I am NCPA

PHARMACY: HB Pharmacy in North Arlington, N.J. John is the owner and CEO.

EDUCATION: Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, B.S. in pharmacy

LOCATION DETAILS: The pharmacy dispenses about 1,800 to 1,900 prescriptions a week, has 20 to 22 employees at any time, and covers 6,000 square feet.

Products sold include a mix of home health care, pharmaceutical grade supplements, health and beauty aids, and OTC drugs. They recently started a medication adherence program as well. John says one of HB Pharmacy's main emphasis areas is its compounding lab.

"We have many children on the ketogenic diet. These are children with epilepsy, often they're special needs kids. Many of these kids never leave their house or never leave their bed. They're always in a wheelchair or a bed and they have really severe seizures and problems, and so they need medicines that don't have the carbohydrates or sugar. We make those from scratch," he says.

COMMUNITY WORK: John grew up in Newark, N.J. His dad was a sales rep for Abbott Labs until he started his own pharmacy in his early 40s.

"I got into pharmacy because often my mom and my dad brought me here. I was making capsules just for fun," he says.

John had initially intended to become a lawyer after college but was put off by some aspects of the job and found that he was more at home in pharmacy.

"I actually got a lot more of a sense of purpose by helping people that were sick, caring for people, and that kind of stuff really resonated with me," he says.

Plus, it fulfilled practical needs.

"It's a solid job. You can always make a living. You're never going to get rich, but you'll always have food on the table," he says.

After graduating, John worked for Walgreens, eventually managing one in Newark. He left in 1989 to help his father run his store, taking it over in 1990.

"The first time working as a pharmacist for my father, I couldn't believe how different it was. Once I saw that, I said to myself, you know, this is really good, I like doing this. I feel like I'm doing something good, and I feel like I have a purpose. So I decided to jump in and never looked back," he says.

TOUGHER OVER TIME: When John got started in pharmacy, PBMs were in their infancy. "Their role was not necessarily welcome, but it saved people from laying out money. It was easier for the patients at that time. Over time, though, as they realized what they were in the middle of, they went from somebody who was helping facilitate these claims to, honestly, becoming pirates," he says. "I'm in North Jersey. To me, a lot of these guys are no different than the mob."

And nowadays, John says, a lot more is required of a pharmacy staff to offer quality care.

"When I took over for my dad it was a three-person store, four tops, and a part-time, and you can't have that anymore and be successful. You have to split up your duties, you stay in established lanes where your roles and responsibilities are and make sure you have the right people on your team who know what their roles and responsibilities are," he says

COMMUNITY CARE: COO Vince Bellitti, MBA, John's son, began running the store alongside manager James Park a little over a year ago, so John has been shifting his responsibilities. Now he has more time to focus on collaborating with health care systems in the area to do things such as volunteer at community events.

John goes to long-term care facilities during open enrollment season, for example, to help residents reevaluate their Medicare Part D plans. Recently they also did a health screening with a local clinic where they performed bone density screenings and measured blood pressure and cholesterol.

"I'm also working on a lot of the relationships we have with doctors and nurse practitioners and physician assistants to make sure that we're working together to help patients," he says.