Supporting Foster Families with Medication Needs

Matt Darrah (00:01)

Good morning and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community.

We're season one, episode three, and today I'm super excited to have Nicole McGill on with us today, and she is with Infinity Specialty Pharmacy. And so today we're gonna talk about, our title is Supporting Foster Families with Medication Needs. Last week we talked with Amber White and Jazzlyn from...

Nicole (00:09)

.

Matt Darrah (00:35)

fostering Independence, we talked about the struggles that youth face coming out of foster care face, and it was just a great episode, and hopefully kind of eye opening for the struggles that kids face when they've hit that line and they're getting out of foster care, and Jazzlyn's story was just amazing and hopeful because the...

the way her story went ended and it's in a good place now. So anyways, a little bit of background on Nicole. She was a caseworker with CPS and then she transitioned over to Infinity. So, Nicole, I kinda thought we'd start with why Foster? What brought you to work for CPS in the first place?

Nicole (01:04)

.

Yeah, so I knew I wanted to be a social worker because I had a social worker growing up. My mom was a part of a program and my parents got a divorce and it was to help families and single moms get back on track and they helped her with housing. They put her through nursing school.

They helped us get our school supplies, back to school clothes. And so I saw this social worker in a time of need really be there for my family. And I knew that, and it's really cool, as I've been able to tell her now as an adult, like, you're the reason I'm on this career path. And I knew I wanted to get back and help. I've always had a soft spot for kids. And so I did my internship.

with CPS in college and I really liked the case management part and I helped families that maybe needed extra support and so that ended up turning into a career. I worked at for CPS for a while with family services and then I also worked for the state with HHSC.

for a long time as a blind children's So I worked with families that have vision impaired kids as a case manager.

Matt Darrah (02:50)

Wow, I didn't know that part. That's cool. So then what happens with this infinity?

Nicole (02:54)

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so we know the state has its flaws. And as a caseworker, it was really, really hard. I felt so guilty just debating on, do I stay on with the state or do I do what was in the best interest of my mental health? I knew I was no longer the best caseworker I could be for my families because I carried just so much of the caseload.

I was not good at separating my feelings from my cases and my families and going home to my own family. And especially after like removals, I would just cry and cry, even if I knew it was in the best interest of the child. And so I had to come down and realize that these kids deserve better than the case manager that I could be for them. And that it just emotionally, I wasn't.

able to handle what all that job entailed because it's a very heavy job. And I think some people go in with the mindset of, you know, I can do it. And maybe once they're in it, they realize, hey, it takes a really special person to long term care. And these case managers deserve a lot of grace because there's so many moving pieces. And I just decided for my own children,

it was in the best interest that I find something different, but I didn't want to lose working with kids and families and need and the case management. And so that's actually how I kind of started where I am now. So I started when I first left the state working for a pediatric nursing agency. And that kind of introduced me to the world of getting in front of families and marketing and, you know, and that side of it and getting word out.

And that's how I met the rep for Infinity Pharmacy when I worked for the nursing agency. And she was like, you know what? You would be such a perfect fit. I just know this company and you and your background. Like, you would be perfect. And she ended up leaving. She recommended me. I interviewed. And now I've been here for almost six years now. Yeah.

Matt Darrah (05:15)

Awesome, awesome.

So let's talk for a second before we kind of get into the nuts and bolts of how Infinity works. I know personally the struggles with foster families with meds needs. But from your side of the aisle, right, did you see the struggle that...

Nicole (05:25)

Yeah.

Matt Darrah (05:43)

foster families face as a caseworker with keeping up with all the meds and stuff?

Nicole (05:49)

Yeah, so every family

is unique and their needs are unique and it can go from behavioral meds, you know, to a high acuity sick kid. I've seen patients on 15 meds before and so every family is different, especially when we talk about behavioral meds, sometimes that can be genetics, right? And so you could have multi-generations in homes that may be on meds and that could affect the positive outcome of the case for the children.

And we have to make sure even maybe moms on meds and she's getting the mental help she needs so that there's a better outcome and she can be the best parent for that child. And so I saw firsthand the difference that having access to meds can make because you know they're there for a reason to help you. And I also saw mom trying and struggling but maybe she just couldn't get there on time. And so there's this big spectrum of

how we can help them in the need that was really there. Because like I said, every family is gonna be different, but that's the good thing is that there's resources out there. You just have to find them to help meet your specific needs of that family.

