Community Involvement
A pharmacist is a member of a helping profession. Accordingly, owners Phil Hagerman, Steve Chaffee and Jeff Rowe have built Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy on the humanitarian principle of helping others. Giving back to the communities where Diplomat employees live and work is a natural extension of Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy’s philosophy.
Diplomat works within every disease state (MS, Oncology,) to assist patients with their co-pays and drug access through its external funding sources and Diplomat’s own 501 (c) (3) organization called Diplomat Helping Hands Foundation. Diplomat obtained $12.1 million in funding in 2009 alone for this purpose. Insurance co-pays are changing rapidly in terms of coverage for the specialty prescriptions we provide. More patients are discovering new caps and limits on drug coverage that prevent them from either obtaining or continuing their medications. In certain cases, this is a life or death issue, in all cases it’s a quality of life issue. Diplomat sees funding assistance as part its mission to serve patients.
Diplomat has joined forces with other organizations to provide support for patients. In 2009, the company partnered with CareSource Michigan and the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) to deliver the first comprehensive Chronic Kidney Disease program that incorporates both disease management and medication therapy management by utilizing Diplomat’s Chronic Kidney Disease Navigator through the eNAV™ system. Diplomat also continues to value and support the NKFM Kids’ Camp and drug bank program. Further, Diplomat employees have also developed their own charitable giving programs through monthly jeans day programs.
In January 2010, Diplomat helped with Haiti’s earthquake relief efforts by making a donation of prescription medications and financial assistance through employee outreach efforts to support Paul Vanek, M.D., a Cleveland area physician who traveled to Haiti to assist the injured population. A pharmacist in Diplomat’s Cleveland office spearheaded this effort and, as a result, Diplomat was able to ship thousands of doses of antibiotics, antihistamines and other needed drugs, along with nutritional supplements, to victims and survivors in Haiti.
