Rethinking pharmacy in the virtual age

By the time the pandemic pushed a lot of healthcare onto screens, pharmacists Dominic Duszczenko and Anita Shishehchi were already asking a bigger question: What if the entire pharmacy model were redesigned around clinical care instead of dispensing? That idea took shape in April 2024 with the launch of Virtual Wellness Voyage, a fully virtual, pharmacist-led clinic, built to deliver patient consultations—especially for Canadians seeking pre-travel health advice.What began as a response to shifting patient expectations has quickly become a streamlined niche practice, which allows the duo to do the kind of clinical work they felt community pharmacy often squeezes out. “The business model inside community pharmacy is very much built around the dispensing of a product,” says Duszczenko, noting that this makes it difficult to allocate the time to provide in-depth services such as travel consultations.Read: Medication service promotes delivery ease without errorsIn fact, travel medicine has quickly become an anchor in their business, say the founders. Although Virtual Wellness Voyage launched with several services—including minor ailments, pharmacogenetic testing and smoking cessation—the pharmacists learned early that patients were most willing to pay out of pocket for pre-travel consultations. (Travel consults are billed at $90, which includes the consultation, prescriptions (as needed) and connecting with the patient’s preferred pharmacy.) This virtual model has also allowed the duo to reach patients across the country. Today, 60% to 70% of patients come from out of province, supported by partnerships with nurse practitioners licensed to prescribe across multiple jurisdictions. Referrals are also the crux of backbone of the clinic’s growth. The co-founders have built a network of about 15 to 20 pharmacies that refer patients for pre-travel consultations. Unlike brick-and-mortar travel clinics, Virtual Wellness Voyage sends all prescriptions back to the originating pharmacy, allowing those pharmacies to retain the dispensing, billing and injection fees. “It’s win-win for everybody,” Duszczenko says. “The patients know where to go, we’re able to help them, and the pharmacy gets the prescription back.”Read: Pharmacist’s darkest moment inspires new business initiativeWhile the travel service is flourishing, some offerings have been deliberately de-emphasized. Smoking cessation, for example, remains available but has limited demand. “Only 8% of Canadians are active smokers,” Shishehchi says, noting an even smaller portion actually want to quit. Pharmacogenetic testing, with test kits previously available on the company’s website, has also been scaled back with the clinic now handling PGx inquiries directly rather than maintaining a costly e-commerce platform. Pharmacogenetic testing services (which vary from $350 to $500 depending on tests) include a consultation and interpretation of test results, along with an optimization of medications for the patient. Looking ahead, both Duszczenko and Shishehchi—who are partners in life as well as business—envision expanding their team and ultimately integrating their virtual model with a future brick-and-mortar pharmacy. For now, Virtual Wellness Voyage is carving out its space one consult at a time—meeting patients quite literally where they are, while building a new kind of pharmacy practice along the way.

Rethinking pharmacy in the virtual age

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