PPN ideaShare 2024 Recap | Part One

Transcript

Announcer 2 (00:07):

At the Waypoint Company, our sole purpose is to empower independent pharmacy owners because we know you are the heartbeat of your community. We know the challenges you face, and that’s why we deliver new ways for you to thrive outside of the PBM model. From helping you keep your most valuable employees to providing proven ways to earn new, sustainable and profitable income, to simply saving money, we’re here to help your pharmacy thrive while protecting your financial independence. Waypoint is more than a company. Together with the pharmacy owners and communities we serve, we’re a movement. Together we are reclaiming resources, being stripped away by profit First people Last big business, Waypoint Company, your partner in prosperity. Join the movement today by visiting our [email protected].

Announcer 1 (01:08):

You

Announcer 3 (01:09):

Are listening to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.

Announcer 2 (01:24):

Welcome to the McKesson Idea Share podcast series post show. The pharmacy podcast network was partnered with the Independent pharmacy cooperative, better known as IPC, while in New Orleans at the 2024 event. Special thank you to the IPC team for hosting the PPN inside of their magnificent booth, and now recorded live in the big easy. You’re all invited too, as they say in New Orleans. Pass a good time with our host and founder of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Todd Yuri

Todd Eury (01:54):

McKesson and Idea Share 2024. One of the aspects of Idea Share that we get excited about is digging into some of the updates. They’re coming from Health Mart and I want to have our listeners understand some of those updates. I have a special guest. Please introduce yourself to our listeners and here at McKesson Idea Year.

Crystal Lennartz (02:18):

Yeah, thanks Todd. I appreciate you having me. I’m Crystal Leonards with Health Mart and Health Mart Atlas.

Todd Eury (02:24):

So talk to me about, I understand Health Mart. I have Health Mart friends in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Timothy Davis and his whole family had a health mart up in Beaver, Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful store. It’s transitioned through a couple of their family members now that is a theme of Health Mart over the years has been family. It has been keeping things within the community and empowering the community. However, you’ve also included technology updates, evolution of the programs. Talk to me about Atlas.

Crystal Lennartz (02:57):

Yeah, well, I’ll start with Health Mart from a franchise perspective, if that’s okay. And love to talk about Atlas as well. So Health Mart is our independent pharmacy franchise, but they’re all independently owned and operated and definitely a part of their individual communities and we’ve been talking a lot at the show about Health Mart perks, so essentially just exclusive discounts and access for our Health Mart members to things that they need to own and operate their pharmacy. So we’ve been highlighting a little bit of that here at Idea Share and then also talking quite a bit about Health Mart Atlas, which is McKesson’s PSAO. So a lot of our health marts choose to be Health Mart Atlas as well to help them with their managed care needs. So we do have several sessions here around some of the contract changes that we’re expecting for 2025 and kind of what’s on the horizon with some changes in the market towards Cost plus as well.

(03:55)

And then I know cashflow is also really top of mind for a lot of our owners. So we’ve been talking about different ways to make sure that the pharmacy is receiving and reconciling every dollar that they’ve earned. So we’ve highlighted a few additional programs as well. So McKesson Reimbursement Advantage, which pairs up pre and post adjudication edits. So the technology aspect of what you were talking about with a personalized monthly call from their advisor to help them optimize business operations. And one of the new things that we’re highlighting here is a brand new edit. So the technology component around payer transparency and ensuring the pharmacy and the patient has a choice when, for example, a claim may be submitted to a third party insurance but then rejected for a product or patient reason and automatically being converted to say a cash discount card and then putting that power back to the pharmacy and the patient to make the choice on how they want that to be handled.

Todd Eury (04:59):

Do you see any specific conditions that some of the programs have fit best in with regards to a diabetes management program or hypertension or something that is specific where some of our pharmacists gravitate towards becoming educators and then within that they’re still putting the technology and the administration behind it to best manage it?

