Sep 11, 2020
Today’s episode is an interview with Dr. Kimber Boothe. She’s a pharmacist, healthcare leader, and entrepreneur. I invited her to be a guest on the podcast because she uses her voice to advance pharmacy practice and educate pharmacists and other leaders through consulting, one-on-one coaching, online courses, and more.
Kimber earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy and her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the Medical University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy. Then, she completed her residency training at the Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical College of Virginia Hospitals. And finally, Kimber earned her Masters in Health Administration (MHA) through the University of Phoenix.
Kimber has more than 15 years’ experience in Health Systems and 10 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Kimber is the founder and CEO of the Kimber Boothe Group where she provides coaching, consulting, courses, and speaking on strategic pharmacy leadership. She calls herself a connector and a pharmovator. Kimber is the creator of the program Pharmovation®. It’s a course and system designed to accelerate your pharmacy career, advocate for resources, and advance pharmacy practice.
She is passionate about spending time on the right things to develop others and deliver strategic, focused results. Her motto is Pharmacy Can Do More with More and her goal is to help create 50 new pharmacy positions this year.
Previously, Kimber led the pharmacy services for a 4-hospital community health system where she drove innovative strategy for the pharmacy enterprise as System Director of Pharmacy. She was also the Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at Yale New Haven Health.
Kimber and I met at the 2018 and 2019 Medipreneurs Conference in Asheville, NC. It has been a pleasure watching her journey. 🌟
Social media links and websites mentioned in this episode
Website www.kimberboothe.com
• Email kimber@kimberboothe.com
• LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/kimberboothe
• Twitter www.twitter.com/kimberboothe
• Facebook www.facebook.com/kimberboothe
• Instagram www.instagram.com/kimberboothe
Medipreneurs https://www.medipreneurs.com
Highlights from the interview
Kimber’s voice has a BIG impact because she reaches people in so many different ways.
Visit her contact page at kimberboothe.com, where you can sign up for regular e-mails and get a free tool (personal development plan template). You can also reach her by email and phone or book a call.
Kimber worked in health systems and the pharmaceutical industry. Her skills include strategic planning, project planning, and strategic execution of initiatives.
She launched programs as an entrepreneur and teaches leaders how to include more pharmacists in health systems.
- Coaching 1-on-1
- Consulting with health systems: educate and train
- Online courses and membership
6 years ago, she created “Connector Academy” and “Connector 101.” They addressed general leadership, career development, work-life development, and more.
3 years ago, she focused more on pharmacy. She created Pharmovation® and designed it like online programs she has personally enjoyed. Pharmovation® is an online, 8-module facilitated program. There are worksheets, a weekly curriculum, weekly calls with peer-coaching opportunities, and a Facebook Community. One-on-one coaching is available to supplement the course or support other career-development needs. The program lasts 10 weeks.
She tries to get the word out in a variety of ways; social media, her podcast, her public speaking appearances etc. She can reach more people because she has an online course because she only has so many hours in the day she can meet with people.
Kimber’s website has FREE resources for COVID strategic planning. She is very strategic and organized. She created some strategic planning assessment tools, like a readiness checklist. She advocates for health systems creating their own pharmacy incident command structure: being prepared for vaccines, treatments, workforce, etc.
Her main target audience is current and aspiring leaders in healthcare systems. Healthcare systems are growing now and adding Ambulatory Care Services, Acute Care Services, home infusion, and specialty pharmacy. When she first got feedback from students, she made sure she was creating something the students wanted. What tends to happen is that her students find themselves in leadership roles and need training. She serves a niche. She calls her students Pharmovators. She wants education to be fun and entertaining. One day, she’d like to have a live event with her Pharmovators.
Kimber does not work in a traditional pharmacist role. She is a full-time entrepreneur. Interacting with other entrepreneurs motivated and encouraged her to become a full-time entrepreneur. Kimber found her passion and her purpose as an entrepreneur. Things aligned. People wanted to hire her as a consultant, a 1:1 coach, and saw a demand for her course. All those things created the perfect time for her to switch from health system pharmacy to entrepreneurship. She made the leap without a guaranteed paycheck. It’s worked out amazing. It’s been a great year. Working from home but yet supporting others who are responding to the COVID crisis has been rewarding.
Pharmacy is usually asked to do more with less. Efficiency is different from advancing practice. We need to staff our pharmacies and clinics appropriately. Looking at how many pharmacists per primary care provider is something that needs attention. Budgets should include more pharmacists. We need to advocate for our profession to the decision-makers.
Kimber talks about numbers because she teaches about business planning and how can you show a ROI while adding pharmacy resources. How do we staff pharmacies with pharmacists? Nurses have clear ratios. They have staffing guidelines. Staffing for prevention might be different than managing patients with chronic illnesses. Budgets and benchmarks are important. What is the right number? How many prescriptions, immunizations, time counseling, and enhanced services can a pharmacist handle? What are the right numbers? Leaders have been asked. They haven’t given answers. There needs to be research to help staff pharmacies. There’s got to be a way to get an answer.
Scenario planning is important. For example, COVID prompted hospitals to plan for census increases of up to 50-150%. Staffing for an ICU patients is different from floor patients. Staffing needs are different for critically ill patients. Understanding your data is important! Cost management is important. Adding people and delivering value is important.
Kimber’s biggest challenge as an entrepreneur was different when she was a part-time vs now that she is full-time. As a part-timer, time management between her business and her FT job was a challenge. She likes to balance her “4 quadrants:” self, career, family, and community. Sometimes the career quadrant can take up too much time. Finding a balance is a challenge.
As a full-time entrepreneur starting in Dec 2019, challenges are different. Challenges are up to her. Rabbit holes can happen. She needs to stay focused on her ultimate goals. Being part of other groups and programs, and talking to other entrepreneurs can be helpful. She is part of a group of pharmacist influencers who have pharmacists as clients. It fits with her mission. She’s had people want to hire her to do something outside her focus, and she declined those opportunities.
Her goal in 2020 was to create 25 new positions. She did it in the first quarter. Her new goal is 50, and she is on-track to meet it!
Over the next 5 years, her goal is to add 1,000 pharmacists and technician positions. This could be front line workers, a medication safety officer, etc.
Her Favorite thing about being an educator and having online courses is connecting with people and having a broader audience though the courses. She enjoys seeing students find success and add positions. It adds a greater impact to her voice.
What might someone not realize about leaving a traditional role to pursue a job of your own choosing? It’s a lot of work. You don’t just get to work on things you want to work on. You can choose which clients you want to work on. You can choose which courses you create. It’s rewarding. Hiring virtual assistants helps. She wants to practice at the top of her ability and focus on what she is uniquely qualified to do, so she has some support. She is learning on her journey all the time.
Kimber helps pharmacists in health systems be intrapreneurs. She’s teaching and supporting people who are trying to be innovative and have an entrepreneurial spirit within their own organization.
Pharmovation starts in January 2021. See www.kimberboothe.com for information!