In this Voices interview, our Vice President of Clinical Services Raymond Capella, PharmD, MBA sits down with Hospice News, to discuss the unique role that pharmacists play in hospice, why efficiency matters in hospice care and the three key challenges that the industry faces in efforts to bridge the racial access gap in hospice utilization.
Hospice News: You are vice president of clinical services with Enclara Pharmacia, but you’ve had a long career outside of that. What are your top career experiences that you most draw from in your current role?
Vice President of Clinical Services Raymond Capella, PharmD, MBA
Raymond Capella: I look at hospice as being a gift — an opportunity for patients to have a dignified death surrounded by loved ones. So, in terms of specific experiences that shaped my career, the one that always stays with me is the day I had the opportunity to shadow a hospice nurse as a pharmacy student.
Up until that time, I didn’t have any direct hospice experience, but I had the opportunity to travel with her and see how empathetic, caring and compassionate she was with each of her patients. The way that she consoled the families was a profound experience for me.
Enclara Pharmacia is a full-service pharmacy benefits manager for hospice and palliative care. Tell us about the company. How has it evolved to this point?
Capella: Enclara Pharmacia began in 2014 with the merger of two hospice pharmacy providers: Enclara Health and Hospice Pharmacia. That combination created a company that grew to become the leading hospice PBM. It was a pretty exciting time, working with highly passionate, clinically attuned folks I learned from every day.
We’ve accomplished a lot since then. We created a mobile medication management app and interfaces between the major EMR [Electronic Medical Record] players in the hospice market. These provide efficiencies to nurses who are interfacing with us electronically as opposed to over the phone.
We created a best-in-class analytics suite, which includes our EnclarityTM pharmacy and technology dashboards. We built local pharmacy networks that complement our mail-order service. Finally, we assembled a library of clinical guidance and educational resources to support hospice clinicians.
These successes were possible because of the talented people within the Enclara organization as well as the strong partnerships we have with our hospice providers.
