Hope springs eternal in Suite 100 of a nondescript box-like building in MetroCenter.

Hope that the little blood pressure pill will hold off a stroke. Hope that the inhaler will stop an asthma attack. Hope that, despite a lack of health insurance, prescription drugs will be available to those who need them — without driving costs up for everyone else.

Suite 100 is home to the Dispensary of Hope, a rapidly growing nonprofit that connects the dots. Uninsured people need prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies give physicians tons of samples. And, if they go unused, those drugs expire.

"The health-care crisis is not going away," said Scott Cornwell, managing director of the program. "We feel like we have a piece of the solution."

Dispensary of Hope started with a simple epiphany.

Bruce Wolf, a Murfreesboro physician, was cleaning out his drug sample closet one day. He was appalled at how much had expired.

So he started shipping 10 percent of all the samples he was given to a clinic. Over time, he was able to garner enough medication to create a community pharmacy. In 2003, he created the Dispensary of Hope to broaden the reach.

The whole thing is set up just like the online mail-order movie company Netflix.

A network of 781 physicians donates medication samples in secure red bins.

"There's always a continuous supply," Cornwell said.

When it is full, the bin is sealed, and the doctor signs a shipping manifest. The dispensary then sends out a runner to pick up the drugs and leave behind an empty bin.
Sites open in other states

Back at Suite 100, the drugs are sorted into labeled bins in a small warehouse. The inventory of 550 types of medicine is entered into a constantly changing computer program.

There are 14 dispensary site partners, mostly clinics, located all over the state. They place an order online, and the medication is shipped to them.

"It's medications that people are desperately in need of," Cornwell said. "Letting it expire doesn't help anybody."

The whole thing is licensed — only physicians or drug companies can donate medication. They don't handle painkillers.

"We are very buttoned up," Cornwell said. "We do not handle controlled substances."

Dispensary of Hope is so beautifully simple, it is growing like a weed. Another 29 dispensary sites are planned. Sites are now open in Louisiana and Alabama. To date, they've collected and redistributed more than $18 million in pharmaceuticals. The expansion is funded primarily by large corporate and hospital system donations.

The program helps in unexpected ways. It's picking up some of the slack from TennCare cuts. It helps hospitals, because if a person is treated at a clinic, it keeps them out of the emergency room. That helps everyone in the system by keeping costs down.

"We think it is appropriately named," Cornwell said.

I think so, too.
Author:
Gail Kerr
Original Source:
The Tennessean, December 28, 2008
Media Contact:
Gail Kerr
(615) 259-8085
gkerr@tennessean.com