McKesson continues to focus on access to lives, attracting patients and expanding services
SAN DIEGO — McKesson has made significant strides in the past year to deliver on the three focal points identified by the wholesaler last year to help grow the businesses of Health Mart member pharmacies and independent owner/operators partnered with McKesson, Mark Walchirk, president of McKesson’s U.S. Pharmaceutical unit, told a record 5,000 attendees during the Opening General Session of McKesson ideaShare 2015.
For example, McKesson has helped gain access to preferred networks, Walchirk said. “We felt very strongly that it was critical to the success of independent pharmacy and to the members of our network to be on that limited access train,” he said. “So we took a very focused approach to really gain access to lives. We gained access to three of the top 10 plans, and I think we have a very differentiated position than some of our competitors in this area.”
McKesson also has made significant investments in Health Mart through promotions, advertising and branding, which helped promote the second key focus identified last year: bringing more patients into the stores. “We get into these networks, now how do we attract patients into these stores so you can care for them and take advantage of that opportunity?” Walchirk asked.
With regard to expanding services, the third focal point from last year, McKesson launched the Health Mart Specialty Solutions initiative. “Specialty products are a tremendous growth opportunity in the United States, and we want to make sure that independents have an opportunity to take advantage of that potential.”
Improvements in those three areas have helped position independents for today’s marketplace and the marketplace continues to grow, Walchirk noted. “We’re in the middle of one of the most dynamic and evolving times in retail pharmacy and certainly healthcare overall. Brand pharmaceuticals, many new generic launches are coming in the next few years, and specialty continues to grow.”
There are several pressures facing independents, too, Walchirk said, including consolidation in the industry, reimbursement pressure and an ultra-competitive market.
Moving forward, McKesson continues to be focused on three overarching themes to help build the independent’s business: increasing access to lives, focusing on building the Health Mart pharmacy brand and providing tools that help independents better operate their business more efficiently.
Regarding preferred networks, Walchirk noted that McKesson is taking a strategic approach toward joining additional preferred and limited networks. “We understand the implications to reimbursement, and going forward we will certainly be very selective about how we engage the preferred and limited networks,” he said
The investment in Health Mart that McKesson has made has yielded positive growth, with the number of Health Mart stores surpassing the 4,000 mark he said, noting that the franchise group has become much more flexible with dedicated support to help owners succeed.
The third key area of focus going forward is helping independents run their businesses, as productively and efficiently as they can.
Following Walchirk during the Opening General Session, guest speaker and author Josh Linkner discussed the importance of disruptive innovation among the kind of entrepreneurs who operate independent pharmacies. “The power of entrepreneurship can’t be overstated,” he said. “It’s been the one thing that’s taken down some of the greatest organizations in the world.” There are many examples of dominant companies that had refused to react to an ever-changing marketplace and then were subsequently subjected to the kind of disruptive innovation that destroyed their business model. “No matter how successful we were or are, no matter how great our last quarterly results may have been, it’s our responsibility to push the boundaries to innovate — to really be entrepreneurial to take on the big opportunities and the challenges that we’re facing.”
Linkner closed his session by challenging attendees to uncover one idea for creative disruption over the next seven days. “Maybe it’s a display when you walk into your pharmacy,” he said. “Here’s what’s going to happen, ideas start to become contagious. Starting with one idea, you’re going to create a momentum like you’ve never seen before, and that snowball effect will take root and pretty soon you’ll have incredible momentum.”
The session ended with the 2015 Pharmacy of the Year Award given to Marble City Pharmacy of Sylacauga, Ala., by McKesson’s Frank Starn, president of global sourcing, and Steve Courtman, president of Health Mart. (For more information, see the Pharmacy of the Year story.)