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In 2012, Express Scripts completed a $29 billion acquisition of Medco, to create the country’s largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM).  PBMs are essentially middle-men between the insurance and pharmacy.  PBMs manage and administer medication benefits of their clients (such as you), but also contain costs. Since insurance companies are not in the business of directly managing pharmacy services themselves, they contract with PBMs to coordinate and manage their patients’ insurance benefits for them. If PBM can do that at a lower cost, they save (make) money for themselves and the insurance company.

Mail order pharmacies are in a position to do this.  They are able to reduce costs through mail and lower overhead (no brick-and-mortar outlets).  With such an advantage in lower costs, mail order PBMs are quickly putting traditional brick and mortar pharmacies out of business.

Think of it this way, remember Blockbuster video stores?  Why do you think the neighborhood video stores are no longer around?  Think about Netflix, Amazon, etc.  Removing the costs of overhead and using the low costs of mail to get the movie in the hands of the consumer allowed those companies to bully other brick and mortar stores like Blockbuster out of town.

The same goes with your neighborhood pharmacy and the way the mail order industry is taking over.  Mail order is appealing to many patients because they can offer the medications at a lower price per month (even lower price if they get a 3 month supply).  This makes life a little more difficult for the physician.  Primary care physicians (PCPs) now have to give you a two prescriptions, one for a 3 month supply to give to the mail order pharmacy and one for your retail pharmacy.  Yes, mail order will acknowledge that there will be lag time and will allow you to get a 30 days supply 1x so you are not without your medication for that month (thoughtful, right?).  PCPs have worked around this extra work load and now happily write the duplicate prescriptions to help Medco hit their quarterly profit targets, I’m sorry, I mean to help the patients get the medications they need in a timely manner.

This is not the only problem that PCPs encounter with mail order pharmacies.  For example, physicians do not know the co-pay of every medication on the market, nor are they expected to.  There is simply no way for a doctor to know what level of coverage each patient has for their pharmacy benefits.  Many times the physician prescribe what they feel is necessary for the patient.  The patient then takes it to their local pharmacy and the pharmacist then submits the claim to the insurance company and gets immediate response on what the co-payment will be.  If the out of pocket expense is too high for th patient then the pharmacist will call the physician and discuss other alternatives to help save money for the patient, thus providing superior service to the patient.  With mail order pharmacy, unlike a retail pharmacy, when a patient finds that a prescription is beyond the means for them to pay, they simply can’t refuse the medication.  Once the prescription is filled, filed, and mailed, payment is expected.  There are no refunds or returns.   This typically leads to frustrated patients that seem to take their frustration out on the physician.  This is not the physicians fault, like I mentioned beforehand it is not the job of the doctor to know every patients pharmacy benefits.  This problem can be avoided by going to a local retail (brick and mortar) drugstore and having face to face interaction with a pharmacist to help you find the medication you need that fits your budget.

Physicians are willing to work with any brick and mortar pharmacy to go through pre-authorizations, medication substitutions, and other issues.  However, they do not like playing the the role of middleman and provide customer service for large companies (PBMs) that apparently aren’t doing a very good job of it on their own.

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Chalk one up for the little guy!!!  In a recent Consumer Reports study of 43,000+ subscribers, the top rated walk-in stores are independent pharmacies, not giant chains such as Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart.  So that leads to one big question, is your drugstore the right one for you?

Every individual’s drugstore visit is different, some go every month for maintenance medications and some go on an as needed basis.  Either way, you have a choice for what drugstore you want to use.  If you are the type of person that wants to drop off your prescriptions and get your grocery shopping done, then you need to go to one of the chains stores and that provides that type of service.  You will be able to knock out two birds with one stone, but you may be giving up some of the benefits that you are offered at independent drugstores.

Independent drugstores can offer you a personalized experience that most big chains cannot.  Customers are able to get the “Mayberry” experience at local stores.  Independent stores, unlike big chains, place a value on your relationship and not on your money.  You are more likely to develop a personal relationship with the staff at a local drugstore than you are at a big chain pharmacy.  A personal relationship tends to ensure great service.  Service that translates to shorter wait times for medications because independents want to maximize your relationship, not your visit.   They understand that you have other things to do in your busy day besides wait for your medicine, not to mention that people do not want to wait when they (or their children) are sick.

Local pharmacies can offer their customers more services than most big chains.  Free local delivery is a service that is primarily found at you neighborhood drugstore, not you big retailers.  When you feel sick or have a super busy day, home delivery is a service that you cannot put a price tag on, it is invaluable.  Another great service offered by local pharmacists is the ability to give immunizations.  This service offers you the opportunity to get your yearly immunization or travel immunizations without any appointments or office visit co-pays.  Be sure to check with your local pharmacy to see what valuable services they might offer that you didn’t know about.

Buying from a local pharmacy supports the local economy.  When a customer buys from a local drugstore it provides jobs for pharmacists, technicians, and other staff.  Not to mention, a large percentage of the money made stays in the community and does not go to some large corporate office located in another state.

In Conclusion, the Consumer Reports study shows that 41% of Americans purchase their medications at traditional chains, that is more than any other category of drugstore, yet readers were more critical of them than they were of independent pharmacies.  This leads to believe that consumers are unhappy with the big chains, but don’t want to through the process of switching to the independent pharmacy even though it is a more pleasing experience.  Why is that?  Is it possible that the customer has this perception that the process is difficult to transfer medications to another pharmacy?  Well, the reality is that it is not at all!  All that is required is to go to that local pharmacy and ask one of the pharmacists to call your current pharmacy and ask for your list of medications to be transferred to the new independent pharmacy of your choice.  We believe you will find that the services, friendliness, and relationship built with the local business far outweighs the convenience of being able to buy your groceries while you wait.

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We’ve made a few updates to our Services section, here are are just a couple of our updates.

Immunizations
We offer immunizations any time of day with no appointment necessary.  Vaccines include Influenza, Tdap, Hep A and many more.  We will bill your insurance where applicable.  Please call us at (479) 443-3411 to find out more information about the vaccines we offer.

Classrooms
We have a twenty person classroom equipped with tables, chairs, and (2) 55” televisions.  We offer complimentary wi-fi and TV connections for most computers or tablets.  If you need a place for a meeting, training class, bible study, or any other events please don’t hesitate to call us at (479) 443-3411 for a reservation.

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We’ve been in the development stages of our new website for months, and we are finally up and running! The new site has a much cleaner design, makes shopping our store easier and is more mobile friendly.

We appreciate you taking the time to look through the site!

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