Crystal Lennartz (05:22):

Yeah, not necessarily with the MRA, but more with one of the Health Mart perks that we’re talking about in the nutraceutical space. So as we think about those patients and their nutrient depletion and their needs, being able to meet all of the patient’s needs. So one of those opportunities is around fullscript, so it just helps enable the pharmacist to have a conversation with the patient around potential gaps or depletions or things that could be causing side effects that can be managed. So just looking at the overall whole patient and their needs, both prescription and over the counter,

Todd Eury (05:58):

How do we get additional health marts to tap into this new tech platform administration? Is it like telling the story from another pharmacy owner’s perspective to give them a testimony of how well it’s working? Is it time intensive for them? Is there an internal team from the McKesson Health Mart team that helps them kind of implement this? Talk to us about that side of it.

Crystal Lennartz (06:26):

Yeah, I would say always peer to peer is strong, and that’s what Idea Share is all about, bringing peers together and letting them share the ideas so they’d much rather hear it from a fellow owner than from any sell sheet that we might put out. So I think that peer to peer is powerful. We also have a group of what we call our VP pros. They’re here at the show on the RX Pro bar. They’re all ISTs and pharmacy operators, and they help support our different regions so they can go in and help assist our owners. It’s always the owner’s choice what they want to implement, but to have another expert that’s seen what works in other stores is also helpful.

Todd Eury (07:06):

Crystal, when I walk into this conference, it feels like I’m walking down Main Street in a small town and the setup that you have, the benches that you have, there’s a theme here, there’s an attitude here, and this year it’s extremely hopeful and there’s a lot of excitement. Are you picking up that same vibe here at Idea Year?

Crystal Lennartz (07:25):

Yeah, I’m just loving the energy on the show floor and I feel like that small town community feel is very akin to what our pharmacies and the communities that they serve. It does seem like there’s an optimism. There’s a lot of challenges that have been facing us as an industry, but I’m feeling a lot of energy, a lot of commitment from owners to try new ideas and share ideas with each other, which I think is why we have idea share. So I’m very excited about hopefully the momentum coming out of the conference. Yes.

Todd Eury (07:57):

Well, we are so proud to be here. We’re working with IPC on a bunch of different projects, especially with some of the clinical and digital health things that are happening, things that are outside of just a prescription specifically. What other things are you seeing happening within Health Mart with regards to cashflow opportunities that aren’t necessarily prescription driven?

Crystal Lennartz (08:21):

Yeah, I would say it definitely depends on that individual pharmacy and their community and the opportunities. One of the opportunities that we were talking about at the conference is really around ensuring you have an optimized front end and meeting those patients’ needs from an over the counter perspective and foster and thrive and talking about meeting the varying needs of the patient.

Todd Eury (08:46):

Thank you so much for participating in the McKesson Idea Share 2024. We hope to see you back. I think we’re going to be in

Crystal Lennartz (08:55):

Nashville Nashville next year. Yes, I’m super excited. Yes, very

Todd Eury (08:58):

Good. Thank you so

Crystal Lennartz (08:59):

Much. Thanks Todd.

Announcer 2 (09:09):

IPC Digital Health is an integrated virtual healthcare company that delivers member value added services through a profitable online, easy to use and end-to-end virtual healthcare solution. Digital health patients receive access to affordable care provided by board certified and licensed providers through a video conferencing software. Patients are offered many benefits such as a use of a diverse set of healthcare tools to treat acute illnesses, monitor chronic conditions, purchase and receive home health kits and remote lab diagnostic services. To learn more about IPCs digital health tools, visit myicareplus.com. That’s myicareplus.com.

Todd Eury (09:55):

The pharmacy 50 most influential people in our profession is a program. It’s a celebration that the Pharmacy Podcast Network launched three years ago, and Dave Randolph was voted as one of the 50 most influential people in pharmacy, and he’s standing here with me right now in the IPC booth here at the Idea Share McKesson Idea Share 2024. Dave, it’s so good to see you. Well,

Dave Randolph (10:21):

It was nice meeting you in person finally. That’s nice to actually put a name to a face outside of just online.

Todd Eury (10:29):

There have been people that have been part of our PPN organization as publishers and as hosts. Ben Ami, for example, hadn’t seen her in over six years and then finally got to meet her in person. It’s always great to actually see people face to face. Why are we here at IPC? What’s happening at the McKesson Idea share that drew you to this conference? What’s important to you coming to Idea Share?

