Thursday, July 19, 2007

New Pharmacy in place in Oskaloosa

by Kenneth Lassiter

After nearly a year of not having a pharmacy in town, a Tonganoxie man has stepped to the plate to open Oskaloosa HealthMart in Parker’s Hallmark Cards and Gifts store on the square.

Eric Finkbiner opened the pharmacy last week and is ready to fill prescriptions after some moderate renovation work was done to the back corner of the store that houses the pharmacy.

The pharmacy had been closed since fall 2006 when former pharmacist Jay Parker was charged with Medicaid fraud by the state. Parker pleaded guilty to that charge in November 2006 and, besides paying $75,000 in restitution, was sentenced to two years of probation in December.

After the Oskaloosa pharmacy was closed, Finkbiner, who owns and operates a pharmacy at the Country Mart grocery store in Tonganoxie, began offering delivery of prescriptions to Oskaloosa. Finkbiner was casually looking for possible retail space in town to open a pharmacy when he was contacted by the owner of the Parker’s building.

“I realized the community was in need and, at one point, I’d talked about being part of a building project, but I didn’t want to have to wait that long to get set up. Then the owner here contacted me to see if I was interested in leasing out the pharmacy space,” Finkbiner said. “That pushed things up in time to now rather than next year.”

Finkbiner began plans to move into Parker’s in early May and did some lighting, countertop and other renovations over the course of a couple weeks to get the pharmacy ready to become Oskaloosa HealthMart. A new computer system and cash register was also installed back in the pharmacy section. Finkbiner said the transition has been smooth and the wrinkles created with insurance companies and coverage by opening a new pharmacy are quickly being ironed out.

“Part of the reason I went with the HealthMart chain of pharmacies is not only their SunMark medication products, which are good, but also the fact they can help take care of all that paperwork with getting set up with insurance,” said Finkbiner, who lives in Tonganoxie with his wife, Karen, who is a pharmacist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. They have two sons – Ian, 11, and Spencer, 9.

Finkbiner was born in Clay Center but completed his schooling in Topeka before studying at the University of Kansas and its pharmacy school. He and Karen bounced around the country a little bit before settling in Wichita before Karen got the job at LMH and moved to Tonganoxie. Finkbiner has operated his Tonganoxie pharmacy for six years.

The Oskaloosa HealthMart is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Finkbiner’s only employee in the pharmacy is technician Michelle Meyer, and Finkbiner is planning on being at the pharmacy full-time, as he said he has employees that can run the Tonganoxie pharmacy in his stead. He does plan to continue the pharmacy’s free delivery service with no set boundaries. He said the focus of that delivery would probably spread north to Winchester, at least. The pharmacy can be reached at 863-2063.

The new pharmacy makes a timely fit in town as the new Cotton-O’Neil Clinic opened in the spring just a block east of the pharmacy. Finkbiner credited local physician’s assistant Darrin Cox for his support in getting the pharmacy up and going.

Weeks before the opening of the pharmacy this month, Finkbiner had posted the sign for the pharmacy on the front of the Parker’s building on the southwest corner of the square. The sign brought some questions for the public and Finkbiner said he’s been pleased with the public response to the reopening of a pharmacy in town.

“We’ve gotten a lot of people with questions,” Finkbiner said. “I think a lot of people are just wanting to see a pharmacy open here in town. This is a pretty large area not to have a pharmacy in.”