Transpharmation Magazine - Issue 3

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

SEPTEMBER 2015

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GROW YOUR PHARMACY WITH GOOGLE & FACEBOOK Generate the change, rather than waiting to be changed!

IS YOUR PHARMACY STUCK IN THE DARK AGES?

LEADERSHIP LESSONS ON NECKER ISLAND

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Issue 3 | Transpharmation Magazine

TRANSPHARMATION BOOK W E ’ R E C E L E B R AT I N G O U R 1 S T A N N I V E R S A R Y

WATCH THE BOOK LAUNCH AT PHARMACY FREEDOM Over 4000 sold worldwide

HOW TO EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY TO BUILD A SMARTER, MORE SUCCESSFUL 21ST CENTURY PHARMACY BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE...

Finally, there is a book that delivers a simple, yet powerful step-by-step framework to help you easily understand the technology you need to ensure your business succeeds in today’s changing market.

Transpharmation also helps pharmacy owners like you decide on the best possible options for their individual needs. I wrote Transpharmation with the practical, real-world insights of a second-generation pharmacist.

As a pharmacist for 15 years, I have tested the boundaries of what technologies can be adopted easily into the pharmacy ecosystem and can pass this information on to help your business survive…and thrive.

If you have always wanted to embrace technology to help you build a smarter, successful and more profitable business, then this is the book for you.

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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CONTENTS Transp harmation Magazine | Issu e 3

04 05 06

About Transpharmation From the Editor How can I improve my Operational Efficiency? m

p

t

MY MONEY – GEOFF GREEN

5 steps to a ‘smart’ pharmacy exit

MY PHARMACY – ADRIAN COSMAN-JONES

Small Business + Cloud = Big Business Benefits

MY TEAM – IRENE HAZILIAS

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MY PATIENTS – KYLIE BARTLETT

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INNOVATION – CATHIE REID

If you’re not on social media you’re not in business

Leadership lessons from Necker Island

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MY PARTNERS – LUKE FITZGERALD

www.transpharmationmagazine.com.au

Is your pharmacy stuck in the dark ages?

How can I create a Patient Centric Business Model?

AUSTRALIA’S FIRST PHARMACY & TECHNOLOGY PUBLICATION

Dose Administration Aids: Outsource to capitalise on about-to-explode demand

CONTACT Editor: Robert Sztar rsztar@pharmactive.com.au Advertising Enquiries: magazine@pharmactive.com.au The Transpharmation Magazine is published 4 times each year by Pharmactive Pty Ltd © 2015 Pharmactive

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How can I leverage Smart Technology in my business?

Pty Ltd. All Transpharmation Magazine material is

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IT SYSTEMS – PATRICK REID

mitted without the written permission of the publisher.

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MOBILITY – ROBERT READ

a

AUTOMATION – ROBERT ALLEN

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Just not that into technology?

Pharmacy leverages technology to communicate with patients: 7 Lessons from early adopters

Generate the change rather than waiting to be changed!

The 4 Keys you need to keep your Pharmacy Doors Open in 2030 Are you tuning in to the Transpharmation Show?

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copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part is not per-

Pharmactive Pty Ltd

Founder & Chief Transpharmation Officer: Robert Sztar 23 Milton Parade, Malvern VIC 3144 1300 798 995 www.pharmactive.com.au ACN: 107 301 262

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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Issue 3 | Transpharmation Magazine

WHAT IS TRANSPHARMATION MAGAZINE? It is a multimedia e-magazine designed to provide pharmacy owners like you with easy to follow and accessible educational resources to help you understand the functions and applications of the latest technology. It is the only e-magazine of its kind created by a pharmacist for pharmacists.

Transpharmation demystifies the evolving landscape of technology that will help you increase profits, design remarkable patient experiences, and scale your business to its infinite potential.

HOW DO I BEST NAVIGATE THE E-MAGAZINE?

In each issue, you will discover and receive bite sized strategic insights that you can used to maximise your biggest opportunities in 9 critical areas that are pivotal to a sustainable and thriving 21st century pharmacy: Your Money, Your Pharmacy Operations, Your Team, Your Patients, Your Partners, Innovation, IT Systems, Mobility, and Automation.

Your best place to start is the ‘Contents’ page, click HERE to go there now, you can click on each of the sections, and you will be auto-magically transported to that area of the publication. You will also notice a ‘BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE’ button at the foot of each page, which will return you to the contents page.

HOW DO I KNOW WHICH AREA’S I SHOULD FOCUS ON?

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You will notice this Icon at the top of each article which if you click on it will take you to the ‘Pharmacy Freedom Index’ which is a 7-10 minute FREE diagnostic test that will help you discover your area’s of opportunity.

The short video below will tell you a little more.

