Marcella Kinaya, PharmD, on Flu Season: ‘We’re Here to Protect People and Make Sure They’re Healthy’

In an interview with Pharmacy Times®, Marcella Kinaya, PharmD, pharmacist and licensed district leader at CVS Health in the Detroit Metropolitan area, discusses the various flu testing options available at CVS, including in-pharmacy and at-home tests that also check for COVID-19. She emphasizes the pharmacist's role in educating patients about testing procedures and the importance of immunizations for flu prevention. Additionally, she expresses pharmacists’ passion for operating “at the top of their licenses.”

Pharmacy Times: Can you introduce yourself?

Marcella Kinaya, PharmD: My name is Marcella Kinaya, I am a licensed district leader with CVS Health. I'm a pharmacist by trade, I've been with the company since 2012 and I've been a pharmacist since 2017. Being in this field role, I get to connect with a bunch of pharmacists around the Detroit Metro suburbs, and I get to really see the impact that they have in stores on our communities.

Pharmacy Times: Can you discuss the flu tests that are currently offered by CVS?

Kinaya: So, there's a few different types. There's some flu tests that you can get over the counter in combination with COVID-19 [tests]. The flu test that we offer at the pharmacy through our drive-throughs is a combination of flu and COVID, it covers influenza A and B—the most common strains—and then, of course, as well as COVID-19. We also offer them through our Minute Clinic in certain locations. So, it's very accessible for all of the customers to get, just knock it out with both flu and COVID testing at once.

Pharmacy Times: What at-home tests are available to patients?

Kinaya: Yes, similar to the COVID test when COVID testing came out over the counter, it's a nasal swab. They test both COVID and flu, kind of like we do at the pharmacy level. It's self-done through a swab, and it has like a little reagent for patients to put the drop in, and just like the COVID test, they'll see positive or negative, and from there, we can have them reach out to the pharmacist for further assessment or reach out to their medical provider.

Pharmacy Times: What are the pharmacist’s key responsibilities when testing and treating flu?

Kinaya: So, "flu season" is what we kind of refer to it as. It's definitely our time to shine as pharmacists; we don't like that people get the flu, unfortunately, that's just part of being on this Earth, but we definitely love protecting our patients. The number 1 way is definitely by immunizing—flu shots, COVID vaccines—whatever it may be, immunizations definitely help prevent the illness and lessen the severity if taken.

As far as the testing goes, our pharmacists will help the patient self-administer the test. We don't specifically test them and swab them, but [patients] will make an appointment and come visit us through our drive-through locations—just so we're not exposing any germs to our colleagues—and we will walk them through the testing. The test itself, if you want to know a little bit about pricing, costs $29.99. It does have a pharmacist assessment evaluation fee, which is $45 [but] HSA and FSA cover that, so most people have those that help cover that. After the test, should a patient test positive, there is the opportunity for prescribing in certain states—where available—once the pharmacist evaluates their results, we can prescribe medications that will help lessen the severity of their flu.

Pharmacy Times: What are the biggest challenges when providing flu testing and services for patients?

Kinaya: There [are] not many barriers, to be honest, I think I mentioned that we make [resources] super available. We've increased appointment slots so it's very accessible for patients to make appointments for the vaccines to come by and get a flu shot. Our pharmacists are ready, like I told you, we live for flu season, we're definitely ready to vaccinate. Same thing with the COVID vaccine—I don't want to like discredit COVID since we had a heavy flu season—we're definitely available for the COVID vaccine. You can sign up for [both the flu and COVID shots] in one go and administer those.

Pharmacy Times: How does CVS plan to further enhance current testing and treatment initiatives?

Kinaya: As a pharmacist, we love to operate at the top of our license, so, the testing stuff really is one of those ways where we can step out of just verifying prescriptions and making sure people are adherent to their medications—which we love doing—but this is a different side of pharmacy where we can really practice a little bit more clinical and offer our services that way. Of course, I don't want to take apart the patient interactions that we always have when it comes to recommendations, especially with flu over the counters. The cough has been lingering, so, you know, really recommending the most appropriate cough medication or whatever it may be. [There's] more to come, [I] definitely want to step outside the shell into the clinical side of being a pharmacist, and when it comes to the testing, flu is one of the newest ways for us [to do this], so I'm really excited for the future.

Pharmacy Times: Any final or closing thoughts?

Kinaya: I just wanted to just remind everyone—because this flu season...we think we're getting over it—just for [the] future, and if anyone is feeling sick at all, [and] COVID is always around, don't take the risk, let's not spread it. Any sign of any symptoms, feel free to give the pharmacist a call, get on our app and schedule something—a test or a vaccine, whatever it may be—we're very accessible with having over 9000 locations. We're very accessible to the public, and that's what we're here for as pharmacists. We're here to protect people and make sure that they're healthy.