Humana Pharmacy announced June 17 its move to more sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging of member prescriptions. Michael Taday, PharmD, Humana Pharmacy's president of prescription home delivery, retail pharmacy and OTC, spoke to Becker's about the initiative, as well as developing the company into a digital-first pharmacy.
Editor's note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Question: What was the inspiration behind the move to sustainable packaging?
Dr. Michael Taday: At Humana, we have a strong commitment to environmental sustainability, and we really started investing our time and resources to help make a difference for the planet. And ultimately, the better we do in protecting the health of our environments, including our operations, supply chain and communities around us, we're going to have the ability to more positively support the people that we serve on their health journeys. Lastly, I'd say that we believe that our demonstrated commitment to environmental sustainability not only positioned us to offer reliable and cost-effective services to our customers, but ultimately embodies the principles of an intrinsic link between the health of our planet, our business, and the services we provide our customers.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you're currently tackling at Humana Pharmacy in the wake of the pandemic and everything that's happened in the last year?
MT: Really good question. What we're focusing on at Humana Pharmacy is continuing to be the consumer experience and responding to their needs, as well as creating a digital-first pharmacy experience. Ultimately, we ship patients every order that they receive right to their doorstep. We try to make it easy, safe, secure and convenient. And we also employ over 800 expert pharmacists and a team of support staff to ensure that we're available for our customers whenever they need us.
Q: What are some of your biggest goals and priorities for this year and going into next year?
MT: We think that we have opportunities to continue to rethink routine in our approach. The example here with our packaging has really allowed us to find new ways to serve our customers in a different and better way. And that's what a lot of our focus is going to continue to be on.