Rema Thyagarajan

Biographical Information:

Rema Thyagarajan is a System Director of Pharmacy at Baylor Scott and White Health (BSWH). She has served in many roles in her tenure at BSWH. Rema graduated from UT Austin College of Pharmacy in 2006 and completed her PGY1 residency at Baylor University Medical Center in 2007. Immediately after her residency, she was employed by Baylor University Medical Center as a staff pharmacist. Since 2007, Rema has progressed into management/leadership roles serving as a Clinical Coordinator/Manager, Director of Pharmacy, and then finally System Director of Pharmacy. Recently, Rema decided to move into the ambulatory space since it provided a growth opportunity and a new learning experience for her.

Current employment, practice, and academic responsibilities:

Baylor Scott & White Health is the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas. It includes 52 hospitals, more than 800 patient care sites, more than 7,300 active physicians, over 49,000 employees and the Scott & White Health Plan. In her current role, Rema is responsible for implementing pharmacist embedded clinics to improve patient care and realize potential revenue from capturing specialty scripts for Baylor owned retail pharmacies. Rema also oversees BSWH’s Accountable Care Organization for transition of care, medication adherence/compliance, and shared savings measures.

Significant projects and accomplishments:

We started pharmacist embedded clinics in January 2020 to improve specialty script capture and realize savings for BSWH retail pharmacies. In a year, we have increased our specialty script capture growth to our retail pharmacies by 20% (41 to 63%).

Please describe your professional involvement with ASHP:

I was an executive committee member of the ASHP Pharmacy Student Forum in 2005 and served as the Chair in 2006. I have been a member of ASHP since then and have attended Midyear Meetings for networking and learning. I recently moved into Ambulatory Care and was offered an opportunity to serve on the newly formed ASHP's Community Pharmacy Practitioners Section.

What value do you think ASHP provides to community-based pharmacy practitioners?

I believe ASHP can make a huge difference in our Community Practice Session. It can help us focus on transitions of care and medication adherence/compliance and help prevent unnecessary re-admissions by collaborating and integrating our community pharmacists.

What advice would you provide for individuals new to your area of expertise?

It's important to be involved in various organizations to build relationships and networking so we can learn from each other.