Bypass Pharmacy, an independent community pharmacy with three locations in southern West Virginia, is always looking for ways to improve. The pharmacy consistently invests in new technology and develops pharmacy services with patients’ needs in mind.
“I think in order to experience growth and success, you can’t just open a pharmacy and fill prescriptions,” said Kelly Dyke, pharmacy program director at Bypass Pharmacy. “Our pharmacists and owners are very proactive.”
The first Bypass Pharmacy location opened in Beckley, West Virginia, in 2010. Since then, the pharmacy has added two locations—one in Beckley and one in Beaver, West Virginia. The pharmacy is in a highly competitive market, surrounded by national chain pharmacies and other independents.
Bypass Pharmacy’s 22 employees, including six pharmacists, are dedicated to serving their community and offering personalized fast and friendly service.
“We believe in superior customer service, face-to-face solutions and we employ forward-thinking business practices,” Dyke said. “We try to offer services that can’t be matched other places.”
Keeping up with the competition
With competition in the area, Bypass Pharmacy recognized that it needed to expand its business hours in order to stay relevant for busy patients.
“With market conditions, I don’t think that independent pharmacies can afford to be open just five days a week,” said Sid Ilangovan, R.Ph., president and owner of Bypass Pharmacy. “We need to be on par with the chains.” Sid Ilangovan co-owns the pharmacies with his brother, Ula Ilangovan, R.Ph. Sudhir Rajoure, Pharm.D., is part-owner of one of the pharmacy’s locations.
Sid Ilangovan, R.Ph., president and owner of Bypass Pharmacy (left) co-owns Bypass Pharmacy with his brother, Ula Ilangovan, R.Ph. (right).
Bypass Pharmacy has two locations that are open seven days a week. One is adjacent to a hospital and surrounded by three national chain pharmacies.
That location also features late hours. The pharmacy stays open until 9 p.m. on weekdays and 7 p.m. on weekends. Staying open later at that location has been very helpful for patients visiting the emergency room, Dyke said.
Bypass Pharmacy’s other two locations stay open until 7 p.m. on weekdays, and they open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
Extended hours have paid off with new patients. Dyke said patients have moved their prescriptions to Bypass Pharmacy after driving by late at night and noticing that the pharmacy was open.
Tech-minded pharmacy
Technology and data play an important role in keeping Bypass Pharmacy on track. Sid Ilangovan has a master’s degree in Information Systems and an interest in leveraging information technology (IT) to benefit health care.
Two years ago, Ilangovan said, Bypass Pharmacy hired an IT staff member to analyze the pharmacy’s data, such as tracking drug margins.
Ilangovan pointed out that in a regular workflow, pharmacists and technicians don’t have time to closely watch the profitability of each prescription. Dedicating a staff member to manage the pharmacy’s data helps them monitor daily price fluctuations on generics, track inventory and order right.
“We have to stay on top of it every day,” Ilangovan said.
Most of all, tracking this data helps them buy wisely, which Ilangovan said is key to success for independent pharmacies today.
Bypass Pharmacy also uses technology to communicate with patients and to boost efficiency. Robots and pill counters help fill scripts, and the pharmacy uses text alerts to inform patients when their prescriptions are ready. IVR machines allow patients to request refills 24 hours a day.
“We consistently check our capabilities against the leading chains and make sure we’re on par with their capabilities,” Ilangovan said.
Currently, the pharmacy is working on a project to update its website and to make it mobile responsive across all devices.
A community focus
As part of a small neighborly community, Bypass Pharmacy recognizes that being active in the public sphere is essential to a successful business.
“Without the local community we are nothing,” Ilangovan said. “Being in a small town, we have great visibility, and we bump into our customers wherever we go.”
Bypass Pharmacy participates in local health fairs and support groups, and attends women’s and caregiver events. The pharmacy also sponsors local sports teams and plans to work with schools to educate children about prescription drug safety.
The pharmacy’s neighborly attitude toward the community is essential for business. Ilangovan said he encourages his employees to view everyone as a potential customer and to treat everyone the way they would want to be treated. “We approach everybody with compassion and empathy,” he said.
