Podcasts Business Pharmacist's Voice Interview with Sue Paul and Michelle Fritsch, Medipreneurs Co-Founders

Interview with Sue Paul and Michelle Fritsch, Medipreneurs Co-Founders

Published: March 27, 2020, 4:30 a.m.

Mentioned in this episode:

Medipreneurs is a conference for pharmacists and healthcare entrepreneurs. https://www.medipreneurs.com, info@medipreneurs.com

Sue Paul is a pharmacist and co-founder of Medipreneurs.

Michelle Fritsch is a pharmacist and co-founder of Medipreneurs.\xa0

Anna Garrett is a co-founder of Medipreneurs.\xa0

Dan Krinsky is a Co-Founder of PGX101 linkedin.com/in/dan-krinsky-a8537a\xa0

Lisa Larter is a business coach and the 2018 and 2019 Medipreneurs keynote speaker.\xa0 https://lisalarter.com, linkedin.com/in/lisalarter

Sue and Michelle are role models for pharmacist entrepreneurship.\xa0 The 2020 Medipreneurs Conference in Cincinnati, OH has been postponed due to the corona virus.\xa0 It was scheduled April 17-19, and a new date is yet to be determined. \xa0

Sue Paul, RPh\xa0

Sue Paul is a pharmacist, entrepreneur, and small business owner with over 20 years of experience in the industry.\xa0 After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, she worked in several practice settings, including community practice, nursing home consulting, and hospital.

Sue founded SyneRxgy Consulting LLC, a concierge pharmacy service, and manages chronic disease states.\xa0 Her practice sites include a physician\u2019s office, employer worksites, and in-home patient visits.\xa0 Sue adjusts medications, educates patients, implements and analyzes pharmacogenomic and nutrigenomic patient testing, and reviews and compiles current medication lists for patients.\xa0 She enjoys empowering patients to take control of their health. \xa0

In 2018, Sue co-founded PGx101 with another pharmacist, Dan Krinsky.\xa0 PGx101 offers pharmacists 20 hours of ACPE approved continuing education and a certificate in Pharmacogenomics (PGx). Since 2016, Sue has been using PGx in her clinic and with home patients to implement patient-centered medication modification in conjunction with their providers.\xa0

Sue is one of three Co-Founders of Medipreneurs LLC, along with Michelle Fritsch, PharmD, and Anna Garrett, PharmD.\xa0 Medipreneurs is an international conference and community for pharmacy entrepreneurs. Current planning is underway for their 3rd annual conference.

Sue is active in local, state and national professional organizations. For example she is a Board Member of the Ohio Pharmacists Foundation. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and four adult children, reading, walking with friends, and brainstorming with others about action plans to get from where they are to where they want to be.\xa0

Michelle Fritsch, Pharm.D., BCGP, BCACP

Michelle Fritsch is a Purdue Pharm D. graduate with post-doctoral training in Madison, Wisconsin.\xa0 She is board certified in geriatric pharmacy and ambulatory care pharmacy.\xa0 Starting in 1992, Michelle has been a professor teaching pharmacists, physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and physical therapists.\xa0

She has a passion for healthy aging and education. She is a specialist in medication use in people over 60. She founded two companies:\xa0 Retirement Wellness Strategies and Meds MASH, LLC, and works with a broad definition of health \u2013 physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social.\xa0

Michelle is a frequent speaker, lately on topics of safe medication use, falls prevention, medical cannabis, addiction, opioid use, coordination of healthcare, retirement readiness, and the role of medication in healthy aging.\xa0

As healthcare is changing, she is also supporting entrepreneurial healthcare providers as a co- founder of Medipreneurs.

Medipreneurs started around the time Sue started her business.\xa0 She was in a business mentoring group with Anna Garrett, Pharm D.\xa0 They supported one another and felt the desire to create a community for pharmacists to launch a business.\xa0 When Michelle joined Anna and Sue, the three came up with a conference that could support a community of pharmacists [and eventually healthcare entrepreneurs] on their respective entrepreneurial journeys.\xa0 The name of the conference is Medipreneurs. \xa0

Pivots and detours are not new to the Medipreneurs conference.\xa0 The first ever conference was in 2018.\xa0 It was delayed from Fall 2017 to April 2018.\xa0 \xa0

The \u201cMedipreneurs Detour\u201d is in place over a period of time instead of the Medipreneurs Conference weekend.\xa0 There are \u201cDetour Stops\u201d where people can come to get information about Medipreneurs and where is it headed.\xa0 Examples include:

  1. The Pharmacist\u2019s Voice Podcast Episode 11
  2. Online Masterminds, which are small groups with brainstorming and conversation
  3. Webinars provided by the speakers who were scheduled for the conference.
  4. Previous attendees can share what they learned and what they achieved in other ways too. \xa0

For me, Medipreneurs was like a mastermind every hour of every day.\xa0 Whether we were waiting for a scheduled program to start or chatting at the end of one, having a meal, or just bumping into one another, the Medipreneurs Conference was a place to share ideas, ask for thoughts, and get clarity.

