Most people think of data analytics as a tool for making better business decisions and improving efficiency. You look at what you’ve done, analyze the steps it took to get there, then decide if there is an easier or better way to accomplish the same. But when it comes to pharmacies, there’s one more thing you can do with data insights: You can make more money.
When used correctly, pharmacy intelligence can increase your store’s profitability while also helping with a few bottom line-affecting performance measures. Let’s see how:
Optimizing Your Prescription Fills
One of the first things you can (and should) do with a pharmacy intelligence solution is this: Analyze your fills. What prescriptions are due for a refill but haven’t been requested yet? Have you lost a patient, or are they simply slipping into non-adherence?
When you identify and follow up on missing refills, every prescription you gain back is money in your pocket. And when you sort your outreach list by the most profitable prescriptions, you can ensure that you’re getting the most ROI — both on the cost of the intelligence solution AND on your time.
[For example: On average, users of EnlivenHealth’s MyDataMart solution saw an 826 percent return on investment in April 2022.]
Improve Adherence & Pay Less in DIR Fees
DIR fees are a common frustration among pharmacists today. These fees come out of the sale of every prescription, and they are supposedly based on performance measures tied to adherence (though there is some debate in the industry over that last bit). One way to theoretically lower DIR fees is to improve your pharmacy’s standing in those performance measures.
The Star Rating performance measures are all tied to adherence. These ratings are based on the proportion of days covered (PDC) for medications treating diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. When those PDC ratings are higher, a pharmacy is supposed to pay less in DIR fees.
Also, improving patient adherence carries more rewards than just lower DIR fees. When your patients are more adherent to their medication plans, their health outcomes improve. They feel better. And it’s because of you. Just watch that patient loyalty and customer retention trend upward.
Improve Your Marketing Efforts with Targeting
When it comes to running a business, marketing can make or break your bottom line. But here’s the thing: Marketing isn’t necessarily limited to putting ads on Facebook or including a sale flyer in the local newspaper. You can use your pharmacy data to get the right messages to the right people every time.
A business intelligence solution like MyDataMart by EnlivenHealth® can help you build targeted patient reports that allow you to reach out to new patients, missing patients, and even patients by health plan.
In a recent article, we discussed a pharmacist who used MyDataMart to create a list of patients on a certain health plan for outreach. The plan provider had sent letters to her patients telling them that her pharmacy was no longer preferred and recommended other pharmacies in the area. Using that list, she personally reached out to those patients and saved them from needlessly switching pharmacies.
Even when it comes to marketing efforts, pharmacy intelligence has a role to play.
Business intelligence and data analytics can do so much more than just help you make better business decisions. With insights into your pharmacy data, you can increase your store’s profitability, improve your adherence ratings, and even boost your patient retention. Data is king, indeed.
