Innovative Rx Fills Unique Needs for Doctors, Patients

Kearney, Nebraska – The ability to refine, combine, and personally tailor medications to fit a doctor’s orders as well as the needs of individual patients sets Innovative Rx, a compounding pharmacy in Kearney, apart from the services available at a traditional pharmacy.

Owner Rachel Daly, Pharm.D, R.P., became familiar with compounding pharmacies while working at one in Lincoln as an undergraduate. After receiving her doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Pharmacy in 2012, she moved to Kearney with her husband, Tyler, when he transferred for his work as a financial advisor.

A compounding pharmacy and its pharmacists are licensed and regulated by the same State Boards of Pharmacy as a traditional pharmacy. The difference is that most traditional pharmacies are not able to prepare custom medications in accordance with pharmaceutical best practices. Compounding pharmacies must meet exacting standards to provide this service.

Compounding pharmacists work closely with prescribing physicians and patients to develop medication solutions for a variety of needs, such as formulating a prescription medication without a specific allergen, creating a dosage that is commercially unavailable, combining multiple medications into one for the patient’s convenience, creating a medication with a customized flavor, and producing necessary medications during disruptions in the commercial supply chain.

Daly says she enjoyed working at the compounding pharmacy in Lincoln, but when she moved to Kearney, a similar opportunity did not exist. “Being fresh out of school, I wasn’t ready yet to open my own business,” she recalls.

After eight years working as a pharmacist at CHI Health Good Samaritan hospital in Kearney, Daly felt she was ready to take the next step and open her own compounding pharmacy. “I had the perfect mix of experience and ignorance,” she says. “I was confident in my ability, but not about knowing everything about business, or even how to find everything I needed.”

To get those answers, Daly turned to the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) and Odee Ingersoll, consultant and NBDC Center Director in Kearney. NBDC offers no-cost consulting services for Nebraska business owners, and Ingersoll assisted with the development of a business plan, financials, and a loan package request for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan.

Daly received the SBA loan and opened the doors to Innovative Rx in September 2019. For the initial year and a half, she did everything. Her business has since grown to include two part-time pharmacists, four part-time pharmacy technicians, a combined marketing director/office manager, and an office assistant. Her family has grown, too, as she and Tyler now have three children, ages 9, 7, and nine months.

One of very few compounding pharmacies in the state, Daly says Innovative Rx provides medications to patients across Nebraska, as well as clients from out of state who come to Nebraska for medical care.

Because the prescriptions are unique and not mass produced by large pharmaceutical companies, Innovative Rx does not contract directly with insurance companies. Patients can use their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for prescriptions, Daly says, or can pay cash and submit a form to their insurance companies for reimbursement.

“Because we aren’t told by an insurance company what to charge, we can set our own prices,” she says. “We offer options and pricing that reflects the time and work that goes into preparing a prescription. We can also work directly with doctors to modify medications to be cost effective.”

Daly says the federal government is modifying its pharmacy regulations to separate labs that work with hazardous materials from those working with non-hazardous materials, for the safety of the workers and to eliminate the risk of cross-contamination. Innovate Rx already has separate labs that conform to those pending regulations. “We’re aligning with the industry’s best practices, even the ones that are not yet required,” she says.

In the next year or two, Daly says, Innovative Rx is planning an addition to its current facility that will expand its lab spaces and compounding services. When that happens, Daly says she knows the NBDC will be ready to answer any questions.

“The NBDC is both accessible and prompt,” she says. “I was on pins and needles not knowing where to start, and they were very step-by-step in shepherding me through the process.”

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