EACH OF THE 9 SECTIONS INCLUDE A SUMMARY ARTICLE, AND IN MOST CASES AN EXTENDED INTERVIEW WHICH YOU CAN LISTEN AND EXPAND YOUR EDUCATION. WE AIM TO CONSTANTLY REVIEW AND OPTIMISE OUR BEST PRACTICES TO ENSURE THAT YOU FEEL CONFIDENT THAT YOU HAVE THE TOOLS TO HELP YOU RE-CONNECT WITH YOUR PASSION FOR PRIMARY HEALTHCARE AND DESIGN YOUR LIFESTYLE BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE PHARMACY.

WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE THE PHARMACY FREEDOM INDEX? Simply click on the image to watch instantly.

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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“

FROM THE EDITOR When I f irst started out as a pharmacist my goals were to help patients like my ill grandparents connect with health solutions that enabled them to stay in good health for as long as possible.

A

t this time, this was achievable

Our pharmacy landscape around us is

perhaps said it best when he captured the

only in the analog and physical

changing rapidly, and to survive (and thrive)

essence of disruptive thinking: “One has to

world, where patients would

we must quickly assess our key challenges

passionately believe it is possible to change

visit us in our pharmacies to

and decisively turn them into opportunities.

the industry, to turn it on its head, to make

receive care and signpost their primary

The impact of the 6CPA despite the early

sure that it will never be the same again.”

healthcare journeys.

rises in profitability, only reinforces the

We are extremely fortunate to share Cathie

Over the past 16 years, in working across

slow death of the transaction economy for

Reid’s leadership lessons from Richard

pharmacy where we gleaned our profitability

Branson and Co. from her visit to Necker

from purely the timely supply of medicines.

Island.

Supply is still a core function of a 21st

In Transpharmation Issue 3, our panel

community, hospital, and international practice settings, I have seen a seismic shift in the ways our patients choose to interact with their pharmacist. Their journeys to procure pharmacy products and to receive services are no longer linear ones.

Our patients now live in an ‘omni-channel world’ where the lines dividing physical and digital are increasingly more blurred everyday. The digital world in particular offers a world of healthcare information, and detailed healthcare data (through wearable

Century pharmacy, but with the reduction in profit per prescription we must reduce our operating costs per prescription by automating, delegating, or eliminating nonpatient facing business processes. In this Issue, Robert Allen (CEO - Dose Innovations) will share with you a detailed overview of the 6CPA impacts, and what actionable strategies you should deploy without further

technology) at the click of a button, which

delay.

has the potential to drive a richer, more

Transformation of your Pharmacy requires

collaborative health conversation between

strong leadership, and cannot be

patient and healthcare provider than ever

delegated to a team member, consultant,

before.

or an external company. Richard Branson

of experts have ensure that you will be challenged, and asked to think differently.

From planning your ‘smart’ pharmacy exit, to harnessing the power of world leading platforms like Google & Facebook, and innovative pharmacy IT systems your bright future is awaiting, you only need to reach out and grasp it.

I believe there has never been a better time to be a pharmacist, and through technology and innovation we are all able to better help our patients connect with health solutions that will enable them to stay in good health for as long as possible.

CHECK OUT MY SHORT VIDEO Simply click on the image and be directed to the video URL

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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MY MONEY

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY? Create Cash Flow

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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My Money | How can I improve my Operational Efficiency?

How do I rate for My Money? Click here to find out!

5 STEPS TO A ‘SMART’ PHARMACY EXIT HOW WILL YOU LEAVE YOUR BUSINESS? WILL THEY HAVE TO DRAG YOU KICKING AND SCREAMING FROM YOUR DISPENSARY? OR WILL YOU BE MORE LIKE A BULLET OUT OF A GUN WITH YOUR GOLF CLUBS TUCKED UNDER YOUR ARM? Well, you might not be ready just yet to sell it on, pass it on or move on but this is something you need to think about. Geoff Green, lawyer and author ‘The Smart Business Exit’ says that by taking five key steps now, we can prepare for a successful exit as soon as you’re ready.

The only thing worse than the wrong exit strategy is no exit strategy. Without an exit strategy, everything you’ve worked hard for is at risk. I’ve helped a lot of entrepreneurs in high-growth sectors build value in a business and then realize that value through a good exit. The ending is as important as the build. Those exits that don’t go well – where the business owner doesn’t get what they would like to get out of it – are always down to a lack of preparation.

Finance for Pharmacies

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Call 0418 310 154

peter@petermcadamfinance.com.au www.petermcadamfinance.com.au Back to Contents Page

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My Money | How can I improve my Operational Efficiency?

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START NOW

We often avoid talking about exiting our businesses until it’s almost time to do so. But by then it’s not always entirely our decision, perhaps due to ill health, family circumstances or the economy. If your exit creeps up on you, you won’t be ready to make the right decisions and no matter what shape you think your business is in, when you come to retirement, succession or selling up, you’ll find a lot of

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We’ve all bought and sold houses in our time. When we’re about to go on the market, we always fuss over it like never before: tidy up the garden, fill the cracks, repaint, repair the windows, fix all those things we’ve let slide for so long. We look at it with a colder, more critical eye; we do all sorts of things to make it as attractive and valuable as possible to someone else.

