Pharmacist in Charge (PIC)

Pharmacist In Charge (PIC)

CorsoCare Pharmacy, Eastpointe, MI

Full time, on site, with on-call responsibility

Leads: Staff pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy support and delivery staff

Position Summary:

The Pharmacist In Charge (PIC) is the licensed pharmacist of record for CorsoCare Pharmacy and is accountable to the Board of Pharmacy for how pharmacy is practiced here. CorsoCare is a closed-door long-term care pharmacy serving assisted living, memory care, and hospice. The measure of this role is simple: every resident gets the right medication, at the right time, every day, without the community having to chase us for it.

The PIC owns dispensing accuracy and clinical review, regulatory and controlled substance compliance, the daily and monthly cycle workflow, the pharmacy team, and the partners the pharmacy depends on, including our cycle fill and data entry partner, Thrifty White. This is a working leadership role. The PIC verifies orders and product alongside the team and runs the operation.

Required:

• Bachelor of Science (BS) in Pharmacy and/or PharmD from an accredited college or university.
• Current, active, unrestricted pharmacist license in the state of practice, in good standing with the Board of Pharmacy, with no disciplinary action that would prevent designation as Pharmacist In Charge, and eligible to serve as PIC under applicable state statute and board rules.
• Clears OIG/LEIE, SAM, and state exclusion screening at hire and on an ongoing basis, plus background check and drug screen.
• Working knowledge of federal and state pharmacy law, DEA regulations, HIPAA, and long-term care practice standards, including what it means to be the responsible individual for the pharmacy's-controlled substance program.
• Detailed understanding and knowledge of dosage requirements and administration, chemical compounds, and pharmaceutical brand and generic products.

Preferred:

• Five (5) or more years of related pharmacy experience, with time spent in long-term care, closed-door, institutional, or high-volume retail pharmacy.
• Prior experience as a Pharmacist In Charge, pharmacy manager, or pharmacy supervisor, including direct responsibility for staff and for board inspections.
• Experience working with outsourced or centralized fill, data entry, or central services partners.
• Experience with automated packaging and dispensing technology, including pouch and blister/punch card packaging.
• Working knowledge of Medicare Part D, long-term care network requirements, Medicaid, and third-party claim adjudication.

Accountabilities for Pharmacist In Charge:

Licensure, Regulatory, and Controlled Substances

• Serves as the Pharmacist In Charge of record, manages day-to-day operations according to state board requirements, and keeps the pharmacy license, DEA registration, state-controlled substance license, and all other permits and registrations current.
• Owns the policy and procedure manual and keeps it current with board rules, DEA regulations, USP standards as applicable, HIPAA, and OSHA requirements.
• Leads board inspections, accreditation surveys, and payer or PBM audits; owns responses, corrective action plans, and follow-through to closure.
• Responsible for the controlled substance program end to end: ordering and CSOS/DEA 222 handling, perpetual and biennial inventory, secure storage, destruction and reverse distribution, state prescription monitoring program reporting, diversion monitoring, and DEA loss reporting.
• Owns recall handling, returns and credits, and the pharmacy record retention program.

Dispensing and Clinical Quality

• Reviews initial medication orders as they are entered into the system and performs and oversees both order entry verification (PV1) and final product verification (PV2).
• Reviews orders for therapeutic appropriateness and detects incompatibilities, including interactions, duplications, dose and renal appropriateness, allergies, and geriatric- and hospice-specific risk.
• Provides final review of all medications dispensed and holds the pharmacy accountable for accuracy regardless of which partner or system performed the initial entry or fill.
• Owns the quality assurance program, including medication error and near-miss reporting, root cause investigation, trend analysis, and written follow-up to the affected community.
• Serves as the clinical resource for community nursing staff, prescribers, families, hospice teams, and consultant pharmacists.

Operations and Service Delivery

• Runs the daily and monthly workflow so that everything that needs to leave the pharmacy leaves on time: order intake, data entry, fill, verification, packaging, manifesting, and delivery.
• Owns the monthly cycle calendar, including community cut-off dates, cycle audits, and first-dose and change-order handling between cycles.
• Owns delivery and courier performance, including STAT turnaround expectations, after-hours and weekend coverage, and the on-call rotation.
• Maintains backup pharmacy arrangements and pharmacy downtime and disaster procedures.
• Oversees implementation of new homes, including pre-admission data collection, chart and order audits, first cycle planning, on-site go-live support, and structured 30-day follow-up.
• Manages inventory: purchasing, generic and formulary compliance, turns, cycle counts, and short-dated and expired product.

Vendor and Partner Management

• Owns the day to day working relationship with Thrifty White as the pharmacy's cycle fill and data entry partner: queue handoffs and cut-offs, turnaround expectations, error identification and feedback, escalation path, and scheduled performance reviews.
• Ensures the pharmacy's professional and legal responsibility for accuracy is preserved in the partner model; verification and final sign-off remain with CorsoCare pharmacists.
• Manages wholesaler, secondary supplier, packaging, automation, and technology vendor relationships, including service issues, upgrades, and interface integrity.

People and Leadership

• Manages pharmacy technicians and pharmacy staff, including hiring, onboarding, scheduling, development, performance management, and corrective action in partnership with Human Resources.
• Maintains technician licensure and registration records, competency assessments, and required annual training, including HIPAA, controlled substances, and fraud, waste, and abuse.
• Builds coverage across cycle, daily, and on-call demand while managing labor cost and overtime and develops the bench so the pharmacy is not dependent on any one person.

Community Relationships

• Manages customer service issues and serves as the pharmacy's primary point of contact for community executive directors, wellness directors, nursing leadership, and hospice partners.
• Resolves service issues quickly, closes the loop in writing, and tracks recurring issues to root cause.
• Participate in community quality meetings, in-services, and new nurse training on pharmacy processes and ordering, and supports onboarding of prospective communities.

Business Accountability

• Learning the pharmacy's business model and how daily operating decisions show up in the P&L: labor and overtime, purchasing and generic compliance, inventory, returns and credits, delivery, and rework.
• Is accountable for the decisions made at the pharmacy and able to explain the operational reasoning behind them in business reviews.
• Partners with billing on claim accuracy, third party rejections, and prior authorizations, and raises issues that affect service, revenue, or cost early.

How Success Is Measured:

• The communities love working with us and with this pharmacist. They call because they want to, not because they have to.
• We do what we say we are going to do. When we commit to a time, a fix, or a follow-up, it happens.
• We are not always perfect, and we do not pretend to be. When we miss, we own it quickly, fix it, tell the community what changed, and keep it from happening again.
• We act like good partners in every interaction, including the hard ones.
• Residents get their medications on time: cycle is complete and accurate, STATs land within agreed timeframes and missed dose events trend to zero.
• Board inspections and audits are completed with no repeat deficiencies.
• The team is stable, trained, and covered.

Skills for Success:

• Build strong relationships through trust
• Deliver