PANTHERx: Small suppliers

Giving people the power, training and freedom to really help patients with difficult diseases goes a long way at PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy.

That simple value is a fundamental part of the culture at the company, and resonates with employees at least as much, if not more than all the cool perks, such as the food trucks that come to its Pittsburgh headquarters. There are also team-building events, such as the company's recent “logo lighting” party to celebrate putting a new corporate sign on the building.

The company is No. 2 among small suppliers on Modern Healthcare's list of the Best Places to Work for 2016 and No. 5 overall.

PANTHERx, which works with individual patients and their caregivers around the country to provide specialty drugs, mostly for rare conditions, has a highly satisfied and motivated workforce because employees can get patients what they need, said Jonathan Ogurchak, the company's vice president of business operations.

While expediency and efficiency are important, “at the end of the day, we're here to serve these patients,” Ogurchak said. “If it's going to take one more minute or five more minutes to get a better outcome for that patient, we'd much rather our staff do that,” he said. “It enables the associates to attain immense satisfaction that they're making a difference in patients' lives.”

Incidentally, that's good for business, too, and the company has been garnering attention for incredible growth—more than 13,000% revenue growth in the last three years. Employees, Ogurchak said, are “willing to go that extra mile, willing to do those extra things to help the patient. ... By taking that employee-empowered approach, it kind of gets paid forward for us.”