About Us
It all began in 2005, when fresh out of pharmacy school and residency, Drs. Vince and Jodi Ettare made a decision. They determined that working for a chain pharmacy would not provide them the opportunity to truly provide the patient care they had been trained to provide throughout their schooling. As a result, the Ettares began Central Virginia Pharmacy Consultants, PC, a corporation that would allow them to use their expertise to connect the dots between the patient’s needs, the patient’s prescriber, and the cost of medications. “There are thousands of different insurance plans out there. There are too many complications in our insurance systems for prescribers to know a patient’s out-of-pocket costs on all prescribed medications”, said Jodi Ettare. This was a common theme seen day in and day out in their retail pharmacy career. “Patients would come to the pharmacy to get their prescription filled and be shocked and angry, at their prescriber, the insurance company, and the pharmacy when they saw their astronomical copay”, continues Dr. Ettare. “We knew there was a need for us to obtain a copy of their insurance formulary, look at the medications they were taking, and determine if there was a less costly alternative that would still meet their medical needs. At that point, we would communicate that information to their prescriber to determine if they were in agreement with the switch, a process that is nowadays called Medication Therapy Management.”
In 2007, they received information regarding a prescriber in the Huddleston area that was interested in a pharmacy next to his doctor’s office. Vince Ettare knew at that moment, God had presented him with the opportunity he had desired and the company opened its first pharmacy. A year later, the company learned that the independent pharmacy in Lynchburg planned to close its doors in 2008. The Ettares recognized the huge opportunity to serve a new patient population and decided to open Timberlake Family Pharmacy in Lynchburg, VA, in 2009 eventually combining the two locations to enable them to provide the best customer service to all of their patients.
Over the years, Timberlake Family Pharmacy & Wellness has expanded from servicing the Lynchburg, and surrounding communities, to now serving the entire states of Virginia and Maryland with free shipping or delivery of our sterile and non-sterile compounds as well as providing much-needed compounding expertise and product knowledge.
Their continued drive for patient care also plays into a dedication to making quality products and providing quality services. In 2015, Timberlake Family Pharmacy achieved Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) accreditation, a service of ACHC, for sterile and non-sterile compounding services. Accreditation is awarded to pharmacies that voluntarily place themselves under a rigorous program of quality assurance, allowing an outside agency to come in and evaluate every practice in the making of compounds. PCAB accreditation is a guarantee that the pharmacy holds itself to the strictest standards of quality, meeting or exceeding the national standards set in place by the U.S. Pharmacopeia and other regulatory bodies.
With the demand for compounds continually growing, the Ettares set out in 2013 to find a larger home for their lab services. At that time they began to pursue the idea of remodeling the old DAV building on Timberlake Road. After 3 years, the plan to do so finally came to fruition when Central Virginia Pharmacy Consultants acquired the property and began the extensive remodeling. The new space includes a state-of-the-art clean room and lab space, retail pharmacy, an extensive front store with diverse offerings, classrooms for patient education and seminars, and a retro-style soda fountain. All syrups used in our soda fountain are compounded in our pharmacy and free from unnecessary chemicals.
Timberlake Family Pharmacy & Wellness will continue to provide traditional pharmacy services to the Lynchburg area, while all compounding services will be moved to the Timberlake Family Pharmacy location. “I’ve grown up in the Timberlake area my entire life, went to elementary school at Leesville Road, middle school and high school at Brookville, and church at Timberlake Methodist. It's been my vision, since we began, to have the Timberlake Family Pharmacy & Wellness location also, to be able to service friends and family closer to our home,” said Dr. Jodi Ettare. Our Timberlake location will continue to offer the free delivery and shipping to which the community has grown accustomed.
