SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Smith Drug Co. on Friday announced the launch of various services for independent pharmacies under the HealthWise Pharmacy umbrella. The offerings include a specialty-at-retail network, as well as clinical solutions, consulting services, long-term care (LTC) solutions, market intelligence, OTC merchandising and branding solutions and a predictive ordering solution.
“We know that independent retail pharmacies are in an extremely competitive market position,” Smith Drug president Jeff Foreman said. “With the launch of the HealthWise Pharmacy suite of solutions, we are working to give our customers access to services and tools that are not widely available to them anywhere else in the industry. We know from experience and research that these are the tools that can help ensure that our local, community pharmacies remain vibrant.”
HealthWise Specialty Pharmacy Network will offer access to training and programs to allow independents to provide patients with specialty pharmaceuticals for such disease states as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis. Patient care is handled by pharmacists and technicians with specialty pharmacy expertise and patients can stay with their known pharmacy team. And HealthWise Pharmacy LTC solutions will give independents access to LTC experts and software solutions to help establish and grow an LTC pharmacy.
Smith Drug said that its HealthWise Pharmacy Consulting Solutions will help pharmacies make sure they have the right products from the right size categories in the front-end and provide assistance to optimize staffing and other efficiencies through the use of an algorithm.
Additionally, Smith Drug is introducing HealthWise Pharmacy Intuitive Purchasing System, which will allow pharmacies using it to determine what type and quantity of inventory should be maintained, as well as the generic prescription formulary HealthWise Pharmacy Generic Solutions. And in an effort to help pharmacies improve their Star Ratings, the company introduced HealthWise Pharmacy clinical Solutions.
“Smith Drug Co. is committed to doing what is best for patient care, and we believe by offering our pharmacy customers these opportunities patient care will improve,” Foreman said. “As an organization led by pharmacists, we understand the challenges in today’s pharmacy market, and our collection of HealthWise Pharmacy solutions helps our customers not only meet those challenges, but excel not only today, but in the future.”