Do you stay on top of industry trends or are you behind the times?
While your independent community pharmacy doesn’t always need to be cutting-edge, it’s important to pay attention to what’s happening in the industry, and to choose the trends you want to adopt to best serve your patients.
Paying attention to industry trends will help your pharmacy stay competitive in this continuously changing industry.
Have you adopted any of these popular trends that are transforming the business of pharmacy?
1. Expanding traditional revenue streams
Successful independent community pharmacies no longer rely on prescriptions as their sole source of profit.
According to the 2015 edition of the NCPA Digest produced by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), the average independent community pharmacy location dispensed 61,568 prescriptions (197 per day) in 2014, a slight decrease from the 64,424 prescriptions dispensed in 2013.
To combat the loss of revenue from prescription orders, successful pharmacies are widening their services and the types of merchandise they offer. Consider offering clinical services, such as vaccinations, or focusing on front-end sales by adding a line of diabetic shoes, for example.
2. Updating technology
Staying up-to-date with technology is a must. Independent community pharmacies are using technology to become more efficient, reduce costs and improve patient care.
According to the 2015 NCPA Digest, which is based on 2014 data, 82 percent of pharmacies use point-of-sale technology, 48 percent use an automated dispensing counter, 43 percent use mobile commerce or signature capture technology, 40 percent use telephone interactive voice response (IVR) and 28 percent use an automated dispensing system.
Workflow technology can improve your effectiveness and efficiency. Automated dispensing systems prevent human error, mobile commerce and signature capture technology make payments less of a hassle for patients, and telephone IVR allows for easier prescription filling. These are just a few suggestions of current advancements in technology you might consider using in your pharmacy.
3. Performing well to access preferred networks
Even though the trade off is low with preferred networks, accessing preferred networks is a must. Your patients may love the personal attention they receive from you, but if you’re not in-network, they may decide to opt-out of using your pharmacy.
Become a high-performing pharmacy to gain and maintain access to preferred networks by completing your medication therapy management (MTM) cases, embracing medication adherence and working to perform well on other Star Ratings measures.
It’s also a good idea to join a pharmacy services administration organization (PSAO) that can help you access services to improve your Star Ratings. For example, TriNet Third Party Network by PBA Health partners with a variety of services to help pharmacies perform better such as EQuIPP, a performance information management platform that makes unbiased quality-related data available to health plans and community pharmacy organizations, and iMedicare, a tool that directly compares the features of various Medicare plan options based on patients’ needs.
4. Targeting senior citizens
With the baby boomer generation growing older, the number of elderly adults expected to enroll in Medicare will continue to increase year-by-year. You have a huge opportunity to help these patients, and increase business.
If you have a significant portion of elderly patients, or if you want to increase your number of scripts from this patient base, take time to market to senior citizens.
Market your pharmacy to senior citizens with direct mail campaigns or by participating in community outreach.
Want more business trends to help your pharmacy stay competitive? Check out the latest industry trends from the 2015 NCPA Digest.
