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Upstate Medical University opens pharmacy in downtown hospital

Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO Public Media
Upstate Medical University's new pharmacy.

Upstate University Hospital is getting into the pharmacy business. A new pharmacy run by Upstate, has opened near the main entrance of the downtown Syracuse hospital. Pharmacy manager David Geloso said their goal is to fill all patients' prescriptions before they go home.

“Get them from sitting in a bed in the hospital and get them home to recuperate," Geloso said. "Once they are home and they want to stick with their pharmacy, they can have those prescriptions tranferred to their home pharmacy."

Geloso said this can cut down on errors. But more importantly, it attacks a statistic that dogs health facilities nationwide. About 30 percent of patients discharged from the hospital never pick up their prescriptions. Associate Director Eric Balotin said that can lead to a high rate of readmissions.  It’s something he sees often in a community with a high rate of poverty, citing one recent example.

“Mom couldn’t afford an EpiPen and we ended up using a discount program and our Upstate foundation to get Mom the EpiPen, because she said, 'I can’t afford it, but I’ll bring the baby back to the ED if he has another reaction.' So we gave her an EpiPen to make sure she didn’t have to come back,” Balotin said.

The pharmacy will also be stocked with some hard to find medications that may not be available at a local drug store. Geloso expects more pharmacies to open up at other Upstate locations incuding the Community General campus. This is a full service pharmacy, and is open to the public as well as employees of the hospital.

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.