AxessPointe Community Health Centers, Inc. Receives Grant to Purchase Medication Delivery Vehicle
March 12, 2019 – AxessPointe Community Health Centers, Inc. has added a new element to the list of services they provide to their patients, mobile medication delivery.
AxessPointe received a grant from Northern Ohio Golf Charities, Inc. and Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS to help make this new initiative possible. A mobile medication delivery service will serve patients, especially those who are underinsured or uninsured, who have chronic conditions and cannot physically retrieve their prescriptions from AxessPointe locations.
“The mobile delivery service will allow patients who may have faced barriers before, to regularly take their medications,” states Dr. Magdi Awad, Director of Pharmacy at AxessPointe. “By remaining consistent, patients will maintain or improve their health conditions and better their quality of life.”
Medication adherence, or taking medications correctly, is a significant problem among underserved and underinsured patients. Often, these patients face barriers such as cost and transportation to a local pharmacy. This keeps many patients from taking prescriptions that are critical to their health, which leads to decreased overall health outcomes.
AxessPointe’s mobile medication delivery service, which began on March 4, provides patients with easy and better access to medications as well as improve healthcare outcomes. The delivery service will bring medications to homes of patients who are unable to get them from one of AxessPointe’s pharmacies. Deliveries are made twice a week, at no extra cost to the patient, by an AxessPointe driver to the communities of Akron, Barberton, Kent and Ravenna. AxessPointe has been using mail delivery since 2015, which is another great feature for patients, but there are certain prescriptions that are restricted by law from being mailed, which makes a delivery service even more important.
“Our goal is to make sure that we provide solutions to many of the determinants our patients face,” expresses Christopher Richardson, AxessPointe’s CEO. “We are the first health center in Northeast Ohio to provide this service. By implementing this program, we hope to be an example to other healthcare centers that face a similar problem with their populations.”
The pharmacy at AxessPointe utilizes the 340B program, which is a federal program that allows discounted medications to be offered to eligible patients. Those who have prescription insurance coverage pay the same price as usual, but their purchase will contribute to the 340B program to help patients without health insurance.
AxessPointe Community Health Centers, Inc. is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) serving more than 18,500 patients in 2017 throughout Summit and Portage counties. AxessPointe has five current sites in Northeast Ohio, including three in Akron, one in Kent and one in Barberton. An FQHC is a non-profit corporation that delivers primary medical, dental and preventive health services in medically underserved areas. AxessPointe also provides pharmacy, women’s health and behavioral health services. For more information visit axesspointe.org.