Matt Darrah (07:02)

Yeah, sure. So I know personally, and when Nicole reached out to me, I was like, this is something I want to learn about myself. I have a son that takes ADHD meds. And because of the type of medicine that he's on, we can't just go and get six months of refills. doctor has to write the script every single month. And so for us, the medicine that he's on,

Nicole (07:24)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Darrah (07:32)

I don't know what it is about this particular med, but no pharmacy consistently has it. And so we had to, what we were doing is we had to call five, six, seven different pharmacies to find which pharmacy had the right med, the right dosage and everything. And once we found the pharmacy,

Nicole (07:37)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Darrah (07:55)

Then we had to call the doctor's office and say, OK, you need to send it here. Right. And I mean, that's that's just my personal experience with with his with his meds. And so it's just a huge hassle. And we're talking hours each month just to get his medicine refilled. And so when Nicole found us online and reached out, I was like, man, I want to learn about this for for my kids. And so.

Nicole (07:59)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Matt Darrah (08:23)

So yeah, we had, so I met with Nicole and then I was, once I realized the benefit to me, I was like, this could really help some other foster families. I know when you went to work for Infinity, you guys didn't really focus on foster families, right?

Nicole (08:42)

Yes so

i'm very blessed with the owners of infinity so before me there was a true sales rep and she would go to the very complex care clinics and she just work with doctors they brought me in, i'm too kind of get a different perspective i don't come from a sales perspective i come from a social workers background and when i heard about infinity.

I didn't go to this is a business. I was like, this is a resource. People need to know this is out there. This is something that can benefit people and help them. So I came on and I was like, hey, like, I'm not looking at this as I'm going to the doctors. I want to be in front of families. I want to go and work with these nonprofits that are actually on the ground helping families. They know their needs and I want to get in front of those that this can affect the most.

And Infinity was like, go for it. Do what you feel like you need to do. And they gave me the freedom. So I started reaching out to my old contacts. I started working with nonprofits that I worked with when I was with the state. I started doing resource fairs and just trying to get in front of those families because this is who we're truly here for. And I feel like they're the ones, they have the right to choose, know, self-advocacy and a voice.

It just because the doctor sends you to your local neighborhood pharmacy, you have the right to pick where you, you know, what meets your meds. And so I wanted to help empower those families that maybe need that extra support and feel like there's so much around them they can't control. Maybe something they can choose for themselves will help give them that sense of control back and be there to help support them and guide them. Cause it's just meds, but it's just meds. Meds are important that you don't always think about.

Matt Darrah (10:31)

So what services does Infinity provide?

Nicole (10:36)

Yeah,

so we are definitely more hands-on than your neighborhood pharmacy. So we are a full-service pharmacy, so anything you can find at your local pharmacy as far as medications we carry. We also carry specialty medications that are harder to find. So if you have to go to multiple pharmacies, so you go to your local pharmacy, but you also go to a compound pharmacy, and you also may have to go to a specialty pharmacy, we're all that in one.

We also carry Medicaid covered like Tylenol and vitamins and gummies like that. So that actually can help save families money because if their local pharmacy doesn't carry the size and brand that Medicaid covers, you can be paying for Tylenol out of pocket where we could help mail that straight to your house. So on top of being this full service pharmacy,

We mail to the entire state of Texas all your medications and everything you need to take your meds for free. It's no extra charge to families. The way Infinity started is the owner sat down with doctors from Children's Hospital in Dallas and they said, what is the biggest need for this pediatric community? Where do you see families struggling? And that's how they came up with this business model.

We do refill reminders, we work with the doctors, we have a nurse on staff to help with prior authorizations. so we try to make this as easy and seamless for families because they have a lot of other important stuff to focus on. So we try to take the burden of medication off their plate and really become a part of their care team, not just their pharmacy.

Matt Darrah (12:22)

Yeah, yeah, so, so when my son needs a new med, as opposed to me calling around and finding a pharmacy and then sending it to the doctor's office, what happens?

Nicole (12:33)

Yeah.

So we watch times. So we have a program where we'll pay attention to dates because you only can fill your meds within a certain, you know, you can't fill your, say, meds three times in a month, right? Insurance won't let you. So we have a system that will keep track of refill dates when it's time and insurance will allow it. We will reach out to you. We go between seven and three days. So you'll never...

You're never like, my gosh, I have one pill left. I have to rush and need to get this. We make sure that there's always a buffer so you'll never run out of your meds each month. And we will have a tech reach out to you. They'll say, hey, it's time for this refill. Do you need it still? You'll tell us verbally yes or no if you move forward. We'll reach out to the doctor. If there's a PA, we initiate the prior authorization and we work with insurance and the doctor to get that approved. Some other.

Pharmacies may just pick up the phone and call you and say, hey, you need a prior auth, figure it out. And you're stuck calling the doctor, calling the pharmacy again, calling your insurance, because you may not even know what a prior auth is if you've never been on a medication that needs it. And so we're there to kind of guide you. And then we will call you once we get everything approved through insurance. And we say, hey, it's time to schedule your delivery.

You'll get a window timeframe of about four hours. You know when to expect us and we'll show up at your door with your medication. It's that simple. Yeah.