We need to start looking at our pharmacy businesses as if we want to maximise its sales value. If you love your business like a family member and forgive all those quirks, cracks and patch-up jobs, no one else will.

nurtured a pharmacy for 20, 30 years, nursed it through a few crises, then you’re highly invested in it. You’ve spent a big proportion of your life building it; you’ve watched it mature, you’re proud of it. Plus, you’ve made a lot of connections in your local community in your workforce; you’re

known and respected. Letting all that go can be hard. But I cannot advise you strongly enough: put your hardhat on, steel yourself and start looking at the business in a business-like way – as a prospective buyer would. It often helps to have a third party adviser to help you do this.

DON’T BE THE BUSINESS, BE THE OWNER

So what would a potential buyer think of your business? What’s valuable? What concerns them? Do you even have a business? Or, are you the business?

Many pharmacy owners hold such a lot of knowledge in their heads that in fact they hold 90% of the value of the

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things that need fixing. If you start fixing these now – six months, 12 months, three years, five years in advance – you’ll be ready to leave exactly when you want, how you want. If you’re selling in five years you have time, but if you just wake up one day and decide to move on, you’ve got much less time to actually deal with those issues.

So this whole concept of thinking like a buyer I think is really fundamental to this whole area.

GET YOUR SHOP SHIP-SHAPE

KEEP A LID ON YOUR EMOTIONS

The whole concept of exiting can cause a lot of stress. We know retirement and succession planning is something we really should be thinking about, but it raises all sorts of tough issues, and it can send you on quite an emotional roller coaster. If you’ve set up, slaved over and

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business. That’s why all the customers want to talk to us. But ultimately, it’s not that a valuable asset in the business; a prospective buyer won’t be buying you, they’ll be buying the business. So you need to find a way to transfer your expertise. Use smart systems and smart

technology to unpack the knowledge centre in your head and systemize it; make it accessible to your entire team and therefore more valuable. The less dependent your business is on the expertise and personal relationships of a few people the more saleable it is.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO FREE YOU UP

Even if you’re not planning to leave your business for another decade or two, automation and technology-enabled knowledge transfer are still valuable steps to take. Technologies to assist you prepare Dose Administration Aids (DAA) can improve your efficiency and create new revenue streams. Dispensing robots and inventory management systems can make you more efficient, free you

up from repetitive tasks and give you more time with customers imparting the skill, experience and knowledge that your customers value. Instead of dealing with all the nuts and bolts, the admin, the repetition, you can spend more time doing the stuff you like doing: the customer-facing stuff, the high value stuff, using your expertise to help your clients.

TUNE IN TO THE SHOW

So hopefully when you do come to sell, a buyer will see a technology-enabled, forwardlooking business being run eff iciently and prof itably, with growth potential.

Technology can play a big part in creating a more desirable, higher value business both while we’re running in and when we’re done.

with Geoff Green Simply click on the speaker icon.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW 8 |

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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MY PHARMACY

HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY? Building Systems

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My Pharmacy | How can I improve my Operational Efficiency?

How do I rate for My Pharmacy? Click here to find out!

SMALL BUSINESS + CLOUD =

BIG BUSINESS BENEFITS

Adrian Cosman-Jones, CEO - Onsite Helper takes us brief ly back to the awful days of ‘The Upgrade’ to show us how far IT for small business has come with the Cloud. He explains how Google is still the best choice for small businesses that want big gains on productivity, c o l l a b o r a t i o n a n d s e c u r i t y . Yo u r g o l d e n e g g s a r e i n t h e C l o u d a n d G o o g l e i s y o u r b e a n s t a l k .

R

emember the days of ‘The Upgrade’? You’d get a new box every few months or so with some CDs and you’d have to put them into your PC and just hope that everything somehow got upgraded. As the business owner, you’d have to set aside a significant chunk of time for The Upgrade, frustrating downtime that took you away from customers, staff and workflow. The last thing you need when you’re managing a business is trying to work out how all the bits and bobs and all the cables fit together.

What you longed for was an IT expert like me, or a few techies to roll it all out for you, sort out the problems (there were always problems) so you could just crack on with business. To add insult to injury, The Upgrade was always an expensive thing to have to do. Things have changed. Upgrades and updates now come through the Cloud, wherever you are, and you hardly even notice. They’re instantaneous and seamless.

No downtime, no hassle, no charge.

CLOUD + TOOLS = PRODUCTIVITY BOOST The Cloud is all very well but there’s no point just having things in the Cloud if all your communication, collaboration and workflow tools are still old school. You need to have a Cloud-enabled productivity suite that you can access anywhere, anytime.

It’s not a war on paper, it’s the need

to dynamically respond to challenges and opportunities in our business by having productivity tools available to us anywhere, any time. The ability to effortlessly delegate and collaborate is an entry-level demand in the 21st century. At the moment, experts agree, nothing beats Google.