Dave Randolph (10:56):

Well, idea share for me is kind of three different things. Number one, I can get CE credits, which I can get at home, but it’s nice to get some outside viewpoints and education that way. Second thing is I can bring stuff back, especially in my situation in rural Nebraska, bring new stuff that has not been seen in pharmacies or anywhere else, maybe online. People will see it and I can take things, pick out things that I think will work in my business, take it back, things will help out my patients, especially things like remote patient monitoring, which we’re doing now, and that’s a big part. But my favorite, absolute favorite is connecting with pharmacists and technicians from across the country that even though we may be from big cities, rural areas, poor communities, affluent communities, we all have one thing in common and that’s taking care of patients and taking care of our businesses. And it’s just a way to meet men and women in the same situation as me and finding out ideas from them on what’s working, what’s not working, and just supporting each other.

Todd Eury (12:03):

So one of the reasons I think that you were voted as an influencer is because you like to communicate with audience. You like to reach out to your community in creative ways. You use social media so well to communicate what’s going on in your pharmacy, talk to other pharmacy owners about leveraging social media.

Dave Randolph (12:23):

I am blessed with a daughter that takes care of all of my social media. We are on TikTok, we are on Instagram, we’re on X or Twitter, we’re on YouTube as well. And we were on Facebook, but during covid got kicked off for some unknown reason, haven’t been able to get back on, but it is a huge part and you really honestly don’t think that the older population, the boomers, even Generation XI would say are on there, but they are. And it is a great way for them to get information not only about you and your business, but their health as well. And that’s what we’re in pharmacy for, is to help people out. And so it has been a huge part of growing and seeing our business grow in that way. So if you don’t think that it applies to you necessarily, you might be surprised. I was. I

Todd Eury (13:15):

So what is your favorite platform? I used to be a big Twitter now X of course, fan. And then it’s Impact in Connection started to peel off and then the next one came up, which was Instagram. So that’s what I’m on most. Well, which one do you like to use the most?

Dave Randolph (13:33):

I honestly like TikTok, but Instagram is quicker as far as when you have a DD or you don’t have time, it is quicker just to get on there and look at it that way as far as that goes. But TikTok is my favorite as far as that.

Todd Eury (13:47):

Yeah, so alright. So in technology, when I think of remote patient monitoring, I think of some of the pharmacy management systems that are doing some crazy things. What is a piece of technology or a system that really impresses you right now?

Dave Randolph (14:01):

Well, right now we elected to go, well actually three months ago we elected to go with Gather Med and they have been number one, easy to start up. There has not been much cost associated with startup, which I’m sorry, during these times right now in pharmacy and in the country, costs are huge part of doing business. The other thing is they’ve been very great as far as customer service and things like that. It’s a phone call, an email, and they get back to you right away. But in our situation and in any situation, but in the rural situation especially, you have patients that don’t want to go to the doctor because they’re farming, they’re ranching, they’re doing whatever, or they can’t get to the doctor because of distance. Well, we can pull ’em up on the computer every day and look and see, oh, Todd’s a little high, or Todd blood pressure’s a little low. And we have made three dosage changes just in that amount of time to help patients out and to help the provider out. Provider’s been happy, patients have been happy and we’ve been happy being able to help them and also bring in extra revenue.

Todd Eury (15:09):

That’s incredible. Dave, I appreciate you being part of the McKesson Idea Share 2024 post show and we hope to connect with you at the next, what’s the next conference? Are we going to be going to

Dave Randolph (15:18):

NCPA in Columbus, Ohio?

Todd Eury (15:21):

Yeah, that’s our neck of the woods, so we’ll see you there.

Dave Randolph (15:23):

Alright, sounds good. Thank

Todd Eury (15:25):

You. Thanks,

Dave Randolph (15:25):

Todd.

Todd Eury (15:31):

Technology plays a big part of innovation in the business of Pharmacy and at McKesson Idea Share 2024. I’m excited to have Vince in our booth. Vince Leonard, Liberty Pharmacy Software. Thanks for being here.

Vince Leondard (15:45):

You bet, Todd, how are you? Doing

Todd Eury (15:47):

Really well. Good. How’s the show been?

Vince Leondard (15:49):

It’s been phenomenal.

