MINGO JUNCTION – Mingo Pharmacy at 116 McLister Ave. will be opening new doors at the end of April when the first patients at the Mingo Family Practice will be seen.

Frank and Melissa Vostatek, both licensed pharmacists, opened Mingo Pharmacy four years ago but they always had the goal of providing complete health services to the area.

Frank Vostatek graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with master’s degree in nursing, enabling him to become a nurse practitioner.

A nurse practitioner is able to write prescriptions, which he said makes him the only licensed pharmacist in the country allowed to write prescriptions.

Vostatek said he is a fully licensed nurse practitioner and can prescribe all medications. He said Mingo Family Practice will accept all insuranaces. He noted a lot of doctors are not accepting certain insurance programs.

Vostatek said he already is interviewing another nurse practitioner who will be hired in August to assist in seeing patients.

Mingo Family Practice will be able to do sports physicals and diagnosing and manage chronic diseases.

“We can do everything a regular family doctor can do,” he said.

Vostatek said he will split his time between the pharmacy and the family practice, working about 30 hours a week on both sides.

Walk-in patients will be welcome.

Vostatek said Mingo Family Practice will fill a void from Mingo Junction south to Martins Ferry. He said the practice will be the only family health provider taking care of the middle and southern parts of the county, which he estimates at around 12,000 people.

“There is no access to care and that is a problem,” he said. “Those patients are underinsured and under served because they have no access to a provider,” he said.

“Our philosophy is we don’t have customers, we have patients. This is just an expansion of providing total patient care. Our relationship with patients is already there. We are just taking it to the next level. You come in here and you are a patient and we are going to take care of you.

Vostatek said patients already are scheduled into the end of May.

Patients will enter the new door to the addition that the Vostateks built.

“We will be a patient navigator. We will be able to provide patients with information so they are able to get appropriate health care,” he said.

Vostatek said he can make referrals to a specialist and write orders for X-rays, blood work or other testing.

Vostatek said Mingo Pharmacy offers patients a long list of health insurances for filling prescriptions.

He said Mingo Pharmacy is accepting all local insurances because many local pharmacies do not take certain insurance programs.

UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, a managed care plan for Ohio Medicaid, and Coventry-Advantra, the health insurance plan for retired Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel workers, both can be used at Mingo Pharmacy.

Frank Vostatek said Mingo Pharmacy is a preferred provider for each UnitedHealthcare and Coventry-Advantra. As a preferred provider, members of each plan get the lowest co-pay.

“You’ll pay the least amount out of pocket at Mingo Pharmacy. For Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel retirees, for most services, they’ll get three months of prescriptions for what they normally pay for two months,” Vostatek said.

He said many local pharmacies don’t accept the plans.

“I’m fighting for my patients. I want them to have access to all services we offer here,” he said.

Mingo Pharmacy was recognized in July by Cardinal Health as one of three best practices in retail pharmacy.

The Vostateks said Cardinal Health is the largest prescription drug wholesaler in the country, servicing about 7,000 pharmacies.

The other two pharmacies that were finalists for the Cardinal Health Retail Pharmacy Best Practice Competition were Mac Pharmacy of Knoxville, Tenn., and TLC Pharmacy of Mission, Texas.

The finalists were interviewed on stage during the company’s annual retail business conference in Washington, D.C.

Vostatek said the conference is the largest in the industry, attracting representatives from about 3,700 pharmacies across the country.

“They wanted us to show those at the conference why we are so successful and ways they can change their practices. You have to be doing something outside the mainstream. Most independent pharmacies do a good job of customer service. Pharmacies know the medical history of patients. We can make a diagnosis and develop a plan to implement,” he said.