CLOUD + DATA = SECURITY STEPS Let’s face it: Google is always going to have a lot better security than any of us.

They pay hackers thousands of dollars to try and break into their systems. Nice work if you can get it. But if there’s any vulnerability in Google’s setup, it pretty much gets found and fixed straight away. Obviously you’re still vulnerable to phishing emails, viruses or personal hacks, especially if you have weak passwords or use the same password

for everything. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself. The simplest way I know of is to download Google’s Authenticator app; basically it remembers you. If anyone else tries to log into your Google account from another computer, they’ll be prompted for an authenticator code, which only you have on your phone. It’s simple two-layer security authentication, but it’s effective.

DOCUMENTS + SHARING = COLLABORATION When we implement Google apps for small businesses, one of the biggest benefits we notice is improved collaboration. Business owners, their staff, even their clients and suppliers, can start collaborating over documents in real time. Whereas previously,

you’d email a document or spreadsheet to a colleague and the colleague would input their changes and email it back, giving you two versions, then three then four and so on. It was always a bit of a challenge trying to work out which version was which. But

TUNE IN TO THE SHOW

Google Docs and Google Sheets, you just send your colleagues a link to an online spreadsheet or a Word document, and they edit that document in real time through their browser – wherever they are, whatever device they’re on.

with Adrian Cosman-Jones Simply click on the speaker icon.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW 10 |

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DOCS + SHEETS = MOBILE ACCESS Not everyone has to be in the same place at the same time. If you do have a team that is spread out, or multiple pharmacies and a head office, Google can transform the way you work. No one’s downloading attachments or uploading new versions any more. There’s just this one document sitting in the Cloud that everyone’s

GOOGLE SITES = FAST SHARED ACCESS Google Sites is an app that you can treat pretty much as your own intranet.

It allows you to describe and store all your documents in a nice logical folder and sub-folder kind of structure which looks like your own internal website.

And because it’s Google, it’s keyword searchable and very fast.

dipping into – at the same time if they want to. And if you wanted people to not modify your document, just give feedback, with Google Docs (like Word) and Google Sheets (like Excel), they can highlight areas of text and add comments.

You get a notification that someone has commented your document, and then

you can approve those changes or start a conversation thread. Imagine doing your accounts this way, collaborating with your accountant. Imagine how easy it would be to update your Quality Care Pharmacy Program Operations Manual, giving staff different levels of access to the documents.

HANGOUTS = EFFORTLESS COMMUNICATION Hangouts is an instant messenger that sits in your browser when Gmail is open; it allows you to write short messages to other users. So if you operate in a multistore environment, it’s really useful for nonurgent communication between stores.

You don’t necessarily want to be calling each other all the time because you’ve got

to come away from serving a patient. So instead of sending an email or making a call, you send a Hangout and when people return to their computer they just get this little pop up message and send one back to you. Skype-type video calls are also possible between people on their phones for those calls that do require face to face.

HANGOUTS ON AIR = IMPROVED ATTENDANCE In pharmacy the average staff meeting gets an attendance rate of around 25%; because of opening hours and long working days, it’s virtually impossible to get all the staff to come together at the same time. With Hangouts on Air you can record meetings, training sessions

or seminars and share them with people that couldn’t attend. Or if you have regular meetings with people in remote locations, go for Google Chromebox – a videoconference unit (webcam, speaker and microphone) that sits in your meeting room connected to a projector or TV.

GMAIL = EMPTY INBOX When was the last time you had a completely empty inbox? Inbox Zero?

Where you can literally open your email and there’s nothing there, all dealt with and filed but available to access if you need to? Well Outlook does not make this very achievable: you’re flagging emails, sending read receipts, deleting them or filing them in folders you’ve

GMAIL = DELEGATION made. Steps that add a teeny bit of extra time, steps we do dozens of times every day, thinking they’re making us more productive but ultimately making us less productive. Gmail can automatically filter emails into different folders and labels as needed. With Google’s powerful search capabilities, you don’t file any more, you just search for keywords.

And no you wouldn’t need to have a @gmail.com address. You can keep your domain name as it is, so, no one will know that you’re using Google Apps: your professionalism remains intact. Funny how people think a Google email address means a small business is not playing in the big leagues, when in fact it probably means you’re playing smarter than anyone.

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In most of the pharmacies, there’s always the central email address that typically acts as the hub point for all email communication in the business. Gmail has a great feature called email delegation, which is the secure way to give multiple users access to that central inbox. If a new email comes in and one of your staff members reads it, the email gets marked as read. Or if you read an email and don’t have time to reply, you mark it as unread so everyone else will know it still requires action. So, it’s like everyone jumping on the one computer and working with email, but from their own device or desk. This kind of collaborative inbox works very well for systematisation and efficiency.

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It’s predicted that nearly 9000 jobs will need to be cut in pharmacy this year.