Todd Eury (15:50):

You feel like energy here, isn’t there excitement that you’re picking up

Vince Leondard (15:54):

This year specifically? There is. It’s really nice. Our booth has been totally packed and I was like, oh wait, it’s over now today. So I was like, it kind of helps the time go by as well. So it’s great. A lot of talking with customers as well, so yes.

Todd Eury (16:07):

Well, I’ve been watching you for years. Matter of fact, I’m celebrating my 20th year in pharmacy this year, and I’ve known you for probably just about that long. And you’ve done some amazing things in tech and helping community and independent community pharmacy. One of the things that you’ve done is you’ve come up with an integration with the iCare Plus system through IPC. Tell our listeners a little bit about that.

Vince Leondard (16:32):

Yeah, so one of the things we did with Liberty, when we rebuilt our new platform, we wanted to have an open connected platform. Every pharmacy is different. And so what we did was we have two ways to do it, one through our API, but specifically what IPC is using is our software development kit on our toolbar. So it’s like a plugin is what we call it. So think of it as like a white space. Different vendors could use it for different things, but specifically what they wanted to do was when they’re in our Liberty platform, let’s say the tech or pharmacist doing something, and on the top of the toolbar we’ll have IPC’s iCare plugin named to them. It’s really nice because when they’re working with that particular patient and stuff, it’ll pull some of the data and they can click on it and it does a, goes right into portal. So they could go in and say, oh yeah, this is what I need to do with this particular patient, or something like that. So it makes it really easy for them to get into that platform and to alert them when they need to do something. Very cool. Very cool.

Todd Eury (17:30):

So what else is happening at Liberty that you would like to share with the listeners? Something that is coming down the pike, is there any secrets that you can kind of tell us a little bit

Vince Leondard (17:40):

About? Well, I can’t tell you the secrets. Nobody can do that one, but no. Yeah, one of the things we just launched was our mobile app. We completely revamped that. It’s called RX 365 Mobile, and it’s on iOS or Android devices. It’s for the patients. It’s to help our customers compete against the chains, right? So the patient can download it, it gets branded very easily to the pharmacy just by putting in their phone number. It’ll rebrand for that. And then they can see their whole profile, see the pictures on their drugs, refill requests. If the pharmacy wants to run a wellness program like immunization clinics or point of care testing kind of appointments, those will automatically, they do that in the pharmacy software and automatically back fees to the app and make those appointments available. Yeah, it’s really neat. They could upload insurance to cards that goes into the back end of the system. They can do transfer prescriptions and we’re going to have payments coming up very quickly as well. It’s probably within about a month on that one. So before they mail order it, they could pay it or before they deliver it, they could pay for it, like text to pay, that kind of thing like that.

Todd Eury (18:44):

It’s okay. built-in e-commerce system.

Vince Leondard (18:46):

Well almost, yeah. I’d like to get to that point. Absolutely. It helps the independents drive OTC cells. That’s awesome. Yeah.

Todd Eury (18:53):

Yeah. Vince, we always enjoy seeing you at the shows. Are you going to the NCPA in Columbus?

Vince Leondard (18:58):

We are. Yep. We see you. Trade show season. We’ll be there. I know.

Todd Eury (19:02):

Alright,

Vince Leondard (19:03):

So we’ll see you then.

Todd Eury (19:03):

Well thank you. Hey, how does listeners reach out and connect with you? What’s the best way to do

Vince Leondard (19:08):

That? Liberty software.com.

Todd Eury (19:09):

Liberty software.com? Yep. Alright, thank you Vince. Alright, take

Vince Leondard (19:13):

Care.

Todd Eury (19:19):

Chocky White. You’re the pharmacy owner at Medical Arts Pharmacy of Henderson. Welcome to the IPC Idea share McKesson Idea Share 2024 post show.

Chocky White (19:30):

It’s so good to be here. We are really enjoying being here.

Todd Eury (19:34):

So I want to congratulate you for being the MVP and how IPC has recognized your excellence in community service and being a community staple of health and how that’s changed over the years. Talk to us about that. What’s it like to be singled out as an MVP?

