Cardinal Health shares indie pharmacy best practices publication at wholesaler's RBC

ORLANDO, Fla. — Cardinal Health this week introduced "Independent Pharmacy Best Practices 2012, Ideas as Original As You Are," a special publication that showcases 16 unique programs that improve patient care and drive business results, at the wholesaler's annual Retail Business Conference here.

“We work every day with forward-thinking pharmacists who are constantly finding new ways to build stronger, more resilient businesses and improve the quality of care they deliver to patients,” stated Steve Lawrence, SVP independent sales for Cardinal Health. “We’re thrilled to share some of these best practices at RBC 2012, and we congratulate this year’s honorees and finalists for their commitment to community pharmacy excellence.”

During the RBC 2012’s Customer General Session, event attendees viewed videos highlighting the three finalists, and were invited to ‘text to vote’ for the most innovative best practice. The winner of the text-to-vote competition was Marty Bigner of Thrift Drugs in McComb, Miss. Cardinal Health will donate $10,000 to the organization of Bigner’s choice in his honor.

The three independent pharmacies that were recognized as finalists during Cardinal Health’s Best Practices text-to-vote competition at RBC 2012 include:

• McComb, Miss.-based Thrift Drugs, which implemented a Free Vitamin Club for children. Owner Marty Bigner invites community members to sign up children between the ages of 2 and 12, and promotes the program through local radio and print ads, his storefront signs, flyers and at local health fairs. In the program’s first year, nearly 290 children were enrolled in the program, representing more than 100 families — half of which had not visited Thrift Drugs before. Bigner views the program as a great, low-cost way to develop patient relationships and patient loyalty;


• Hobbs Pharmacy in Merritt Island, Fla., which implemented a synchronized refill program for many of its high-prescription-volume patients, defined as patients who take between 15 and 20 different prescription medications. Pharmacy staff synchronize each patient’s prescriptions and his or her corresponding refill timelines; and then work with prescribing physicians to get all medications on a synchronized refill schedule, so patients only need to visit the pharmacy once or twice per month. This Meds Made Easy program enables Hobbs Pharmacy to better identify adherence issues and to improve its collaboration with doctors; and


• Reddish Pharmacy in Nampa, Idaho, which worked with the leaders of the local school system to begin offering teacher flu clinics at local schools. In just the first month and a half, Reddish had booked 25 flu vaccine clinics at local schools, and in just the first year of the program, increased its vaccine business from 200 to more than 850 immunizations. Reddish also leveraged the Teacher Immunization Program to earn teachers’ prescription business by encouraging teachers to sign up for an auto-refill program and offering to deliver teachers’ prescriptions directly to them at school at no additional cost.