Cutting staff will boost short-term profits, but it’s not the best long-term approach.

View our whitepaper for tips on reducing costs whilst retaining the staff you have invested in.

GET THE WHITE PAPER

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My Team | How can I improve my Operational Efficiency?

How do I rate for My Team? Click here to find out!

IS YOUR PHARMACY STUCK IN THE DARK AGES?

BY IRENE HAZILIAS PHARMACIES HAVE COME A LONG WAY SINCE THE 1600S. IN THE OLD DAYS, CUSTOMERS FILED INTO A DIMLY-LIT ROOM, FULL OF WOODEN SHELVES STACKED WITH MYSTERIOUS REMEDIES IN GLASS JARS. THE PHARMACIST STOOD BEHIND THE BACK COUNTER, WAITING TO DISPENSE THE MEDICINE.

Today, some pharmacies are staying with the more traditional model. But we’re seeing other pharmacies totally reinventing themselves. All the changes they are implementing add up to a very different business model — it’s a new way of serving your customers that also

provides relevancy for your pharmacy moving forward. But, for that business model to work, you need the right HR systems backing you up.

patient’s home, and talks through all the medications they’re using. The pharmacist discusses any recommendations, and writes a report back to your GP about any changes to your medication program.

school timesheets are not going to cut it, because they live in binders in your office and you can’t bring them all together and generate the sort of stats you need to make good decisions. We recommend a time-capturing system that uses biometric scanning and includes an app your staff can clock in on - right then and there.

So let’s dive in to see what all this reinvention is about and what it could mean for your pharmacy.

‘OVER THE COUNTER’ TO ‘OUT AND ABOUT’ In an old-school pharmacy, you waited for the customer to come to you. All the business was done within the four walls of your store.

Now, we’re seeing pharmacists getting out into the community. For example, some pharmacies are offering a Home Medicine Review. A pharmacist comes to the

What this means for your HR systems: You want an accurate record of how much time your staff spend on this service. Old-

‘DISPENSING MEDICINE’ TO ‘CREATING WELLNESS’ Today’s pharmacies have opened up to bring complementary services under the one roof. It’s not just filling prescriptions: it’s treating the patient more holistically.

You’ll see pharmacists working alongside naturopaths, aromatherapists and more.

Pharmacists are doing more than ever before to help people manage chronic illnesses, or just find out how to look after themselves. The Home Medicine Review is just one sign of what’s in store.

What this means for your HR systems: You need a rostering system that can meet the challenges that comes with a diversified business model. You can read more about what that looks like here.

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Something else to consider: have you got all the employees on the right award?

For example, pharmacists and assistant pharmacists fall under one award.

Aromatherapists fall under another.

The moment you introduce multiple awards into a practice, things get complicated. It’s very easy to underpay staff — and risk the consequences.

That’s why it’s worth using staff management software featuring award management: it does all the calculations for you. Some versions even automatically update the award. So you can be confident your staff are getting paid right.

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My Team | How can I improve my Operational Efficiency?

‘SELLING PRODUCTS’ TO ‘DELIVERING SERVICES’

easyEMPLOYER is currently offering a FREE workforce management health check for pharmacies valued at $1495.

Underlying all of these changes, we’re seeing a fundamental shift away from selling products, whether that’s remedies in glass jars or pills in packets. With so many pharmaceutical products available online, smart pharmacists are carving out a niche that e-commerce can’t reach: delivering services.

It’s a great opportunity to get an assessment of the way you currently manage your staff and how it can be done better.

“Moving to a service model demands a rethink in what pharmacy managers expect from their staff. Staff will now have to sell services to consumers, not just hand over products.”

Sometimes the service component is obvious, like Home Medicine Reviews.

Other times, it’s more subtle. For example, Outback Pharmacies sell home blood-pressure monitoring equipment.

That’s a product. But what about the time your staff spend teaching patients how to

CHECK IT OUT

www.easyemployer.com

use the monitor? There’s the service.

staff to be jotting down every five minute

What this means for your HR systems: You want to know how long your staff are spending on this part of your business.

conversation they have with a customer.

Day-to-day, it may not make sense for

multiply that across your practice.

patient comes up and asks for cold and flu medication. Your pharmacy assistant asks a few questions. They find out that the patient is also on Effexor (which can have major serious interactions). So they call the pharmacist for advice. That kind of interplay between staff members is embedded deeply into the standard pharmacy business mode. It can only expand with newer services calling on a broader skillset. When you’re costing out each service, make sure you’re capturing all staff who have a supporting role in providing that service.

the data in timesheets in binders, stuck on a shelf. Here, you have the data, but accessing it and leveraging any kind of intelligence is practically impossible.

One solution is to run a few test runs, where you do monitor that time, and

WHAT’S THE BUSINESS SENSE? When we talk to pharmacists, we’re seeing creative approaches to expanding what pharmacies can offer their patients. That growth is going to continue. But we don’t just want to see a growth in services — what about growth in revenue?