Timberlake Family Pharmacy & Wellness is the only Pharmacist-owned and PCAB accredited compounding pharmacy in the Lynchburg area within a 60-mile radius. Compounded medications are prescriptions that are written by physicians, veterinarians, and other legally authorized prescribers and prepared for an individual patient by specially trained compounding staff and compounding pharmacists. Compounding medications is an integral part of the practice of pharmacy and the demand for these customized medications increases every year. “Timberlake Family Pharmacy & Wellness is committed to delivering the highest quality compounded medications to Lynchburg and the surrounding community in which we have been serving for many years,” said Dr. Vince Ettare. “By achieving PCAB Accreditation, our customers can be assured that our organization follows industry best practices and is in compliance with the industry’s most stringent national standards.”
Come in and shop our full front end of local vendors, health and beauty needs, seasonal merchandise, gifts, and more! Enjoy a Rickey or an Ade at the vintage soda fountain, or maybe just watch the compounding process through the windows of our lab! We truly believe that you will see the difference that a pharmacy that desires to partner with you for a healthier life can make!
What is PCAB Accreditation and Why Does it Matter?
PCAB accreditation is a voluntary review of a pharmacy’s compounding practices to ensure the quality of the products produced. This review involves general policies and procedures, compounding techniques, quality control checks, the pharmacy's ability to spot quality errors, patient feedback implementation and investigation, the use of quality equipment, environmental studies and documentation, and more. It is a rigorous process that a pharmacy may choose to undergo for the purpose of distinguishing themselves from other agencies. After accreditation is received, the pharmacy voluntarily submits findings from the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board on best practices, standards and procedures, and regulatory implementation. The board also serves as an agency for the patient to contact in the event they feel that the pharmacy does not handle their concerns adequately.
Why is that important? Compounding requires a lot of integrity and skill. It is vital that a patient be able to trust that the pharmacy that is providing them a compound is providing them with a product that has passed rigorous quality checks and is made by competent compounding staff who undergo extensive training in their field. A pharmacy that reaches PCAB accreditation signifies the value that they place on providing products that are of the highest quality for each patient. How do you know if your compounding pharmacy places a lot of value in compounding? Ask them the following questions:
Are you compliant with current USP regulations applicable to the field of compounding?
Our pharmacy is currently compliant with all compounding regulations of the US Pharmacopeia.
Are your products tested by a third-party lab for potency?
Our products are randomly sent for potency testing at a third-party lab and every formula is closely vetted by our compounding pharmacists.
Are your sterile products' endotoxin and sterility tested by a third-party lab?
All sterile medications are sent to a third-party lab for sterility and endotoxin testing as required by USP 797. These results can be made available to patients upon request.
Do you perform environmental sampling tests at least twice weekly in your lab spaces?
Our compounding staff performs environmental sampling of our compounding areas a minimum of every two weeks to ensure that the environment continues to be suitable for compounding.
What is the ISO classification of your compounding space? (The room must meet ISO class 8 specifications while the Cabinet or Isolator used for compounding must meet ISO Class 5 specifications.
Our anteroom operates at an ISO 8 level while our CACI and CAI both operate at ISO Class 5
Are you a member of the Professional Compounding Center of America?
We are a member of the Professional Compounding Center of America (PCCA). This gives us access not only to quality bulk ingredients but also to professional compounding consultants to ensure that each formula we create meets the standards of quality.
Does a pharmacist verify the Certificate of Analysis of every Active Ingredient used in compounding before use?
Our compounding pharmacists verify the Certificate of Analysis of every API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) before the product is ever used in our lab. This ensures that the ingredients we use in our compounds are of the highest quality.
Do you compound inside of a Powder Containment Hood to prevent cross-contamination?
Our compounding staff compound inside a Class 1 Biological Safety Cabinet to prevent any compound from being cross-contaminated.
How is your compounding staff trained and how often must they prove their competency in order to continue compounding?
Our compounding staff undergoes rigorous training and must meet an assessment of skills before a product ever reaches a patient. This rigorous assessment also involves the testing of each dosage form made by the staff member for potency as well as observation by trained staff for competency. Competency is reassessed every 6 months for each compounding staff member.