ATLANTIC GENERAL HOSPITAL PHARMACIST RECEIVES MARYLAND RURAL HEALTH PRACTITIONER AWARD

Berlin, Md. – Karan Bealla, Pharm. D. is the recipient of the Maryland Rural Health Practitioner Award for 2018. The award is bestowed annually by the Maryland Rural Health Association, in conjunction with the Rural Maryland Council and the State Office of Rural Health, in recognition of individuals who make outstanding development and health efforts in rural communities.

Bealla has been a full-time staff pharmacist at Atlantic General Hospital’s AGHRx RediScripts retail pharmacy since 2014 through Amerisource Bergen’s Pharmacy Healthcare Solutions. In August 2016, she initiated the pharmacy’s Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Clinic to provide additional education and medication management assistance to patients with complex medication needs.

Her work with the MTM Clinic earned her the nomination for the MRHA award. The clinic provides patients four visits throughout the year, and they are held where it is most convenient for a patient, including the patient’s home. In addition to providing education and support, Bealla works with the patient and his or her physicians to solve any medication-related problems the patient is experiencing and arranges for bundled packaging of medications, organized by the times they should be taken, to make it easier to remember to take doses at the right time.

In 2017, Bealla began providing MTM services through the hospital’s remote patient monitoring system, which allows her to visit with patient’s via telemedicine technology. Over the last year the program has tripled in size and now serves more than 150 patients at any given time.

“I want to recognize the entire RediScripts Pharmacy team for their help and support during the launch of this program,” Bealla said. “I am extremely proud of how far the MTM Clinic has come, and I’m excited to see where it will go in the future.”

Bealla is a graduate of Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where she received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree. With more than a decade of experience in the retail pharmacy industry, she also provides medication education through the Atlantic General Diabetes Center.

All services are offered free of charge.

Caption: From left: Outstanding Rural Health Program Award recipients Sharon Lipford, Dr. Cydney Teal, and Bari Klein; Karan Bealla, recipient of the Outstanding Rural Health Practitioner Award; Senator Thomas 'Mac' Middleton; and Shelley Argabrite, recipient of the Outstanding Rural Health Achievement Award.

About Atlantic General Hospital

Atlantic General Hospital has been providing quality health care to the residents of Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset (Md.) and Sussex (Del.) counties since May 1993. Built through the commitment and generosity of a dedicated community, Atlantic General’s main facility in Berlin, Md., combines the warmth of personalized attention with the reassurance of medical expertise and advanced technology. The not-for-profit hospital provides quality specialty care in oncology, medical and surgical weight loss, orthopedics, and women’s diagnostics among other services. Atlantic General Health System, its network of more than 40 primary care providers and specialists, cares for residents and visitors throughout the region. For more information about Atlantic General Hospital, visit www.atlanticgeneral.org.

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