ADVICE FROM THE PHARMACY GUILD The Pharmacy Guild has released some pricing advice to get us started. Their website states that new services are priced by taking into account: 1. The salary of the person providing the service 2. The space, infrastructure and equipment required 3. The expected time to be spent 4. The value to the consumer, including convenience and access 5. Alternatives and the competitive environment of the pharmacy.

Most pharmacies’ accounting systems are set up to handle the costs of inventory, and bricks and mortar. What about the other half of the equation? How are you managing your labour budget?

HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY PEOPLE: WHO’S INVOLVED? For almost any service that your pharmacy offers, there can be more than one staff member involved. Let’s say a 14 |

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

HOW LONG WILL THEY SPEND: BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE? Estimating how long your people will spend delivering services is only the first step. What do you do with this information? How do you know if the projected cost reflects how long people are actually spending? And how would you gather this information reliably?

“Automation saves managers time.

They instantly know exactly what staff they need, at what skill level, and when. They’re not caught up in admin. When you reclaim time wasted on admin, you can use it to work on adapting or enhancing your pharmacy for the new service model.”

The old-school approach is to just store

YOUR STAFF MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MUST ALLOW YOU TO DO TWO THINGS: 1. Forecast wages across your organisation for the coming weeks or months 2. Compare actual expenditure with projected costs, so you can gauge whether you need to review your prices to stay profitable.

As your pharmacy’s business model gets more sophisticated, you need HR systems that are up to the challenge. You need a solution that lets you analyse past trends and project into the future. You need visibility across your whole workforce, or drilling down into each segment of your staffing profile. To really know if the price is right, you need the right workforce information at your fingertips.

i FOR MORE INFORMATION Irene Hazilias is the Client Relationship Manager at easyEMPLOYER. You can keep up with her, and everything happening in the Pharmacy industry, through her weekly blog.

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MY PATIENTS

HOW CAN I CREATE A PATIENT CENTRIC BUSINESS MODEL? Create a remarkable patient experience’

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My Patients | How can I create a Patient Centric Business Model?

How do I rate for My Patients?

Click here to find out!

MY IF YOU’RE NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA YOU’RE PATIENTS NOT IN BUSINESS When you set up your pharmacy, did you think twice before installing a telephone system? Did you demand a return on investment from it? No. And that’s how Kylie Bartlett, Social Media Strategist, Author and creator of the ‘Facebook Business Bootcamp’ wants us to start thinking about social media. So stop wondering ‘whether’ and ‘if’ you should use it in your business, and start thinking about ‘how’ and ‘when’.

Back in the day, social media was called ‘pen pals’. As a teenager every Sunday night I sat down to write a letter to my pen pal in Poland. I’d post it on Monday morning and wait weeks for a reply. Today I do the same thing with Twitter and Facebook but much quicker and much more often. What makes humans tick is that we want to be loved and we want to feel connected. In the digital age, we’re our own worst enemy; the technology moves so fast it scares us a little, but so we overcomplicate it. But really it’s all just another way of communicating with fellow humans.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS CRITICAL Social media is now as critical to your business as your telephone. If your customers want to get in touch through social media, it‘s important for you have a digital door – and leave it wide open.

Whether they’re coming in to complain, congratulate, browse or buy, you have to give them a way in. If you like statistics, here are three pretty good ones:

demographic is women over 45. Sound

1. Australia’s population is 23 million: take away the very young and the very old and you’re left with about 18 million people. There are 14 million Facebook users in Australia: that’s 78% of the country.

The platforms may change, but social

2. According to the census, people spend on average eight and a half hours per week on Facebook.

in the old-fashioned pharmacies: that’s

3. The most common Facebook user

nights: that’s social media.

like anyone’s customer base? Well, it is.

The kids are so over Facebook; they’ve moved on to Snapchat and Instagram.

And if you’re still thinking, “Well it’s a fad, social media is going to disappear in a couple of years, I won’t bother…” you’re wrong. media is here to stay. The older ladies who have been enjoying a weekly chitchat in our pharmacies for generations – that’s social media.

The conversations by the soda fountain social media. The new mums who come in and moan about stitches and sleepless

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU Social media is not a form of advertising; don’t compare it to the Yellow Pages.

Social media is not a form of retail; don’t think of it in e-commerce terms. It’s not all a corporate tool; don’t make it all about what your brand stand for.

It’s not about you telling the world about

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what your pharmacy does, what your products and services are. It’s about showing your readiness to communicate with your community: customers, colleagues, partners, suppliers and healthcare partners. Sales, brand exposure will hopefully come, but they should not be your primary objective.

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IT’S AN EXTENSION OF YOUR BUSINESS My advice if you want to dip your toe into Facebook is to sit down and have a think about your ‘why’. Start with the end in mind. Who are the members of your community you want to reach? What will your posts be about? Which members of your team will post on behalf of your pharmacy? The trick is: your social media

experience should pretty much mirror the experience people get in your store to provide consistency and avoid disjoints and disappointments. When they visit the store, customers will perhaps talk to your pharmacy assistants, the pharmacist or the dispensary techs. What are you doing dayto-day that you probably take for granted?

