Q: Where did you grow up?
Born and raised in West Texas. I have lived all over West Texas but have been in Lubbock, TX for the last 20+ years.
Q: Where did you go to college?
West Texas A&M University for undergrad (Biology); Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy
Q: What are your favorites?
Food: Can never go wrong with a good grilled steak, but my favorite is Joe’s Pizza in NYC.
Movie: Saving Private Ryan, but I am a huge sport fan, and the original Major League and Tin Cup are great too.
Musicians: You can probably guess my age range by this answer, but 80’s music in general is the best. However, I am from Texas, so I do mix in some country music as well.
Destination: I don’t have a specific destination, but love to travel and experience different areas of the country and their culture.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
The majority of my time outside of work revolves around my two kids. Whether that is a youth sporting event or musical theater production depends on the day of the week. We also enjoy following the Texas Tech Red Raiders in all sports, especially baseball, basketball, and football.
Q: What kind of work does your company do in 340B and what makes it stand out?
The CPS 340B Solutions team provides consulting and services related to 340B program oversight and savings optimization. Our services include 340B program audits, our Continuous Readiness Program (CRP), which is a true partnership to assist in the oversight and management of our client’s programs, specialized services including assistance with opportunity assessment, implementation, internal oversight, and staff training. We also offer program optimization services which include a fully managed referral capture program to compliantly capture the savings resulting from prescriptions of patients referred to outside specialists.
What makes CPS stand out? The extensive and varied backgrounds of our team members is what makes CPS 340B Solutions stand out. All our consultants are A.C.E. pharmacists with considerable tenures as Directors of Pharmacy at covered entities with 340B program oversight responsibility. Our analysts are all A.C.E., certified pharmacy technicians with backgrounds as 340B coordinators and managers, as well as 340B buyers and purchasing analysts. CPS has worked with our partners in the 340B space since the program’s inception in 1992 and have supported over 500 340B covered entities across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. CPS is the nation’s leading provider of pharmacy solutions. Our 340B Solutions team is able to draw on the vast experience of the CPS team of industry experts, with an extensive background in all aspects of pharmacy operations, including pharmacy management, specialty pharmacy, and telepharmacy. We are able to not only identify compliance issues and optimization opportunities within our partner’s programs, but we can also assist in operationalizing solutions to make your covered entity HRSA audit-ready and compliantly maximize your program savings.
Q: Why did you choose to work in the 340B space?
The majority of my pharmacy background was at a DSH hospital. As I moved into management, I had the opportunity to learn and grow the hospital’s 340B program. The resulting benefits of a robust 340B program to the hospital was rewarding and led me to branch out and work with smaller rural hospitals in the area. Eventually this led me to CPS which allows me to continue to help 340B covered entities of all types.
Q: What do you feel is your most significant contribution to the 340B world or to a 340B customer?
In today’s environment of healthcare, everyone is struggling with razor thin margins, staffing, workload etc. I feel like I’m a small piece in the big picture but if I can help an entity develop or optimize their 340B program, which in turn expands clinical services or provides additional resources, I feel like that’s a win for the entity and their communities.
Q: What advice do you have for a young professional who has recently launched a career in the 340B space?
Be a sponge. Never assume you know everything about 340B and continue to learn. While the basics of 340B may not change much, the nuances of 340B continually change and evolve. Embrace being a leader and subject matter expert for your organization as 340B is a foreign program to many other leaders in your organization.
For questions, Jason Mills can be reached at Jason.Mills@CPS.com.