Matt Darrah (14:09)

So

you contact the doctor, so when my son needs his meds, you contact the doctor's office and say, we need a new prescription, right?

Nicole (14:18)

Yeah,

yeah, we handle all that for the families. and also say in your example ADHD, my son's on ADHD meds too. So I know how it can be trying to find, you you're calling three, four pharmacies, then calling your doctor back to say, okay, I found this pharmacy, it's in stock, can you now send the script to this pharmacy? And so

Even if it's something that we can't fill and insurance says it has to go through this pharmacy, we will still help the families and do the legwork and find out for them, maybe locally where they can pick it up if we can't do it and we will help kind of facilitate that. We don't want to ever leave y'all stranded and just say to our families like, hey, we can't help you because we want you to be able to trust us and rely on us. And just because this one med

We couldn't help you with, you know, maybe your next one we can. So we want to continue with that trust and that support that our families have with us.

Matt Darrah (15:19)

So what, so let's say it's an antibiotic and you know, sick, what do y'all do then?

Nicole (15:24)

Yeah.

So

with antibiotics, most likely you're gonna need them. We have within 24 hours, you'll receive your meds from us. But if it's a quick antibiotic, the doctor will most likely if we're your standard pharmacy, send your script to us. It wouldn't make sense to wait for us. So we would reach out to you and say, hey, your local pharmacy on this corner of the center section has it in stock. Do you mind if we go ahead and send it there for a quicker fill for y'all?

and just make sure if they say, we want it through you, we'll just have to wait that time period for delivery. But most of the time, if it's a quick antibiotic, the families are like, thank you for finding it in stock for us. And they'll pick it up. And that one med kind of has a one-off where they won't get it from us. But we help facilitate them still with the pickup.

Matt Darrah (16:17)

So at the doctor's office, they just say, hey, Infiniti's my pharmacy. Send everything there, and then you guys take it from there. Right?

Nicole (16:26)

Yeah, that way you're not having

to decide what meds to get delivered and which ones to pick up. Majority of your meds will come straight from us. We do everything online through the ERX system. So the doctors, they can find us when they're sending their scripts off electronically, just like any other pharmacy. So it truly is a seamless process. We've been in business now for 10 years.

We got it down. Once the doctors start working with us, they really see the benefit in us. And usually it just kind of starts trickling over into other patients as well. But it's a pretty seamless process. We try to make it as easy for the families as possible.

Matt Darrah (17:10)

Right. So just to clarify, you guys don't only fill scripts for kids, right?

Nicole (17:15)

Yeah, so

we actually don't age out. Even though we specialize in pediatrics, we're one of the largest Medicaid pediatric pharmacies in the state of Texas. Even though we say we're large, we're still under 4,000 patients. And so in the pharmacy world, we're still a baby pharmacy, family-owned. But we don't age out. So if you have grandma or grandpa in the...

in the home or even yourself, we're able to service the entire family and send all the meds to you so that you're not just getting delivery for one person but still having to pick up at the pharmacy for another. It's something that I think not everyone maybe realizes since we do specialize in pediatrics, but we're here to help the entire family.

Matt Darrah (17:59)

Cool. So what's the process look like? how do they, does, if somebody wants to get set up with you guys, what does, how does that?

Nicole (18:08)

Yeah, so there's a

couple of different options. Say you're in the actual doctor's office and you're like, okay, I want to try it. You would just give them our name and they would look us up on the ERX system. But say you're already just needing a refill that you have another refill and you just want to transfer. It's super easy. They would just call our phone number or they could even reach out to myself and I can have a tech reach out to them.

It's a five, 10 minute conversation. We gather insurance information where you're currently getting filled, what prescription you have, and then we take over from there. We will reach out to your current pharmacy, get the transfer sent over, start getting everything approved, and then when it gets time for your delivery, it's time to get that scheduled. We reach out to you and we schedule the delivery and we go from there.

Matt Darrah (19:05)

Okay, so is there like a monthly cost or anything to?

Nicole (19:10)

There's no additional

cost. So whatever your copayment is now would be your copayment with us. So there's nothing that costs anything extra. We handle delivery fees. We take care of that. So we just make it as simple for you. When we take the burden of going to the pharmacy and we bring it to your door. To me, when I first found about Infinity, I was like, it's kind of a no-grainer, right? Like it takes a...

a chore off your to-do list and it's a big chore because medicines really matter each month, especially when you're talking about some serious medications. And so that's why I was like, there's no way people know about this. You know, I was like, they have to know because it's such a helpful idea and just concept.

Matt Darrah (19:57)

Absolutely. So where all do you serve?