Solving people’s problems, giving superb service, connecting with the community; just expand that conversation online. Let your social media have a flavour of all these different conversations. So don’t complicate it, don’t formalise it. You’re not reinventing the wheel on social media, it’s the same business you already have.

on behind the scenes in your shop. At the end of the day, humans are stickybeaks and they want to feel like they’re a part of your family and that they’re not just a transaction and a customer. So throw a team meeting today. See who wants to have a go. Anyone under 25 is automatically a digital native, so your younger staff will probably jump at the

chance to break up the day with a bit of social media management here and there. That way, the conversation online becomes a lot richer – a variety of voices contributing to your pharmacy’s social footprint. Everyone knows how to use the telephone; everyone also needs to learn how to use social media. It is just another communication method.

MAKE IT A TEAM EFFORT The last thing you need is another hat to wear right? You might be the business owner but social media efforts shouldn’t be a one-man-band. Let staff get involved. There are some great personalities in your pharmacy, customers enjoy talking to them, so let them have some fun online too. Pull back the curtain a little and show us what’s going

DON’T SELL, ENGAGE We all hate being sold to. Social media is not a storefront; it’s a conversation.

It’s impolite and inappropriate to push products in the middle of a conversation: people hate it. Besides it never works.

All sorts of companies have ruined brands they’ve built up over hundreds of years by trying to sell over social media. Something like 80% of people will seek reviews or recommendations on Facebook before they buy a product.

So in fact your customers are now

THINK LOCAL LEVEL your marketers; it’s actually out of your hands. Forget formal selling and think about how to enable recommendations and reviews. It’s going to be tough enough getting a word in edgeways on Facebook and Twitter. You’re competing with so much else: cute kitten pics, funny videos, news, jokes, messages from friends and family. This entertaining, useful, fun stuff is what you’re up against.

Think about how you can give more of that kind of content.

load of places to look. When it comes to finding something locally, people need regional resource hubs, like local newspapers. So when you’re jumping on to Facebook think about the nearby communities; serve up information people want to hear at a local level. Research shows that people mainly shop within 15 kilometres of where they live, but what’s changed is that they ROBO (Research options online but as creatures of habit

comments to their conversations, give them a ‘thumbs up’ or two and develop your confidence online. For the first six months, care more about others than you care about yourself. The human urge for reciprocity will kick in and your own following will start to grow.

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LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW Back to Contents Page

and information, people have a whole

Online Buy Offline). We research our

A GOOD STARTING POINT Get on Facebook and Twitter, get a profile and start following/friending your partners, your suppliers and any professional contacts and alliances. Forget the ‘look at me, look at my posts, laugh at my jokes!’ approach and just start liking other people’s content first. Add your

For big national and international news

and comfort we go offline and talk to real people to make our transaction. The problem is, if you are not in the online conversation they won’t even think about you. So how can you start to create content that will appeal to people in that 15-kilometre radius of your pharmacy.

with Kylie Bartlett Simply click on the speaker icon.

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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INNOVATION

HOW CAN I CREATE A PATIENT CENTRIC BUSINESS MODEL? Create with your patients for your patients

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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Innovation | How can I create a Patient Centric Business Model?

This article was originally published on cathiereid.com and has been re-published with the author’s permission.

INNOVATION How do I rate for Innovation? Click here to find out!

LEADERSHIP LESSIONS ON NECKER ISLAND

with Cathie R eid I RECENTLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND FOUR DAYS ON NECKER ISLAND AS PART OF THE BUSINESS CHICKS & VIRGIN UNITE LEADERSHIP GATHERING, AND WANTED TO SHARE SOME OF MY KEY

J

TAKE OUTS THAT WERE OF PARTICULAR RELEVANCE TO THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY.

ean Oelwang, CEO of Virgin Unite spoke of her views on one of the great health challenges of the future, saying we’ve long been focused on improving health in developing countries, but now need to add in the emerging health crisis of the developed world, where many of the diseases are of our own creation as a consequence of lifestyle choices. Her view, which I share, is that obesity will be the smoking of our generation, and has enormous consequences for the future healthcare planning.

Jean also talked about the obligation on leaders to give people the opportunity to make a difference, and that leaders who reward courageous behaviour make it safe to try new things. Visible demonstrations of vulnerability by leaders gives teams permission to create, knowing they have the freedom to fail. These are principles that we’ve always tried to install at Epic (‘seek forgiveness not permission’ is a term well known amongst our leadership team) so Jean’s words really resonated.