Chocky White (19:56):

Well, it’s quite an honor. We were totally surprised when we heard that there was a chance for this. But things have really changed over my long tenure being, I started my pharmacy in 1971 in Henderson, North Carolina and 600 square feet of space. And now we have a building that is a 10,000 square foot building with six pharmacies. I was the only employee for two years, and I gradually added on one employee as I needed. And my idea was always to have one more employee than I needed to give great service. So we knew the only thing that we had to give that the change didn’t have was great service. So we have tried to outperform them any way we could.

Todd Eury (20:47):

So other than the customer service aspect, what’s changed over the years in community pharmacy that you’ve kind of been able to follow to assure that you’re staying ahead of how other entities are delivering services to people that need pharmacy care?

Chocky White (21:04):

Well, we have always tried to find niches that we could get into that other people weren’t able to do or weren’t willing to do. We first started with durable medical equipment and sold wheelchairs, walkers and that kind of thing. None of the chains were able to do that. Or if they had those kind of services, they didn’t give personal attention to it. And we evolved from that to selling diabetic shoes. We have started with lift chairs, all of the durable medical equipment now, and like most pharmacies now, we’ve gotten into vaccinations. We have a mastectomy fitting department. So anything that we could do that would set us apart from the chain stores we tried to do.

Todd Eury (21:59):

Okay. Let’s pretend I’m a young pharmacy owner. I’m just starting out and I come to you and I say Chocky. Give me some advice as a pharmacy owner, especially in the realm of the competitive nature that we’re in right now and some of the things that are happening. What’s some of the advice you can give to some of the younger pharmacy owners?

Chocky White (22:18):

Well, my advice would be just give the absolute best service. Try to exceed the customer’s expectations. If you can do that, people will be faithful to you.

Todd Eury (22:30):

Chocky White IPC’s, MVP 2024 here at McKesson this year. This has been a pleasure interviewing you and we thank you.

Chocky White (22:39):

Thank you so much for having me.

Todd Eury (22:46):

McKesson Idea Share 2024. This has been one of my favorite shows because of the people that we’re talking with, and they’re the stars, they’re our servant leaders of pharmacy. And this next guest has been special to our profession. Doug Hoey, CEO of the NCPA, national Community Pharmacist Association. Welcome to the show.

Doug Hoey (23:08):

Thanks, Todd. It’s great to be here again. Always a pleasure to be on your show.

Todd Eury (23:12):

Yeah, well, it’s the show that the profession of pharmacy keeps putting more and more attention into or expanding beyond 40 hosts now with so many different themes. IPC has joined the network because they know that their pharmacy owners need to share more ideas about what’s making money and how to make better clinical programs that are easier to get paid for. And so there’s a lot of things happening at McKesson Idea share. What is the next phase of the growth for the NCPA, the National Community Pharmacist Association? I’m so excited about the 2024 show coming up in Columbus, Columbus in October. But tell us about the state of the nation with the NCPA right now.

Doug Hoey (24:01):

So we launched two weeks ago a campaign we call the Finish the Fight campaign that we’re really excited about. This is a public relations campaign, and for those who may not recognize the Finish the Fight label, they probably would recognize the leeches video. The PBMs are leeches video. That’s part of the Finish the Fight campaign and the idea behind the campaign. So this is something that our NCPA board, which is made up of all pharmacy owners, I went to them and we made this proposal to them because we are so close on PBM payment reform. And that’s what the industry desperately needs is some payment reform. We need some predictability, some stability and transparency in payment reform. And of course, NCPA doesn’t negotiate contracts. That’s not our role, that’s the PSAO role. But we are able to collect the voices of independent pharmacies to lobby in Medicare and Medicaid, which are government programs.

(25:01)

Still hard to do because two of those two programs are often farmed out to the private market. But still, that’s where there’s a voice in Congress to try to get something done there. And we’re so close with Medicaid reform, there’s legislation that’s passed the House of Representatives. It’s gone through all the committees in the Senate, and it would change Medicaid payments to NADAC plus a dispensing fee set by your state. And most states, there’s 14 states that have already done passed it on their own. And those dispensing fees are typically between $9.00, $9.50 and about $11 or $12. Not an amount that pharmacies are going to get rich on, but it’s certainly a lot better than getting paid below their acquisition cost 25% of the time, which is what our studies are showing. So it would provide some stability, transparency in a big chunk of their business, Medicare, which is twice as big of amount of business.

