need to ask if the nonprofit has been affected, but how so? I know that there is an entire section on your page, COVID-19 response. You did want to mention the mail delivery service program and the impact from covered on that.

Amy Yarcich – Yes, I'm really proud of the ARC's partnership staff and board. We move really quickly and I think that's where COBRA has been such a a challenging time.

But fast response is key. And so we designed and launched a new program within 30 days to be able to provide mail delivery for medications to patients homes. So we're reducing the exposure risk. They don't have to necessarily come to the clinic physically for those folks who are staff or volunteers at a clinic. They're reducing their risk as well. And if they're staying healthy, then they're in a position to help more patients doing telehealth and and other important things now. So we feel like we're we're playing our part in making sure that people get their medication, stay on their medications, stay safe. And we're really thrilled with all the wonderful donations that have been provided to us in order to launch that program. And we're really hoping to just continue it far into the future. People have transportation issues. There's lots of reasons why it's hard sometimes to go pick up your meds or you're working full time and the clinic closes that, you know, five. Here's a way for you to still be able to get what they need.

Tara Gray – Great. That's great. How can listeners get involved or donate?

Amy Yarcich – We would love to have more people join us, learn about Rx Partnership.

I think you can spread the word to friends and neighbors who you think might be in need. Through our website, there is a very easy way to give to us. And we have various ways that people can make donations. And I think the main thing I want to say, too, is that a donation of any amount really makes a huge difference. Rx Partnership is amazing in that for every dollar donated to us, we're able to get $30 in medication value out to patients. So that's a huge return on investment. I think people can feel good about them, really. Even with a small donation being able to have a big impact.

Tara Gray – Right. Amy, thank you so much for joining me today. This is a great nonprofit and I'm really happy to be able to share everything that you guys are doing to help the community. Thank you so much.

Amy Yarcich – Thanks so much. I really appreciated the chance to talk to you and everyone else.