Nightengale focuses on delivering value to independent pharmacy in new role
Brian Nightengale, the new President of Good Neighbor Pharmacy, emphasized AmerisourceBergen’s commitment to independent pharmacy and delivering value to its customers at his first ThoughtSpot tradeshow this year.
“I believe Good Neighbor Pharmacy has a big role to play in the success and growth of our community customers,” Nightengale shared with Drug Store News in an exclusive interview at ThoughtSpot 2016. “What I hope to accomplish with our team is that as we continue to grow and provide really important services through Good Neighbor Pharmacy, that we deliver a best-in-class customer experience for our pharmacies, and that the solutions and services are strategically relevant to their business strategy.”
Infusing relevance into everything that Good Neighbor Pharmacy provides its member pharmacies is an oft-repeated theme among AmerisourceBergen executives. “Working together as partners, we’re growing together,” Nightengale said. “[For example], there’s a lot going on out there in the reimbursement space, and we need to help our pharmacies be economically viable and competitive in the future.”
Last year AmerisourceBergen introduced the Elevate Provider Network, which bundles managed care services with pre- and post-edit, reconciliation and a patient engagement center to help track and manage Star ratings, MTM and patient adherence. “Since launching Elevate Provider Network last year, more than 2,300 of our members have taken full advantage of all of the features of our network, driving growth and improving outcomes in their pharmacies,” Nightengale told attendees at ThoughtSpot 2016. And member pharmacies are outperforming the overall market, including chains, to the tune of 3.4% year-over-year prescription growth vs. 1.9% growth industry-wide.
AmerisourceBergen provides a number of solutions to its independent owners, most notably its Good Neighbor Pharmacy Premier program, which provides expert business guidance on how to tactically manage a community pharmacy operation, from marketing and advertising to customer service and inventory management. “Through one-on-one coaching, Good Neighbor Pharmacy Premier is the most effective program we offer to our independent pharmacy customers,” Nightengale said. Premier pharmacies decreased on-hand inventory by 12% without compromising customer service and realized a 5% increase in sales-per-employee on average, Nightengale noted. “[These] are just two proof points of the impact that our premier-level services can have on your practice and profit margin.”
Good Neighbor Pharmacy has invested in several programs, Nightengale added, including a 17-store pilot program in the Dallas market that features an optimized front-end planogram that’s driving a 5% increase in unit sales vs. a control group. In addition, there is the POS At-A-Glance Report Card, the Temporary Price Reduction Program and Good Neighbor Pharmacy TV.
Good Neighbor Pharmacy is also supporting immunization efforts and extensions into specialty pharmacy.
Nightengale is rooted in independent pharmacy, he shared at the ThoughtSpot 2016 General Session. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy in 1990 following the influence of a family friend, who was a local independent pharmacist.
“I grew up in a very small farming community and [at first] wanted to be a veterinarian,” he said. But a day spent with Rick Hill, a pharmacist at Scheffe’s Pharmacy in Enid, Okla., changed all of that. “After shadowing him for a day, and a transformational dinner discussion, I changed my major the next week,” he said. “Over the next 10 years, I worked for three outstanding independent pharmacists who taught me the importance of putting patients first, being innovative and embracing an entrepreneurial spirt.”
In addition to Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Nightengale will oversee AmerisourceBergen’s PSAO, the Elevate Provider Network, which is comprised of more than 4,500 pharmacies.
Nightengale brings to both Good Neighbor Pharmacy and the Elevate Provider Network an expertise in pharmacy reimbursement. He was most recently president of Xcenda, where he guided the company in its mission to deliver the strategic consulting guidance, actionable market insights and tactical support services that manufacturers need to optimize product launches and ensure optimal patient access to those products. He provides expertise and insights related to market access strategies, health economics and comparative effectiveness research.
Nightengale also serves on the National Community Pharmacists Association’s Innovation Center Board of Directors, where he helps develop and execute education and empowerment tools to help community pharmacists realize the opportunities in an evolving healthcare market.
And while Nightengale is a welcome addition to the Good Neighbor Pharmacy team, AmerisourceBergen’s top brass shared a heartfelt farewell to outgoing president Dave Neu, who is retiring after a storied 34-year career. “His accomplishments are too many to mention in just a few moments. But what we can say is that Dave has been a tremendous business leader in the healthcare industry and advocate for you and your essential craft — a legacy that we will carry forward and build upon,” noted Steve Collis, AmerisourceBergen Chairman, President and CEO.