How Analytics Helped a Pharmacy Management Company Double Its Number of Stores in Just Four Months
Loren Pierce has been in the pharmacy industry for most of his life. Now the founder and CEO of Pierce Pharmacy Management, he got his start working for his local drug store at age 15. In 2009, he took ownership of Moye’s Pharmacy, a six-store independent pharmacy chain in Henry County, GA. Less than a decade later, he would be managing four times that many.
Legacy Processes & Growing Pains
When Pierce acquires a new pharmacy, he always endeavors to keep that pharmacy’s legacy intact. Same name, same team of employees, same devotion to building patient relationships and providing affordable care. But when it comes to one thing in particular, following the legacy isn’t always in the best interest of the pharmacy.
Computer programming pioneer Grace Hopper once stated she believed the most dangerous and damaging phrase in our language to be “We’ve always done it this way.” The legacy processes Pierce inherited from his acquired pharmacies did generate some useful data, such as negative profit reports, but it wasn’t enough. Pierce quickly realized that these reports were not adequate to keep pace with competition from bigger pharmacy chains and conglomerates. The pharmacy industry had changed since many of these pharmacies were founded, and in-depth analytics were necessary to keep up with the times. But that wasn’t the only issue.
As Pierce Pharmacy Management’s number of stores grew, so did the realization that operations would need to be streamlined. All stores needed to operate on the same systems to stay manageable. Without the right analytics and reporting system in place across all locations, continued expansion wouldn’t just be a hurdle — it would be impossible.
Answers Powered By Analytics
As a member of American Pharmacies, Pierce was introduced to the RxCOMPASS platform, with MYDATAMART comprehensive analytics. The platform offered an alternative to manual reporting and internal auditing. RxCOMPASS and the MYDATAMART analytics allowed his pharmacies to examine a wide range of data to offer critical business and patient insights. The difference was apparent within a short time of making the switch. “Having one platform with all the data in place helped with scalability and operations,” said Pierce.
With complete transparency into operations and patient care, Pierce now had a viable solution to help improve outcomes and put the focus back on the customers in each pharmacy’s community. For example, since RxCOMPASS could identify diabetic and insulin-dependent patients, it allowed for easier tracking of diagnostic testing, prescription fills, and prescription adherence for those patients. The data-driven outreach platform and customized reporting tools also gave Pierce the ability to generate “Refills Due” reports on non-compliant, lost, or missing patients.
Pierce’s strategy of assigning individual patients to specific pharmacy techs allowed the staff to maintain an element of inventory control. RxCOMPASS could even generate reports on those patients where affordability was an issue. That way, the pharmacy staff could assess if the patient could afford the copay or if they would benefit from a no-pay card that would help offset prescription costs.
Growth Accelerated
Since implementing RxCOMPASS’ comprehensive analytics, the staff at Pierce’s pharmacies can now pinpoint high-value patients for targeted outreach while building new revenue streams. In one case, the solution helped them determine which patients do not buy their diagnostic or medical supplies from their pharmacies. They then marketed to this specific segment with personalized outbound efforts, convincing these patients to bring all their medical needs under one roof.
RxCOMPASS also helped the pharmacies identify patients who were antibiotic-dependent. The pharmacy techs reached out to these patients through text messages in order to ensure medication adherence. The act also served as a “check-in” to make sure customers were happy.
Pierce also used RxCOMPASS data insights to increase his overall revenue by analyzing trends at a high-performing store to determine what that store was doing differently. He then used what he learned to bring non-performing stores up to that same level of performance.
RxCOMPASS, powered by MYDATAMART, has dramatically affected profitability for Loren Pierce and his family of pharmacies. Pierce directly attributes the technology for facilitating his business’s growth. Over the span of just four months, Pierce Pharmacy Management nearly doubled in size, expanding from 12 to 23 stores.
Pierce Pharmacy Management is the owner and operator of 23 independent pharmacies under six unique banners. Each pharmacy managed by PPM puts an emphasis on patient relationships, exceptional and affordable care, and active community involvement.
