myHealthMart goes mobile

Many features of the myHealthMart online portal that have been helping Health Mart pharmacists and owners better manage their pharmacy business over the past year have been incorporated into a new mobile app that will be launched at the 2017 McKesson ideaShare meeting. The mobile app will be available for the Apple iOS platform at the conference; an Android app will launch later this fall.



“The mobile app is an add-on to the web application,” Kurt Seefeld, director product, mobile and digital solutions at McKesson, told Drug Store News. “The reporting experience is more user-friendly, more customizable and personal. Stores are able to set up their own personal dashboards to display the performance metrics for their stores.”



The team has integrated the new myHealthMart app with a legacy Health Mart program called Your Pharmacy Online. “In the native mobile app, the stores that are enrolled in that program are going to be able to manage their inbound patient online refills and send ‘refill ready’ notifications with the tap of a button,” Seefeld said. “We’re trying to build more connectivity to their patients into the app platform.”



And there is a new tool to help pharmacies optimize their generic purchasing. “In tandem with the launch of the mobile app, we’ve given customers the opportunity to see which generics promotions they’re currently eligible for,” said Emily Coulter, senior manager digital and mobile products at McKesson. “With this tool, they can seamlessly go over to McKesson Connect and purchase that product. It really helps customers optimize their purchase power.”



In addition to introducing a new mobile app, the myHealthMart team also has augmented its desktop offering significantly with a DIR fee estimator that uses PBM-informed algorithms to help forecast those DIR fees. In conjunction with AccessHealth, that estimate can help stores better plan cash flows, Seefeld said.



One new feature is a scorecard specifically for multiple-store owners. The scorecard is now customizable so that they can contrast and compare different metrics across their store base. “We wanted to make sure this tool acknowledges those customers and makes it user friendly for them.  We’ve created a comprehensive view that pulls together the different key performance indicators on their dashboard,” Coulter added. “So they’re able to select stores and which metrics they want to compare.”



The updated myHealthMart web system also now includes a new license expiration alert that notifies pharmacists about upcoming license expirations relative to their pharmacy operation.



Health Mart launched myHealthMart at last year’s ideaShare meeting, and since then the platform has been enabling pharmacies to proactively manage their business by providing access to personalized, up-to-date data, programs and insights for their pharmacy. “MyHealthMart was really intended to be that one-stop shop for all of our independent pharmacies,” Seefeld said.



And Health Mart operators quickly realized the benefits of myHealthMart, as evidenced by the fast adoption of the program. “More than 80% of our Health Mart stores are using myHealthMart to improve their performance and profitability,” noted Coulter. “Since launch, we have nearly 4,000 registered stores, bringing us up to more than 7,000 individual users for myHealthMart.”



The myHealthMart tool was designed at the onset to help integrate many of the digital tools available within the Health Mart and McKesson tool chest, including legacy programs and third-party integrations, Seefeld said. “We’ve seen two major areas of focus in the application,” he said, including clinical performance reports as well as an Operations Toolkit and Franchise Manual.



For example, in an effort to better showcase clinical performance scorecards, Health Mart has been working with the EQuIPP platform to showcase the Star ratings. Meanwhile the franchise Operations Toolkit includes other business-improvement strategies, such as how to introduce a successful medication synchronization program. “It’s a wealth of information,” Seefeld said. “We’ve seen a lot of traction from a resource standpoint of stores coming to us for guidance, help and support from our clinical staff.”



Judging from the testimonials to date, myHealthMart has proven to be a big hit. “Using myHealthMart not only makes me more proactive about managing my business, it helps me save money,” observed one Health Mart pharmacist. “The ability to track progress to our goals throughout the month enables us to take steps and correct issues proactively before it is too late.”  



“I’m not sure how we got along without the ability to see all the data from a variety of sources in one dashboard,” another pharmacist noted.  “You can check operationally, financially, clinically how you’re performing. And performance is where we’re headed now.”