Prescription sales are the heart of your independent pharmacy business. They likely make up a majority of your sales.
If you’re looking for ways to increase your script count, improve patient adherence, and boost your bottom line, a prescription delivery service can help.
Offering a prescription delivery service provides convenience for your elderly or less-mobile patients. It can also help market your business and increase patient compliance.
But, before you delve into a new business venture, you’ll want to make sure you have everything in place to create a profitable delivery service. Here are a few tips you might want to consider.
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Consider your long-term vision
Thinking long term is crucial to the success of any business endeavor.
You’ll need to identify how a delivery service will benefit your pharmacy for years to come, and think about what steps you’ll take to make it work.
If your broader, more aspirational focus for your business is to address patient challenges, then a delivery service fits right in. But if you want to focus on adopting the latest technology to better serve patients, maybe a delivery service isn’t what you should put your resources into.
Analyze your finances
Even though you likely have other goals for your delivery service, such as providing convenience for patients, ultimately, your delivery service has to be profitable.
Consider the start-up costs, such as purchasing a vehicle. Running a prescription delivery service will also include operational costs, such as paying for car insurance, fuel and an employee to make the delivery.
Be sure to look at your budget to decide whether or not implementing a new program is realistic.
Do your research
You’ve probably already done your research if you’ve decided to begin offering a prescription delivery service. But, don’t take your thinking cap off just yet. Continual research and development is key to helping you offer the best service possible, for patients and your bottom line.
For example, if the delivery service turns out to be a big hit, research will help you determine what you can do to offer an even better product. Maybe you’ll want to expand your delivery radius or offer delivery of over-the-counter products, too.
Research takes time and patience. It may take a while before your service is up and running.
Ask your team
It only takes one person to come up with a great idea, but it can take many for it to be a success.
Don’t forget to include your team when brainstorming for this new service. Get insight and suggestions from employees as to how you can make a prescription delivery service even more successful.
Consider offering patients curbside pickup if you’re not ready to take the leap into delivery.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and run by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited warehouse with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
