NCPA sets 2020 Pharmacy Ownership Workshop dates

The National Community Pharmacists Association announced the 2020 dates for its Pharmacy Ownership Workshop program, sponsored by McKesson. This is an intensive two-and-a-half-day event for anyone considering pharmacy ownership or current owners looking to polish their management skills. More than 2,500 pharmacists have attended the Ownership Workshop and more than half of past workshop participants now own their own pharmacy.

The 2020 Ownership Workshops will be conducted March 18-20 in National Harbor, Md., just ahead of the American Pharmacists Association’s Annual Meeting and Exposition; June 12-14 in Dallas; and Oct. 15-17 in Nashville, Tenn. Each session features expert industry consultants and veterans to address factors that go into operating a successful independent community pharmacy. Attendees can obtain more than 20 hours of business education. Online registration is now open for the National Harbor and Dallas workshops.

“Opening your own pharmacy can make you an economic engine enhancing the quality of life for patients in your community, but it can be difficult to know how to begin on the journey to pharmacy ownership,” said NCPA Innovation Center president Kurt Proctor, whose team offers the Ownership Workshop three times a year around the country. “These Ownership Workshops provide resources to help would-be owners and existing owners avoid mistakes and pitfalls in pharmacy ownership, and help your community your way.”

“I had wanted to own my own store since pharmacy school,” said pharmacist Hashim Zaibak, NCPA fourth vice president and the owner of multiple pharmacies all under the Hayat Pharmacy umbrella in southeastern Wisconsin. “But my training was in pharmacy, not business, so I really had no idea what ownership would entail. When I heard about NCPA’s Ownership Workshop I thought, ‘Maybe here’s how I can get the info and learn the skills I need to start my own pharmacy business.’ Turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done, and it was really the push I needed to purchase my first pharmacy.”

Topics covered at the Ownership Workshops will include financing, marketing, business development, and profitable merchandising ideas.