Pharmacy Home Delivery Services (Continued)

Pharmacy Home Delivery Services:

In a recent blog post we discussed the fact that Pharmacy Home Delivery services were on the rise nationally. We all know that Pharmacy Home Delivery is really not anything new, but has been a service primarily utilized by the major Pharmacy Mail Order Houses and several of the large Pharmacy Chains for well over a decade or more. As we always urge our clients to explore additional revenue streams for their business, the addition of Pharmacy Home Delivery services has been proven to be a "value added service" that has vastly increased customer retention, acquisition of new patients and led to increased profits.In our recent post we alluded to a consumer survey that was conducted by the nationally renowned firm JD Powers on the subject of Pharmacy deliveries and how patients and customers viewed the trend. The survey showed that without a doubt the majority of consumers nationally viewed Pharmacy Home Delivery as a positive, plus overwhelmingly agreed that in the future this would be the norm for the industry. However, the JD Powers study also revealed what has kept many patients & consumers from utilizing Pharmacy Home Delivery Services at all (and prevented customers from using them more frequently). Consumer resistance to Pharmacy Home Delivery of their medications becoming the standard basically centered on three areas:1. Patients stated clearly that they have justified fear regarding delivery dates. Most of the vendors were not local, but spread "far away" and basically shipping the patient's medications and supplies from "out of the state". This was backed up by the fact that studies have shown that up to 5% of deliveries nationally do not actually occur as scheduled. Add into the equation the fact that both FedEx and UPS are affected by the weather and seasonal considerations, and one can understand the hesitancy expressed by consumers. Especially those that are on medications that cannot have dosages missed. As we all sometimes joke, who really believes the date we get at the post office regarding deliveries around Christmas time?2. Not only were the vendors located elsewhere and "out of state", patients expressed fear that the vendors were "too large". Many asked the same question: "Can you imagine trying to get an actual person on the phone to discuss a problem with or talk to?". Many shared from previous personal experience that the mail order houses and major Pharmacy chains were too large and that as a customer they felt they were just another "number' to them. In contrast, their local Pharmacy “promotes a personal touch” and treats them as neighbors and community members.3. Only a local Pharmacy could respond quickly enough to certain situations that arise: providing such medications like antibiotics & pain killers quickly (as that they are obviously not things that you can wait on), plus making dosage adjustments in a timely manner which is critical in many instances. Tying into this is the fact that the local Pharmacists are familiar with the local physician community (which again is impossible for Mail Order houses and large chains which are centralized in various parts of the country or in some cases actually located in another country!).The point to all of this is that the addition of Pharmacy Home Delivery services to YOUR Pharmacy business will lead to increased customer retention, acquisition of new patients and increased profits. BUT customers are informed and aware of the negatives. So HCC urges you to do it right! Call today and one of our experienced Pharmacy consultants will discuss how to overcome these challenges AND plan, execute and maintain a “First Class” Pharmacy Home Delivery Service for your patients and Pharmacy business!Healthcare Consultants is a nationally renowned full service Pharmacy staffing and consulting firm that has been in business for over 27 years. Owned, managed and staffed by full-time in-house Pharmacists, HCC offers a full range of Pharmacy Consulting Services that other firms simply cannot offer. Contact us on line or call us today for a Free Consultation at 800-642-1652 to discuss how we can help you.