All-star line up gathers for DSN's 16th annual Industry Issues Summit
NEW YORK — Healthcare reform, the retailization of healthcare, telehealth, omnichannel and co-creation among suppliers and retailers. Those were just some of the critical topics that retailer and supplier panelists tackled head on during Wednesday’s 16th annual Industry Issues Summit, presented by The Drug Store News Group.
The event, once again, proved powerful as an all-star line up of some of the top minds in pharmacy retailing gathered for a candid discussion of the top issues and trends impacting the industry. On top of that, former New York police commissioner and leading expert on national security, Raymond Kelly, delivered an exclusive keynote.
The all-day event was held at Manhattan’s historic New York Athletic Club, which is located directly across the street from Central Park.
“DSN Industry Issues Summit, now in its 16th year, is part of DSN's commitment to provide timely, topical and engaging industry events where industry leaders both on the retailer and supplier side of the business come together to discuss co-creation strategies and partnership opportunities to help set the agenda for the upcoming year. The 2014 event had over 30 retailer and 250 supplier attendees participate,” said Wayne Bennett, publisher of The Drug Store News Group.
The day kicked off with the Health, Wellness and Technology panel discussion moderated by Chris Dimos of McKesson. Panelists shared their thoughts on such topics as how retailers are approaching star ratings and engaging patients, the retailization of healthcare and technologies emerging within the healthcare space. Retailer panelists included:
• John Fegan of Bi-Lo Holdings
• Craig Norman of HEB
• Robert Thompson of Rite Aid
• Raymond McCall of Ahold USA
• Tim Weippert of Thrifty White Pharmacy
• Mike Cantrell of Shopko
• Brandon Worth of Walmart
“Star ratings have been thrown out as kind of the pharmacy measuring stick. … How are you in the retail environment thinking about star ratings and how are you thinking about engaging patients and engaging other operational efficiencies to influence patients’ behaviors, which will ultimately influence the star rating?” asked Dimos.
There’s no denying that star ratings will become the benchmark but, as one panelist noted, one challenge is pharmacist education and ensuring they understand what star ratings truly means for them.
When discussing the retailization of healthcare and the available tools that have proven successful in engagement one panelist highlighted the effectiveness of text messaging and tying messaging to real-time systems so consumers attribute value to that messaging.
However, when it comes to leveraging healthcare tools — whether it be messaging, apps, etc.— personalization and transparency will prove vital, several panelists suggested.
The discussion then turned to diabetes as Dave Wendland of Hamacher Resource Group moderated the insightful Diabetes Leadership Forum. Retail panelists included:
• Michael Mastromonica of Costco
• AJ Caffentzis of AmerisourceBergen Drug Co.
• Chuck Wilson of Health Mart
• Leon Nevers of HEB
• Dan Miller of Rite Aid
• Steve Light of Cardinal Health
• Michael Wolf of Walgreens
“We’ve been given a lot of lip service for prevention for years and it appears that the number of patients with diabetes and pre-diabetes continues to rise. Why isn’t that message being heard?” asked Wendland.
Diabetes screening initiatives have no doubt been around for some time but some panelists expressed optimism as social media is proving to be an effective vehicle in driving awareness.
When serving patients with diabetes in store and looking to evolve the in-store experience for those patients, one panelist highlighted the important role that pharmacists can play in being a “behavioral change individual” to further educate the patient.
Moderator Dan Mack of Elevation Forum wrapped up the panel discussions and capped off the day with the power-packed Industry Issues Summit. During this discussion, retailers discussed what they look for in supplier partners, omnichannel, co-creation and sharing the risk, and personalization. Retailer panelists included:
• Joanne Leonardi of Ahold USA
• Tammy DeBoer of Family Dollar
• Bill Bergin of Rite Aid
• Dewayne Rabon of Bi-Lo Holdings
• Robert Tompkins of Walgreens
• Judy Sansone CVS Health
• Chris Skyers of Wakefern
• Doug Stukenborg of Target
• Jill Turner-Mitchael of Sam’s Club
“The two most important words that an organization wants to think about: No. 1 is trust and No. 2 is alignment,” said Mack, kicking off the discussion.
In setting up the discussion, Mack also highlighted the roadblocks to higher-level partnerships, including:
• Transparency
• Inefficient trade resource management
• One party is being too transactional or strategic
• They don’t understand the risks
• A lot of big promises never come to fruition
“The point is that there’s a gap. There’s always a gap. The reason we have challenges a lot of times is that we are having to manage strategy, which is creating, and where are having to manage execution, which are results,” said Mack.
Sponsors of the event included: Catalina, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, i-Health Inc., Pacific World, Pharmavite, WebMD, WorkPlace Media, Unilever, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSM, GlaxoSmithKline, Hyland’s, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Omnis Health, Takeda, Ultimed, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, A&D Medical, higi, mscripts, PerceptiMed and Pioneer Pharmacy Software.