Meet GCR and Use IPC Warehouse to Increase Profits
September 8, 2023
Last month in our 7 Steps to Improve Store Profits blog we talked about the importance of tracking your GCR and the impact it can have on your cash flow.
Many of you are already effectively tracking your GCR on your own or using a service like RxAssassins, so how can IPC support you to optimize your cash flow?
First, Be Great at GCR
We know you’re great at managing your GCR. You live it and breathe it. You know where to find your GCR in the fine print of your primary wholesaler contract and know where you stand in relation to your GCR
every day.
You like the daily exercise of calculating the amount you should leak to meet your monthly GCR. Even though you don’t make drug purchases every day, you feel more in control knowing exactly where you stand so you’re fully prepared to leak to a secondary when the time comes.
Why Leak to IPC?
As the nation’s largest group purchasing organization (GPO) for independent pharmacy, IPC leverages its purchasing power so your cost of goods purchased doesn’t break the bank. What’s more, many don’t realize that IPC is also a secondary wholesaler, giving you a vital purchasing option to help manage your GCR.
The cherry on top? IPC offers Brand items in addition to Generics, rare as a secondary wholesaler.
Jim Sajbel, Jr.
Prescription Shop, Pueblo, CO
Competitive warehouse pricing is a major focus for us. We continuously negotiate on your behalf and pass along those savings to you, giving you the chance to save today and save even more tomorrow.
You’ve Got the Edge
Warehouse Edge, that is. Leaking to IPC opens the door to savings beyond managing your GCR. By simply buying Generics from IPC, you unlock lower pricing on Brand. IPC tracks your purchasing progress for you, so you’ll always know exactly how much you need to spend on Generics to access these Brand savings.
Jenny Dang
One Pharmacy, Fountain Valley, CA
Let’s get specific. The Warehouse Edge purchasing tool features an easy-to-navigate three-tiered system to create 0.5% savings off your Brand purchases. The first level (bronze tier) unlocks at only a $2,000 spend in Generics for savings on your $50,000 leak in Brands. How much are you leaking in Brands and how much could you save if you were able to save 0.5%?
One IPC customer in July achieved the bronze tier which will translate into thousands in Brand savings over a year.
In this industry, you must spend money to make money. So why not save on what you spend?
Use Extra Cash to Future-Ready Your Pharmacy
By being great at managing your GCR and strategically using the IPC warehouse to save on Brand, you’ll feel good about your cash on hand. Now it’s a matter of putting that cash to good use.
Convert that cash into more cash by investing in additional services for your pharmacy. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, pharmacies became a trusted source for immunizations and testing, resulting in a halo effect for our industry. Take advantage of this effect and grow your business by investing in additional clinical services, such as:
- Medication Therapy Management (MTM)
- Chronic Disease Management
- Point-of-Care Testing
- Smoking Cessation Programs
- Telehealth Services
You’ll also want to earmark cash to withstand the one-two punch of the looming DIR hangover. While retroactive fees are going away on January 1, the fees themselves are not. The DIR fees will go from retroactive to immediate. This means you’ll be paying immediate DIR fees while also shouldering the remaining retroactive DIR fees for the first half of 2024.
The DIR Hangover will be a huge hurdle, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. But at least your savvy GCR management and smart IPC purchasing strategy puts you in a position to weather the impending storm.
One of our experts discussed this topic in a recent episode of the Pharmacy Crossroads Podcast with Bruce Kneeland. The fantastic feedback from this podcast has inspired us to create a companion blog series on how to develop an effective purchasing strategy. Look for this series to launch later this month!