Nicole (20:01)

So we are based out of Richardson. So with our DFW patients, you can get immediate stats same day easier since we are on the Metroplex, but we cover the entire state of Texas. So I have patients in Laredo and El Paso. We have them in East Texas in the Panhandle. So we utilize carrier services. If it's a med that needs to stay cold, we ship it in a cooler.

Like I said, within 24 hours of receiving your prescription, you'll have it delivered on your door.

Matt Darrah (20:36)

Wow, that's awesome. So the whole state of Texas, but not outside the state, right?

Nicole (20:38)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

we used to be in another state and it just didn't make sense anymore. we just right now we have the entire state, but there's no borders within that. It doesn't matter where you live as long as you live here. We accept all commercial insurances, all Medicaid, Medicare's. It doesn't matter which one you're on in the state.

The only insurance that will kind of give us a hard time is TRICARE, but it's not an immediate no. It's we let's run it see what they say and based off the plan kind of thing. you know, insurance usually isn't a hurdle for us either. We are a network with a lot of the insurance companies. Yeah.

Matt Darrah (21:29)

That's

good. So do you have a success story or testimonial from a foster family that's been using you?

Nicole (21:37)

Yeah, so

it's not even just a foster family. What we've been doing is, lately that I just really have seen the impact it can make is actually in a group home. It's down in South Texas right now. every child that they have, each boy is on medication. And so that group home...

was trying to utilize another pharmacy and it just wasn't working out. They were having to go to multiple pharmacies and sometimes they could fill them and melt them and sometimes they couldn't. And so we had a meeting and I was just like, let me help you so you can focus on the kids because you know, these kids have all these different needs and there's a broad spectrum of their needs and the attention span that they could require.

And so we started working with them. got all the boys on the same kind of schedule so that the delivery came at once. They knew when it was coming, it was organized, we were able to answer their questions for them. We have a pharmacy available, or pharmacists available if you have specific questions or meds are changing or dose are changing. And so it was really cool to see the impact that we made in this one home.

and take some of that chaos out of that house for them.

Matt Darrah (22:59)

I can definitely see that a group home with tons of kids and lots of different meds and stuff would definitely be a challenge. So how do they get connected with infinity?

Nicole (23:08)

Yeah.

Yeah, so our phone number, I'll throw it out there, is 214-765-5470. We're on Facebook. We're also, infinityspecialty.com is our website. It's, like I said, it's one phone call. You can email us at info @ infinitespecialty.com. We can answer questions for you if you,

If you have anything that you're like, let me just send a quick question over. And yeah, we're here to answer your questions and guide you and make it as seamless as we can. I'm available too, as a social worker, to answer any questions that they have, anything maybe they're struggling with, that they want me to help to try to connect them in the community. I do what I can to help the families and answer questions beyond just medication. We really try to be.

support for them. So I'm available anytime they might need, know, just a quick, hey, I have, have you ever heard of this kind of thing? I've helped a family get a ramp put on their door for them or outside their house. And so that had nothing to do with medications, but there was a family in need. And so if I have a way, I'll try. I don't always have the answers, we, social workers, we try to be magic workers when we can.

Matt Darrah (24:35)

or do you want to give them your email?

Nicole (24:38)

Yeah, so mine is N as in Nichole than McGill M.C.G.I.L.L. at infinity specialty dot com. So and McGill at infinity specialty dot com. Like I said, I'm available to guide you and answer any questions you have as well.

Matt Darrah (24:59)

Excellent, excellent. Thank you for what you do, because I really do see the value in it. And hopefully some families will see the benefits of getting set up with you guys and take some of that load off of them. Guys, this is a great resource. We've gotten set up for our family, and it's been super helpful. so thank you again, Nicole, for being on the podcast. Hopefully we'll see it, and it'll be good.

Nicole (25:25)

Yeah.

Yeah, and just so families know, we have full bilingual staff. So there is no barrier when it comes to language. We want to make sure that the caregivers, they know what's going on with the medication. If you have a nurse in the home that maybe speaks a different language than you, we can help at the end of shifts, before shifts, let them know what's going on. We truly are here just to help. so

We'd love to be a part of your care team and we're excited to start working with you and your family directly and hopefully get that rocking and rolling and help you each month. But yeah, I appreciate you having me on.

Matt Darrah (26:09)

Absolutely, thank you guys. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and telling me about this and hopefully some folks will use it. So again, thanks for listening to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection and community. Thank you to our episode sponsor, The Stretching Place. And guys, next week we're gonna have on chiropractor Dr. Robin and her specialty is kind of

Nicole (26:13)

Yeah.

Matt Darrah (26:38)

balancing the nervous system is what she talks about. And so she's gonna come on and talk about the kind of the impact of stress on the nervous system and things like that. And so hopefully tune in next week and we'll see you then. Thanks again. Bye, Nicole.

Nicole (26:54)

Bye, thank you.