Illuminate
Powerful Partnerships: Muriel Sumowalt
May 21, 2025Pharmacy Is a Key Element in the Pursuit of Excellence
Always busy, Muriel C. Sumowalt, DHA, MEd, BSc, AA, LPN, director of health services at Heritage Village Assisted Living and Memory Care, and her team have many reasons to celebrate. In four months, they’ve gone from a 70% to a 91% occupancy rate. This doesn’t happen without reliable and skilled teams and a commitment to quality care that includes effective medication management and administration. But don’t expect them to rest on their laurels. Excellence is an ongoing 24/7 effort.
Moving Pieces and a Well-Oiled Machine
There are lots of moving parts involved in her work supervising her team and managing nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, and other clinicians who come into her building. Sumowalt has to worry about many things but not on-time medications. “We couldn’t increase our occupancy and care efficiently and appropriately for 151 residents if we didn’t get medications when we need them,” she said, adding, “The nurses have a good relationship with the people who deliver the medicine. They know each other, and the nurses know they can count on their deliveries coming in a timely manner.”
She also stressed the importance of medication management and administration, which isn’t possible without a reliable and knowledgeable pharmacy partner. Express Care Pharmacy, A PharMerica Senior Living Company, is such a partner. The team at Express Care, said Sumowalt, “helped us reach the goal of increasing our occupancy,” because getting medications on time and having support to maximize compliance and minimize adverse events and side effects contribute significantly to resident wellbeing, safety and satisfaction.
Express Care: Enhancing Resident Care and Safety
“Express Care is a vital part of our local Medication Management Team, offering a dedicated team of account managers, billing specialists, nurses, and pharmacists who provide a wide range of valuable services to our community. They live and work here, making them an integral part of the fabric of our community,” said Sumowalt. While residents have the freedom to choose their own pharmacy, Express Care is Heritage Village’s preferred long-term care (LTC) pharmacy provider. Partnering with Express Care enhances safety, medication accuracy, and efficiency in prescription drug plans and billing, she noted, adding, “The benefits for residents who select Express Care include increased operational efficiency and staff satisfaction.”
Ensuring residents embrace Express Care is crucial for improving staff retention, safety, efficiency, and coordination of care. Safety is a top priority, and pharmacy adoption supports this goal through:
- Increased medication management efficiency: Express Care provides comprehensive prescription oversight and efficiency. Unlike retail or mail-order pharmacies, an LTC pharmacy offers consistent, intuitive packaging, reducing the potential for medication errors and easing the strain on staff.
- Reduced risk of harmful interactions: When residents use multiple doctors and pharmacies, the risk of harmful interactions increases. Pharmacy adoption creates a singular process for medication management, reducing errors and helping to ensure resident well-being.
- Reliable on-time delivery: Express Care consistently delivers medications on time, ensuring residents receive their medications when they need them every time. This reliability eases the workload on staff and ensures residents’ health and safety.
By partnering with Express Care, said Sumowalt, “We improve medication management efficiency, support coordination of care and mitigate potential medication errors. Adopting Express Care as our preferred LTC pharmacy helps us achieve our primary goal: keeping residents safe. The additional oversight and streamlined processes ensure positive outcomes for residents.”
Staffing Successes
“When I started here eight months ago, we were at 70% agency staff,” she recalled. However, she added, “We made it a priority to reach out and encourage and motivate people to apply for jobs. Now we’re down to just 5% agency staff.” This is an important accomplishment as having consistent staffing helps Heritage Village manage the challenge of ensuring that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities and has the training and resources they need. This requires communication and coordination. Sumowalt emphasized that it’s not enough to have one or two departments that function efficiently. She said, “If all the departments are not aligned with what we’re doing, there are opportunities for things to get lost in the shuffle.”
When there is alignment, Sumowalt said, she and her team are able to “make sure we are providing the services our residents need and that they enjoy living here.” Express Care helps with this by viewing residents holistically and understanding the importance of collaborating and communicating with various clinicians and other team members at the community. This makes it easier for Sumowalt since she knows she has a pharmacy that understands their needs and works with them to ensure everyone meets their goals and can fulfill their roles.
Engaging Residents and Families
Staff aren’t the only ones who care about pharmacy services. Residents and families are concerned about the cost and quality of their medications; and they appreciate easy access to their neighborhood pharmacists and team, resident and family portal, local billing specialists, and overall support and education that maximize their medication regimens and minimize adverse events and unnecessary costs. The local Express Care team have become trusted resources for resident information on polypharmacy, fall prevention, and overall health and wellness. Sumowalt said, “Our residents can choose what pharmacy they want to work with, but the vast majority of them choose Express Care, our preferred pharmacy provider.” They appreciate the level of customer service they get, she noted, and knowing that the pharmacist is an integral player at Heritage Village. Looking ahead, Sumowalt knows that she will face challenges; but she is confident that her team, including Express Care, share her commitment to excellence and will work with her to overcome barriers and make the most of opportunities.