Encore! EP56: How Convenience Becomes Adherence, With TJ Parker From PillPack

TJ is a designer at heart and a pharmacist by training. He started his career at his family’s long-term care pharmacy in 2004 and has worked at Target pharmacy, a local community pharmacy, and Massive Health (acquired by Jawbone). He holds a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. In 2015, Forbes named TJ to its 30 under 30 List in Healthcare. In 2018, PillPack was acquired by Amazon.

02:20 TJ talks about his origin story with PillPack. 04:16 TJ explains what PillPack is and how it works as a full-service pharmacy. 06:57 One of the biggest challenges is getting across to patients that there is a better option to approaching their health. 10:06 How the customer experience is different between PillPack and a retail pharmacy, and how PillPack is working toward eliminating the frustration that comes with a normal retail pharmacy. 11:13 PillPack’s average customer age is 49. 12:42 How PillPack addresses the issue of customer loyalty and the personalized experience that might be offered by retail pharmacies. 15:01 Providers and prescribers often spend somewhere around 30% of their time prescribing medication, when a more efficient solution can be to implement a start and end order. 20:16 The illogic behind using expirations on prescriptions to entice patients to remain accountable at doctor visits. 22:47 How PillPack steps in to be the medication coordinator for individuals. 26:32 The complicated issue of nonadherence and what this means. 27:57 How PillPack reminds the patient about being proactive about refilling prescriptions. 33:29 How patients pay to use PillPack. (Hint: It’s the same cost as going to a traditional pharmacy.)