Mercy Health – Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality, compassionate care in your neighborhood through its care network, announces that the Mercy Health outpatient pharmacy at Clermont Hospital has partnered with Dispensary of Hope to provide medications free of charge to patients in need.

Dispensary of Hope is a non-profit drug distributor with a mission to transform lives by creating pathways for donated medicine to reach individuals in need and without access.

Dispensary of Hope offers a wide array of medications donated by pharmaceutical manufacturers and provides them to its pharmacy partners.

To qualify for the free medications, patients must not have prescription insurance and be at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, currently $24,120 for an individual.

“For many patients, access to vital medications is sadly out of reach, placing their health and their quality of life in jeopardy,” said Michele Wells-Walker, PharmD, Lead Pharmacist, Mercy Health – Clermont Outpatient Pharmacy. “Patients who can’t access necessary medicines are at risk for increased hospital stays and visits to the emergency room. The cost of their care is also higher.”

“Since launching initially in one site in Tennessee in 2003, Dispensary of Hope has expanded to 150 clinics and pharmacies around the United States, providing them with almost one million prescriptions for low income and uninsured patients. Through the generosity of many drug manufacturers, the Dispensary of Hope is providing an average of $2.4M in medication monthly to its network of safety net providers.” said Dispensary of Hope Chief Development Officer, Anita Stanford, RN, MSN.

Since partnering with Dispensary of Hope in June 2017 through March 2018, the Clermont Hospital Outpatient Pharmacy has provided 824 prescriptions to 213 unique patients, saving them a total of $24,475.

An independent study conducted with a health system in the Dispensary of Hope national network demonstrated that connecting patients in need with medications that they could not otherwise access resulted in improved health outcomes.

Using multiple patient cohorts in the study across multiple years, inpatient utilization decreased by more than 50 percent and Emergency Department (ED) utilization decreased by more than 35 percent. Cost per case also decreased for inpatient encounters by more than 15 percent and ED average costs decreased by 40 percent.

Patients complete a form at the pharmacy to determine if they qualify. Patients will need to be able to list their estimated annual income from wages and any additional income sources such as social security disability income, worker’s compensation benefits, dividends, interest, assistance from family, friends or charity, public assistance and/or food stamps or other sources for themselves and all members of their household.

Mercy Health intends to expand its partnership to other Mercy Health pharmacies.

Mercy Health – Clermont Outpatient Pharmacy is located on the Clermont Hospital campus at 3020 Hospital Drive, Suite 100, Batavia, Ohio 45103. It’s open from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

For more information on the dispensary, please call 513-732-8517.