Well-attended ThoughtSpot 2016 spotlights patient care, technology
At its annual ThoughtSpot 2016 conference held in Las Vegas in late July, AmerisourceBergen outdid itself with the number of new tools designed to augment store operations, streamline pharmacy workflow and help better connect independent operators to several of their many healthcare stakeholders, including patients, payers and legislators.
Attendance was at an all-time high, as well. The General Session at ThoughtSpot 2016 was held in the larger MGM Grand Garden Arena this year, thanks to the more than 4,500 attendees.
Providing seamless health services to the benefit of patients underscored this year’s ThoughtSpot theme, “Time for Care,” noted Bob Mauch, president of AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation. “We know with certainty that your number one priority is taking care of patients,” Mauch told ThoughtSpot attendees at the General Session. “We know that in this rapidly changing healthcare environment, independent pharmacists are uniquely qualified to provide the kind of care that patients need now and into the future,” he said. “But while finding ‘Time for Care’ sounds easy, we know that it’s not.”
Steve Collis, Chairman, President and CEO of AmerisourceBergen, similarly underscored the important role that independent pharmacy plays in the delivery of and adherence to optimal health care and AmerisourceBergen’s commitment to ensuring independent pharmacies have access to the kinds of products and solutions they need to deliver such high-quality patient care.
In an exclusive interview with Drug Store News prior to the General Session, Collis expressed his enthusiasm for the independent pharmacy business. “AmerisourceBergen is an enduring partner [of independents],” Collis shared. “We regard this as a [core] mission, to help them be successful. I’m excited about the future. And I think AmerisourceBergen as a company, we’re very restless. We want to do new things. We want to keep innovating.”
For example, AmerisourceBergen launched a new website, OurIndependentVoice.com, that can serve as a gateway between community pharmacies and the regulatory or legislative issues that matter most to them.
AmerisourceBergen also lobbies on behalf of the industry, Collis noted. “AmerisourceBergen had an active participation in both parties’ conventions this past week,” he told attendees at the General Session. “Our active engagement with legislators and regulators generates proper understanding of the value we all contribute to health care. Without these conversations and the awareness that comes from them, we could lose the battle for a reasonable and fair share of the healthcare dollar.”
To help support AmerisourceBergen’s legislative outreach, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., visited ThoughtSpot 2016 on Friday, July 29. “As the only pharmacist serving in Congress and the owner of Carter’s Pharmacy, Congressman Carter is dedicated to helping build a healthcare system that provides more choices, lower costs and better services,” Collis said.
In addition, Good Neighbor Pharmacy’s latest executive advocate, the 25-year industry veteran who was named Good Neighbor Pharmacy president in April, Brian Nightengale was introduced to many of the Good Neighbor Pharmacy members for the first time. “If there is one message that you take away from our time together today, it is this: AmerisourceBergen and Good Neighbor Pharmacy are committed to being patient minded by investing in a best-in-class customer experience and solutions that are strategically relevant to your practice,” Nightengale said. He then outlined the full complement of solutions that AmerisourceBergen brings to market to boost the stature of independent pharmacy.
One of the more significant solutions coming out of the show was AmerisourceBergen’s new ABC Order engine. The new tool is significant not only for its improved operability — Good Neighbor Pharmacy members on site were extremely bullish regarding the potential for the new system — but also in revealing just how the global wholesaler approaches the support of its U.S. independent pharmacy community. ABC Order was custom-designed based on input from more than 200 Good Neighbor Pharmacy locations, who helped engineer ABC Order to fit within a pharmacy workflow with effortless ordering, smarter inventory control, quicker access to data and simple issues resolution.
Many other highlights came out of ThoughtSpot 2016, including the introduction of the new Innovation & Technology (I&T) Showcase. The new hall, immediately across from registration, featured a full complement of pharmacy technology companies and solution spotlight sessions that outlined many forward-leaning pharmacy opportunities, such as medication synchronization, medication therapy management services and other adherence tools.
In addition, the I&T Showcase demonstrated just how partners of AmerisourceBergen’s Pharmacy Services Administrative Organization — the Elevate Provider Network — implement those technology solutions to support reimbursement discussions with payers, as well as improve reimbursement.
The Showcase hall also featured several tech-savvy offerings that place Good Neighbor Pharmacy firmly at the forefront of retail pharmacy innovation, including virtual reality and Amazon Echo. AmerisourceBergen had on hand at the conference smart glasses that enabled participants to make a virtual visit to the three Good Neighbor Pharmacy Pharmacy of the Year finalists’ stores. In the future, AmerisourceBergen and Good Neighbor Pharmacy anticipate using those glasses to allow store owners to preview new store configurations and remodeling scenarios.
And the I&T Showcase featured a prototype Amazon Echo that today can connect patients to their nearest Good Neighbor Pharmacy and get store hours. But Good Neighbor Pharmacy in the near future expects to be one of the first pharmacy operations to enable prescription refills on the platform.
And if ABC Order, a new legislative focus and the new Innovation & Technology Showcases weren&