And that’s good promotion for the pharmacy. “Our staff is our best marketing tool because they share our vision for success by offering superior unmatched customer service,” Dyke said. “We know our customers by name, and most of the time, we know their family, and we stand with them to celebrate the good times, and offer them a helping hand during the bad.”
Community outreach is part of the pharmacy’s efforts to cultivate trust and goodwill with people before asking for their business. “You want to build those relationships first, so they start coming to you,” Ilangovan said.
Building relationships
Part of Bypass Pharmacy’s success comes from working to build relationships not only with patients but also with area physicians.
The pharmacy’s staff regularly visits physicians’ offices. “We want to make sure they know we’re open seven days a week, and we provide them with information about our drive-thru, free delivery, free mailing service and compounding,” Dyke said. “Those are big areas of interest right now.”
Office visits help forge open communication between the pharmacists and physicians. “We stay in touch with our local physicians and anytime our pharmacists have a question about a prescription, or a doctor has a question about a drug, we don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call each other,” Dyke said.
New service offerings
Diversifying its services is important to Bypass Pharmacy. Some of the services the pharmacy offers include immunizations, Medication Therapy Management (MTM), compounding, compliance packaging and medication flavoring. The pharmacy is also equipped to dispense specialty medications.
Dyke said patients also appreciate the preventative care strategies they provide.
As the pharmacy recognizes needs within its community, the owners and staff work to develop services that address those needs and help patients live healthier lives.
One need they recently identified was weight loss.
“West Virginia tops the charts with obesity and health issues,” Dyke said. “We had a lot of patients coming in who had an interest in losing weight and getting healthier.”
Bypass Pharmacy recognized this as an opportunity to help the community and started a weight loss program. The pharmacy is using TAKE CHARGE®, a lifestyle modification program made for independent pharmacies.
This program helps patients get healthy, but it also helps boost the pharmacy’s bottom line. Bypass Pharmacy sells nutritional shakes and snack bars offered through TAKE CHARGE, and also charges a fee for the initial and follow-up consultations with patients to check body fat index and other factors.
A popular service
Bypass Pharmacy has three locations in southern West Virginia. Pictured from left to right at its Harper Road location in Beckley, West Virgina, are Amburose Mariagnanaprakasam, R.Ph.; Sudhir Rajoure, R.Ph., part-owner of the Harper Road location; Ingrid Franco, pharmacy technician; and Courtnee James, pharmacy technician.
One of Bypass Pharmacy’s most popular services is diabetes counseling and education, Dyke said.
The pharmacy offers free one-on-one or group classes to educate patients about general diabetes topics, to recommend blood sugar goals and to inform them about blood sugar management.
“We educate patients on the importance of diet, exercise, and medication compliance, and we coordinate with their physicians for the correct pharmacotherapy,” Dyke said.
Bypass Pharmacy is also certified and contracted with West Virginia’s state employee insurance program (WV PEIA) to offer face-to-face diabetes counseling.
As part of the program, patients periodically come to the pharmacy for consultations. During the consultation, the pharmacist will review the patient’s lab work, gather information from specialists and primary care physicians, and talk with the patient about adherence to his or her dietary and exercise recommendations. “We’re kind of the liaison between all of their specialists and their primary care physician,” Ilangovan said.
This program is a win-win for patients and Bypass Pharmacy. Patients who participate in the program have no co-pay for their diabetes medication, and Bypass Pharmacy is compensated for providing counseling. Overall, Ilangovan said it’s a successful program.
Moving forward
In the future, Dyke said Bypass Pharmacy hopes to continue its growth by enhancing outreach programs and forging partnerships with community stakeholders, all while maintaining its commitment to customer service and helping patients.
“As an independent pharmacy, you want to make a profit and you want to try to promote good business, but it’s not all about profit,” Dyke said. “We want to make sure the community knows we care about them and that we care about their health.”
“At the end of the day, when we can make a difference in a life, whether it’s a child, senior citizen, or terminally ill patient, that reward is more than enough,” she said.
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