(25:57)

It would require reasonable and relevant contracts in Medicare, reasonable and relevant defined by who, defined by CMS with some oversight as to what reasonable and relevant is. So all that background, so close, we needed another push. The pharmacy community has been amazing in responding. They’ve been talking to the members of Congress, they’ve been reaching out to ’em. We want to enlist their patients. And that’s what the Finish the Fight campaign is about, is enlisting the patients to help finish the fight for PBM payment reform. So this campaign, the leeches is the most notable so far. PBMs are leeches. We tried to make the message really simple. We’re not going to try to explain PBMs to the average patient. They’re not going to, it takes a PhD to try to understand what the heck, I mean, most people can’t even spell pbm, let alone know what they do. What we say is a true statement. PBMs cause drug prices to go up. They’re making your prescription drugs more expensive. And so we’re asking pharmacies to recruit patients to respond. We have QR codes. We have a tool kit on our website, which is the ncpa.org website back slash finish the fight. We’re also have, we’re buying cable ads on major cable networks and so patients will see them directly.

(27:28)

This is something again that if we hope it’s successful, but if for some reason we don’t want to be looking in the rear view mirror and 2025 and saying, if only we had done just this one more thing, we wanted to make it just kind of leave it all out on the field. And I’ll say just the recent articles that have come out from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal support everything that we’re saying in this Finish the Fight campaign. So we’re asking, again, pharmacies to recruit patients, flash this QR code, put the toolkit, use the toolkit. There’s bag stuffers, there’s flyers they can put on their door just to recruit patients to just drown Congress in messages saying, do your job, finish the fight. Get PBM payment reform over the finish line.

Todd Eury (28:26):

Alright, that’s exciting. So what’s the theme for the annual event happening now in October?

Doug Hoey (28:32):

Yeah, it’s GPS is our acronym and it’s about growth. We really focused on the growth of pharmacies, not just staying the same, but growth from not only more profitable dispensing, but also growth from getting paid for services. We think you need both. I hear some people just talk about, oh, you’re going to get paid for services and that’s enough, but it’s not enough. We’ve got to get paid fairly for the dispensing that we do, which in itself is an incredible service that people often overlook. So it’s, we will be in Columbus October the 26th through the 29th. We’re excited to be in Ohio. It’s the first time we’ve been in Ohio. I don’t know since I’ve been around and I’ve been around for a while. So we’re super excited about that and we hope there’s going to be a lot of independence that are coming out to see, see us there.

Todd Eury (29:31):

You’re getting closer to Pittsburgh. Maybe I can get you guys to do an annual event in

Doug Hoey (29:35):

Pittsburgh. Well, one way to entice this is for all you Pittsburghers to come on down. That’s true. Come

Todd Eury (29:40):

On.

Doug Hoey (29:41):

Yeah. In invade Ohio for a few days, it’s three

Todd Eury (29:44):

Hours and we’re there and went. Don’t have to take a plane. Yeah. Excited.

Doug Hoey (29:47):

Yeah. Yeah. We hope it’s driving distance for a lot of people, but also people can fly in. Columbus has a good, easy airport. And that’s the whole thing. Should be an easy travel. Exactly. Just because experience. Yeah. Yeah, it should be. Which is not always the case these days.

Todd Eury (30:05):

I know. I know. Alright, so we are very thankful that you were able to give us some of your time here at Idea Share McKesson Idea Share 2024. Cannot wait to see you at NCPA 2024.

Doug Hoey (30:21):

Todd, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for, I’m glad we ran into each other here and we could make this happen.

Todd Eury (30:27):

Thank you, Doug.

Doug Hoey (30:27):

Yeah, thank you Todd.

Todd Eury (30:35):

McKesson Idea Share 2024 here with Kristen Rebe and Shawn Gove. It’s so good to see you both. Thank you for having the Pharmacy Podcast Network as your press partner for this event. I want to jump into a conversation. I’d like both of you to introduce yourself and give us a little background on what you do here at IPC. I’ll start with Kristen.

Kristen Reabe (30:57):

I’m executive Vice President of IPC and Chief Procurement Officer. I oversee the direct purchasing department as well as our indirect purchasing of generic pharmaceuticals through McKesson.

Todd Eury (31:09):

Shawn?

