Five key stops at McKesson ideaShare
SAN DIEGO — Kevin Kettler, SVP marketing, U.S. Pharmaceutical at McKesson, took Drug Store News on a guided tour of the McKesson ideaShare show floor following the Opening General Session yesterday. The five stations included on the tour are designed to increase access to patients, help bring those patients into the store and maximize these patients by offering new services to bring in new revenue.
First stop on the tour was the Health Mart model store, where Chuck Wilson, VP Health Mart pharmacy operations, showcased the latest in design, decor and merchandising. Slightly smaller at 2,700 sq. ft., the store accommodates 3,200 SKUs across the front-end and features a dedicated compounding room with an exterior window so patients can see the kind of clinical services available at a Health Mart pharmacy. Also new to the store is a lightweight fixture near the pharmacy area that operators can use to promote merchandise.
Next on the tour was Health Mart’s Med Sync offerings, which include several new tools to help pharmacy operators interested in incorporating a Med Sync business into their practice. Both John Gregg, director, Health Mart clinical operations , and Crystal Lennartz, director, Health Mart clinical development, described a new reference guide that provides potential Med Sync operators a five-step process to incorporating the offering into their pharmacy, including what needs to be done in the first 30, 60 and 90 days.
Medication synchronization can be an important acquisition tool for pharmacists, Gregg said. “Studies have shown that the average patient on chronic medications fills about 7.5 out of their 12 refills in a year. When we put them on Med Sync, they fill 11 out of 12,” he said. “When we talk about acquisition, really this is about how we offer physicians and patients a way to improve their health. Driving adherence, solving for gaps and creating that pharmacist/patient appointment, is something we can leverage with physicians, with ACOs and hospital groups to improve their overall population growth.”
The third stop on the tour featured Health Mart’s marketing initiatives designed to bring new patients into the stores. Michelle Gilliam, director, Health Mart Marketing, reviewed new and innovative ways Health Mart is helping stores stay competitive with national advertising and local marketing tools that help stores promote themselves … their way. For example, Health Mart now offers a Facebook solution for its stores, which includes the creation of a Facebook page, automatic posted updates and training for store employees to respond to community posts made on that page.
Also new this year to McKesson ideaShare is an on-site TV studio, Gilliam said. “We’re filming pharmacists live at the show for inclusion in one of five different TV commercials they can customize for their local advertising program. “We’re offering matching funds, which they can apply to up to 50% of their media purchase.”
Morgan Gruye, manager, retail specialty solutions at McKesson, helped explain the fourth stop on the tour: Health Mart’s Retail Specialty Solutions. To help independent pharmacies compete in the specialty market, Health Mart is partnering with Diplomat, a nationally recognized specialty pharmacy. Health Mart Specialty Solutions enables independent pharmacies to provide patients with comprehensive specialty services, streamline specialty access and reimbursement services, and build relationships with prescribers. In other words, those open-sourced specialty medications can be adjudicated by Health Mart pharmacists now that Diplomat Pharmacy handles the back-end processing of those medications.
The final stop on the tour was the McKesson Generics offering. Allegra Riley, McKesson VP generics program management, explained that McKesson’s OneStop Generics program delivers the power of sophisticated pricing tools and deep sourcing expertise with outstanding business solutions, which provides significant advantage to pharmacy customers for selection, pricing and availability. Designed with the needs of the customer in mind, the program offers numerous opportunities to maximize consistency and profitability.
McKesson also offers price assurance protection on generic medicines for 30 days, Riley added. “That has been something that has been truly a differentiator between what OneStop and McKesson does for our customers.”