Lisa Larter, a Professional Business Coach, was the keynote speaker at Medipreneurs 2018 and 2019.\xa0 At Medipreneurs 2018, she helped me see value in services I was providing.\xa0 Then, she coached me to ask if there was a budget to pay me and how to negotiate a fair price.\xa0 Mission accomplished!\xa0 I now earn money in place of volunteering.

The Medipreneurs Conference empowers pharmacists and healthcare entrepreneurs to see their value and so they can feel justified billing for services.\xa0 Examples include smoking cessation programs, medication review services, CBD consulting, women\u2019s health and wellness practices, business coaching, and more.

Pharmacists don\u2019t recognize their value.\xa0 We are skilled at paying attention to detail and producing precise results.\xa0 Entrepreneurial life can seem counter intuitive. \xa0

Sue, Anna, and Michelle started Medipreneurs to invite other pharmacists to think outside the box and form the next wave of what pharmacy and healthcare could look like.

Michelle talked about the energy in the first conference in 2018.\xa0 I drew a parallel to the opening ceremony at the Olympics.\xa0 Instead of representing countries, different disciplines of pharmacy practice and business were represented.

Medipreneurs helped me funnel my ideas down to the one thing that I could move forward with.\xa0

Medipreneurs attendees can bring what they know from other industries to the conference and share with others.\xa0 For example, I can share what I know about rate guides from the voiceover industry.\xa0 By bringing helpful information from other industries into pharmacy, pharmacists can model best practices and apply them to their businesses, for example, developing rates for services.\xa0 Pharmacists need to set rates for services and share them with other entrepreneurs so everyone can establish fee-for-service expectations.\xa0 We need to stop giving everything away! \xa0 \xa0

We discussed idea theft.\xa0 I was afraid that if I shared my idea, it would get stolen.\xa0 Michelle mentioned that she heard that concern from others too.\xa0 There is plenty of work to go around.\xa0 We can\u2019t reach everyone.\xa0 It\u2019s ok for someone to take an idea and apply it to a different part of the country. \xa0

I asked, "What\u2019s the best thing that has happened since you started Medipreneurs?\u201d\xa0 Sue said she likes to see someone pick an idea, move forward with it, and become successful.\xa0 Similarly, Michelle says she enjoys meeting all the people who participate in the conference and watching them find the path to what they want to pursue. \xa0

I asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s one of the biggest challenges you\u2019ve had to overcome [with Medipreneurs]?\u201d\xa0 Sue said, \u201cBeing seen.\u201d\xa0 Branding, marketing, advertising, and getting the word out is outside of her comfort zone.\xa0 For Michelle, it has been the \u201cleap of faith\u201d and \u201cthe unknowns.\u201d\xa0 Michelle wonders, \u201cWhere is it going now?\xa0 What direction is it going in now?\xa0 Are we taking it in the right direction?\xa0 Are we reaching the right people?\u201d

I asked Michelle and Sue respectively about their own businesses outside of Medipreneurs.\xa0 Michelle left Academia.\xa0 She has a specialty is geriatrics, meaning people over the age of 60.\xa0 She likes being on the young end of that and focusing on preventative medicine.\xa0 Her first business is Meds MASH:\xa0 Mature Adults Safe at Home.\xa0 Her intention was to focus on 60-80 year-olds and delay the time until they would need assistance.\xa0 In practice, her Meds MASH patients are the parents of those 60-80 year-olds, individuals in their 80\u2019s-100\u2019s!\xa0 Her second business is Retirement Wellness Strategies, which specializes in retirement-aged men who are defined by their jobs.\xa0 They struggle with retirement.\xa0 That\u2019s a very niche practice area!\xa0 \xa0 \xa0

Sue works with a progressive physician\u2019s office and has expanded her services into new areas.\xa0 In April 2019, her practice expanded to treating individuals with substance use disorder with MAT (medication assisted treatment).\xa0 Next, she wants to run a Hepatitis C clinic and introduce PREP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for HIV prevention.\xa0 Sue also created PGX101, a course to educate pharmacists and primary care providers about the benefits of pharmacogenomics. \xa0

Sue has blossomed as an entrepreneur, and she made a great analogy between seeds and business.\xa0 Medipreneurs plants seeds, so entrepreneurs can start, grow, and operate their own businesses.\xa0 The conference helps nourish and water those seeds, giving the right environment for growth.\xa0 It can take a while to germinate a seed and see what kind of plant the seed produces.\xa0 Medipreneurs is the right place for entrepreneurs to get ideas and be among the right people to encourage growth.\xa0 Really a beautiful analogy.\xa0 Sue and Michelle want to see entrepreneurs blossom. \xa0

Medipreneurs advocates and educates.\xa0 They advocate for healthcare entrepreneurs and changes in healthcare.\xa0 They educate by sharing messages that will be important for entrepreneurs in the various stages of their entrepreneurial journeys. \xa0

To learn more about Medipreneurs, visit www.medipreneurs.com.\xa0

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