Shawn Gove (31:10):

Yep. I’m the Vice President of Pharmacy Select, which is an indirect contract that we supplement through McKesson for our members.

Todd Eury (31:17):

Alright, so I remember, I’ve been in pharmacy now 20 years, and the first time that I really got an idea of what a buying group did for pharmacy was a long-term care group. I can’t remember the name of it actually. They’re not even in existence anymore. And it was really educational for me to understand that the buying element, contracting with manufacturers, getting the right pricing, obviously generics is a huge deal and sometimes we forget about that with some of the, I want to say some of the more sparkly services that come out of buying groups. But let’s return to really the purpose of a buying group. And that is the buying power of our generics. Talk to us about your department and how IPC members are at a great advantage based on some of the strategies that you have in place.

Kristen Reabe (32:07):

So we do the contracting on two different ways. So we do it like Shawn said, that he oversees the indirect part of it where we are partners with another buying group and we have combined our resources and our buying power in order to negotiate better pricing that is then serviced through the wholesaler. And then we are also part of a buying consortium that we are part of on the indirect side. And if we were to try to go out and negotiate pricing on our own, we wouldn’t be as competitive. So by joining not only all of our pharmacies together, but also partnering with strategic partners in the industry, we are able to negotiate better pricing on their behalf so that they can remain competitive.

Todd Eury (32:50):

Shawn, what in an extension of that, do you feel that pharmacy owners, some pharmacy owners, maybe they’re not IPC members, for example, what do they miss out on by not dialing into some of the strategies and services that you’re providing?

Shawn Gove (33:05):

I think at times they’re just so busy with everything within their business that they just can’t get super granular with the detail and the data that we dig into on a daily, weekly basis. So that’s what we try to help members with and perspective and current and just try to show them that there’s opportunities out there that they might be missing. And if they’re not missing it, then we share success stories with other members as well too, because we’re all trying to make the independence grow and stay alive.

Kristen Reabe (33:36):

And I would also say that we work very closely with McKesson. We have every other week conference calls with them where we are working with their entire team from pricing to stocking. So having the relationship with them, and I’ve worked on this part for over 20 years, have had relationships over there for over 20 years. And now Shawn being part of the team and bringing his knowledge of the industry as well, we are working with them on supply issues and pain points of our pharmacies as well as serving as their watchdog. And that’s one of our greatest functions. We just had a meeting with them today talking about pricing and how we can work better to make sure that not only our pricing roommates competitive, but theirs as well, so we can be a source of information for them.

Todd Eury (34:16):

What about shortages and NDCs that aren’t as available as others? Talk to us about management of that and how you’re helping the IPC member.

Kristen Reabe (34:27):

On the direct side, because we are part of a large buying consortium, we are able to get access to products that maybe other secondary wholesalers aren’t able to. So when we see supply constraints, we sometimes have product that other people don’t. And so if they’re not able to get it from their wholesaler or a different secondary, they are able to get it from us. And Shawn can talk about on the indirect side.

Shawn Gove (34:51):

Yeah, it’s difficult. Right now we have over 150 manufacturers on contract from Pharmacy Select. So we’re fortunate to have multiple vendors on contract for most molecules. We have a preferred backup. And then we have ancillary ones on contract as too, as well too, just in case there is some kind of supply or shortage issue that we have somebody in place that we’re more proactive instead of being reactive.

Todd Eury (35:17):

Alright, so if you’re listening to the show right now, you are an IPC member, you have questions, please reach out to Kristen and Shawn if you’re not an IPC member, schedule time with Kristen or Shawn and really dig into your own business and find out what could IPC be doing for you that maybe either another buying group isn’t doing, or maybe you’re not part of a buying group and you’re out there on your own. And there’s a lot of intelligence, a lot of data, and a lot of people that are better at this than maybe you are as a pharmacy owner. I know that there are pharmacy owners who draw more towards the business development side or the social media side and the accounting. And of course the pricing is not their Bailey Wick per se. So that’s the strength of what IPC is able to deliver. So we really appreciate you participating in the post show and IPC is part of our networks. We can’t wait to do a special follow-up show with the both of you maybe on this weekend pharmacy.

Kristen Reabe (36:06):

Sounds good.

Todd Eury (36:07):

Great. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.