It’s all about performance

What are you doing to improve your clinical and business performance?

When almost 2,000 owners of independent pharmacies plus their staff gathered in New Orleans for McKesson ideaShare 2017, the focus was on ways to improve performance, drive profits and achieve even greater success. Sessions focused on key strategies for boosting clinical and business performance.

McKesson ideaShare didn’t gloss over realities: independent pharmacy owners are experiencing a challenging, uncertain environment. There is increased competition and consolidation. There is a great deal of change in healthcare and in the practice of pharmacy.

Yet despite these challenges, many Health Mart^® pharmacies are thriving. There are significant opportunities for success and growth, and McKesson ideaShare showcased numerous examples of creative and nimble entrepreneurial owners who are driving profitable growth by focusing on business performance.

Pharmacies that are succeeding are competing effectively for patients by providing superior care, satisfying all prescription needs and building strong relationships.

Key takeaways and strategies from McKesson ideaShare:

Clinical performance

• Performing well on quality metrics continues to matter greatly. It affects participation in networks, access to patients and DIR. Already, 40% of Health Marts are performing in the top 20% of pharmacies on at least one quality measure.

  But Star Ratings are constantly evolving, making it necessary to understand the changes and what they mean to improve performance even further. One area of focus: improving EQuIPP™ scores by identifying patients who are significant outliers and effectively managing these patients.

• Pharmacies with strong clinical performance are generating referrals from providers and have a strong proposition in partnering with providers on new types of clinical services.
• Effective implementation of med sync can help drive clinical performance. Med sync helps improve adherence by 27%.

Business performance

Business performance has multiple dimensions, including service performance, operational performance, financial performance and more.

• Once again, consumers rate Health Mart’s performance on service higher than the major chains. Health Marts are outperforming major chains in providing consistent personal service.
• “Sync savvy” pharmacies that excel at med sync have better operational performance. These pharmacies decrease their dispensing time by 57% and reduce inbound calls by 51%. Health Mart^® has created a performance team of med sync experts to help pharmacies implement med sync and realize the benefits from it.
• Pharmacies are improving their business performance by identifying and offering a broad range of new revenue-generating services that provide increased revenue and better margins than dispensing prescriptions. Examples include medication therapy management (MTM), expanding pharmacy services for patients with diabetes, chronic care management, immunizations, and patient education and counseling.
• Decreasing DIR. The better a pharmacy performs, the lower the DIR. McKesson has a new DIR Estimator tool, available in myHealthMart, to help pharmacies estimate and plan their DIR.
• Focusing on front-end performance. Pharmacies that are innovating and performing better on the front end are driving more traffic and profits. For instance, Parkland Pharmacy had people lined up out the door because it recognized an emerging trend — huge demand for fidget spinners — and acted quickly.
• Digging into financial performance. Multiple sessions focused on developing the processes and skills to understand your pharmacy’s finances, and to pinpoint what is driving success or causing challenges. Brushing up on the basics of income statements and cash flow can help diagnose problems and develop solutions to improve profitability. Sessions about financial performance also focused on key levers including improving labor productivity and managing inventory effectively.

McKesson’s commitment

A consistent theme throughout McKesson ideaShare was McKesson’s unwavering commitment to independent pharmacy.

Part of how McKesson and Health Mart^® demonstrate this commitment — and help each pharmacy perform better — is through a wide range of tools, resources, programs, support and technologies.

For more information about the best tools and resources for your pharmacy, visit the Health Mart^® Marketing Hub and speak with your RSM.

Note: The information provided here is for reference use only and does not constitute the rendering of legal or other professional advice by McKesson. Readers should consult appropriate professionals for advice and assistance prior to making important decisions regarding their business. McKesson is not advocating any particular program or approach herein. McKesson is not responsible for, nor will it bear any liability for, the content provided herein.