Pharmacy Owner Feedback, March edition

This month instead of visiting individual stores we attended some key meetings and conferences so we could meet with a variety of owners from all over the country. We met new store owners, seasoned multi-store owners, pharmacists looking to start their first store, and committed single store owners. Each owner offered valuable insights into the challenges they face and the opportunities they are creating.

The number one theme throughout the two days at the NCPA Pharmacy Ownership Workshop was how critical it is to your business to know and understand your financial statements to ensure you are making the right decisions for your business. A few months ago, we hosted a webinar with Owen BonDurant and Tim Clark of Independent Rx Consultants on some of the key metrics you should be paying attention to. During the pharmacy ownership workshop in Dallas Ollin Sykes and Bonnie Bond of Sykes & Company, PA, shared the importance of reviewing your financials once a month with your accountant. Taking that a step further during conversations I had that weekend with both owners and the accountants in the room the key takeaway for me was having an accountant who knows pharmacy! Whether your numbers are good or bad, going up or going down, you need someone who will ask you the right questions, the industry specific questions that will help you make the right decision. For example, if your gross profit is low, an accountant who understands pharmacy, and has helped hundreds of other owners, can guide you to recognize profitable revenue that makes sense for your store. An accountant who doesn’t understand pharmacy can only tell you what’s on paper and cannot provide any solutions or guidance. If you currently use a family member or the local CPA who doesn’t understand pharmacy, now is the time to explore your options. You need a pharmacy accounting expert on your side.

Here at IPC we are helping stores become future-ready. We have cutting edge programs and solutions to offer, and we are assuming, that you are already doing the fundamentals well. As a buying group and secondary wholesaler, we impact our members fundamentals with competitive pricing and strategies to maximize your supply agreement, the number one cost for your business. For example, while visiting IPC members in Michigan who are feeling the cash crunch, Scott Wittnebel and Carl Mizell spent time helping owners understand their actual costs and how managing their supply agreement and when and where to leak will help save cash immediately and bring in more cash in the form of rebates. If you would like to learn how to optimize your cash, here is a link to our Purchasing Strategy blog. If you prefer it has simple form to request a personalized analysis.

Your operation, how you and your staff manage your business, needs to be optimized as well. The core system that successful pharmacy owners said was fundamental and “you must do” was having an effective, repeatable, and scalable med sync program. You’re probably saying to yourself that you have been hearing this for a decade…and it’s hard! Of course, both are true, and it works! It works to help improve adherence. It works to help optimize your staff. It works to make your pharmacy more efficient (more proactive, less reactive, and more predictable) and more profitable!

There are a number of resources out there that can support your med sync implementation and for our members we can support you as well. Just let us know that you are interested in getting it up and running and we’re here to help.

In March IPC conducted our fly-in in Washington DC which was covered extensively in our blog post last week and you can read it here. I wanted to share a couple specific insights and actions you can take that our board members shared as independent pharmacy owners.

One, there is more awareness about the PBM issues, which means we are gaining traction, and the timing is right for us to collectively get involved and maintain or even accelerate the momentum.

Now that legislators are aware we need to act, and one simple way is to invite local, state, and federal legislators into the conversation and invite them to your store. They are looking for the photo op, they want to be seen in the community listening to their constituents. You get time to speak with your representatives who can make a difference when the time comes. It is also an opportunity for you to invite local media into your store and get some free press.