According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 75 percent of physician office visits involve drug therapy, and more than 50 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription medicine, making pharmacies a key element in a patient’s care plan.
The daily life of the pharmacist is busy, sometimes chaotic and incredibly fast-paced. Prioritizing and establishing a plan to tackle your work day may seem impossible in this environment, but it is essential to your productivity. At times, it may seem like time is your enemy fighting against you and moving too quickly for you to keep up; but the truth is time is your biggest ally. In fact, there are 168 hours in every week.
Unlike years past, it’s not as financially feasible to operate a traditional retail pharmacy in rural and underserved communities. To help combat this challenge, pharmacists are using new telepharmacy technology to serve patients who struggle with pharmacy access.
Drive-thrus are common among chain pharmacies as well as many smaller independent drugstores. Pharmacies began introducing drive-thru services in the 1990s, adding convenience and faster service for their customers.
If you run or own an independent long-term care (LTC) pharmacy in 2017, you’re probably wondering how your independent LTC pharmacy will compete with chains. There are many things to consider as you look toward the future.
Competing against the big guys is always part of running a small business and is a particularly relevant issue for independent pharmacies that operate in the face of considerable pressures.
Time and again, independent community pharmacists have proven themselves to be resilient and savvy businesspeople who can modify and reinvent their practices to adapt to economic challenges.
It’s no longer news that social media outlets have earned their place in the marketing mix. For organizations with fewer resources to devote to self-promotion, platforms such as Instagram™ offer an unbeatable price tag and an increased potential reach (600 million active, monthly users). Perhaps even more compelling is the fact that these platforms are all about community building – a natural for independent pharmacies. So what exactly does Instagram offer for pharmacy marketing?
Pharmacies and Home Medical Equipment (HME) providers can gather patient data to improve patient medication adherence, set up synchronization programs and increase revenue.
Most independent community pharmacists will admit the need and desire to attract new customers and keep patrons coming back not only to benefit their bottom line, but to improve the welfare of the community’s overall health.
When the Meaningful Use process started, practices started being more diligent in collecting Business Associate Agreements from all their contractors who had access to their software.
In the previous edition of Insight, I said, “One competitive opportunity that never changes in pharmacy services is the percentage of your current customers who would recommend you to others.” I also mentioned, “Accomplishing high percentage scores requires a full-court press inside your operation for every employee to excel.”