Regional chains gathered at Southern Drug Store Association’s annual meeting
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Southern Drug Group on Lake Coeur d’Lane dinner cruise -
Tony Haba - Centor; Bill Ladwig - Lewis Drug; Jack Holt - Hi-School Pharmacy; Aaron Vandermillen - Hartig Drug; Doug Hoey - CEO NCPA -
Bill Osborn - Osborn Drug; Jack Holt Hi-School; Bill Ladwig – Lewis
The annual Southern Drug Store Association meeting was held at the beautiful Coeur d’Alene Resort in northern Idaho from Aug. 18 to 21.
Bill Ladwig, senior vice president of Lewis Drug, was the host of this year’s event, which was attended by CEOs, pharmacy executives and CFOs from Hi-School Pharmacy, Sav Mor Drug, Osborn Drug, Fruth Pharmacy, Lewis Drug, Hometown Pharmacy-Michigan, Drug Emporium, Hartig Drug and Auburn Pharmacy.
The meeting also included a select group of sponsors who were able to interact with the leaders of the regional chains. This year’s sponsors included McKesson, Cardinal, Capsa, Centor, Pharmacist Mutual Insurance and Anda.
[Read more: Patient-centric regional pharmacies play an important role in many small towns and communities throughout the United States
The active exchange of best practices and innovative ideas made this meeting a value to all who attended. Some key topics addressed this year were margin compression, 340B opportunities, new retail margin opportunities, labor concerns, pharmacist recruitment and driving state policies. Each chain had the chance to showcase new practices and areas of pharmacy or operations that are providing positive impacts for their company. Members left the meeting with some tried and true ideas to put into practice at their own company.
Doug Hoey, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association, attended as an invited guest and provided a brief presentation on current pharmacy issues, and Scott Cross, chief financial officer of Lewis Drug provided a presentation on measuring financial metrics in pharmacy.
In addition to two and a half days of meetings, members, sponsors and guests had an opportunity to play golf on the Coeur d’Lane course and enjoyed bicycle tours, fishing and spa activities.
[Read more: Retailers bolster specialty pharmacy capabilities as its role in the industry grows]
At the Sunday night event, held on the mountain overlooking the lake, host Ladwig passed the famous napkin to next year’s host Charlie Hartig, CEO of Hartig Drug. Years ago, a tradition was started of the host signing the napkin and then passing it on to the next year’s host.