While most of us are probably familiar with Back to Contents Page

Gabby Gifford’s story (she was shot in the head at point blank range while on official duties as a Congresswomen representing Arizona in 2011), I certainly wasn’t aware previously that her husband Mark Kelly was a NASA astronaut who is one of only 4 people to visit the International Space Station on four occasions. He spoke about applying the decision making skills he learned at NASA during the critical early days of Gabby’s treatment. We were spellbound as he spoke about the potential danger of group think and collaborative decision making, and that none of us individually are as dumb as all of us together can be. He asked the doctors for their individual opinions, and started with the most junior doctor in the room so there was no risk of everyone just agreeing with the most senior opinion.

Gabby closed out their session with this simple and powerful message ‘Be passionate, be courageous, be a leader, and do your best each and every day’.

These are words she definitely lives by, and she inspired us all as she embodied these over the course of the next few days.

Dermalogica along with her husband Raymond, is a brilliant story teller and wove her messages around an analogy that I absolutely loved. She spoke of her belief that life provides many opportunities and experiences, and each of these form dots on a page in the manner of a child’s dot to dot colouring book. The more dots you have on the page, the easier it is to see the emergence of the bigger picture created by joining those dots. This really resonated with me, and I know I’ll use this concept time and time again.

Jane and Raymond have created a remarkable global business which not only sees their products number one in salons globally but also trains over 100 000 skin therapists annually. Jane is incredibly passionate about the value of vocational training and apprenticeships, and their ability to provide people with a saleable skill set that can generate income. She believes it’s time to recognise the value that vocational training and community colleges deliver and I’m sure many pharmacy assistants would reiterate her views!

Jane Wurwand, who co-founded Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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Innovation | How can I create a Patient Centric Business Model?

Continued.

Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and founder and CEO of Automattic. had a starting goal to democratise publishing, and with a whopping 25% of the world’s websites now built on Word Press it’s fair to say he’s had a major impact.

Matt’s team are based all over the world, removing any geographic discrimination basis in hiring. He challenged our thinking around traditional recruitment and management methods, and I’m already talking to our HR team about some of the ideas which chatting to him stimulated.

After those first couple of days they challenged and inspired us with fantastic stories of purpose driven success, our final sessions from Dr Libby Weaver and Marianne Williamson, were designed to highlight the important role physical and emotional health play in achieving our goals. Space constraints prevent me from sharing more about their presentations here, but you can read more in my series of posts at cathiereid.com.

Each of the speakers, while all having

very different styles and businesses, had a singular point of commonality. They were each driven by an incredibly strong sense of purpose, with their activities focused on and driven by achieving positive change for many many people. Not one of them referred to financial success as a driver for what they were doing, instead viewing it as the enabler which allowed them to either continue to grow their core business activity and reach more people, or expand further into other areas and activities of benefit.

It’s of course impossible to conclude without including the lessons provided by one of our generation’s great business leaders, Sir Richard Branson.

I’d been fortunate enough to visit Necker previously and you can read about my experience and learnings here.

This time Richard, was eagerly anticipating the imminent arrival of his dearly loved grandchildren and had just enjoyed honouring his lovely wife Joan at her birthday celebrations.

About to celebrate his own 65th birthday later that week, he was showing no signs of slowing down and during a Q&A session described his energetic morning routine which sees him on the tennis

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court by 6.45am, followed up with a spot of kite surfing. He has no plans to slow down his business activities either, saying that working with not for profits tackling the world’s big problems such as carbon emissions and marine reserves is now his major focus.

He reiterated his views on the importance of delegation, saying he saw being prepared to delegate as the real game changer in business. When asked how he hired great people to delegate to, his advice was to look for people who are great with other people, and who bring out the best in their teams I don’t think anything could sum up Richards approach to life any better than the answer he gave to the question ‘What advice would you give a 20 year old Richard?’ - His immediate response being ‘I wouldn’t change much, I’ve had a blast!’

We certainly had a blast during our time on Necker, with the discussion, ideas, and friendships generated undoubtedly bringing about lasting change in all of our lives and businesses, and I’m incredibly grateful to Business Chicks and Virgin Unite for the opportunity to be part of this amazing experience.

with Cathie Reid Simply click on the speaker icon.

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HOW CAN I CREATE A PATIENT CENTRIC BUSINESS MODEL? Collaborate to create a win-win result

MY PARTNERS Back to Contents Page

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My Partners | How can I create a Patient Centric Business Model?

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MY PARTNERS

DOSE ADMINISTRATION AIDS OUTSOURCE TO CAPITALISE ON ABOUT-TO-EXPLODE DEMAND

THE SIGNS ARE THAT DEMAND FOR DOSE ADMINISTRATION AIDS IS ABOUT TO SKYROCKET, CREATING A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR PHARMACIES. LUKE FITZGERALD, CEO OF MPS WARNS BUSINESSES TO MAXIMISE THEIR EFFICIENCIES TO CAPITALIZE ON THE GROWTH.

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f there’s one area of our business that’s on the upswing, it’s Dose Administration Aids. According to the government, 1.7 million Australians are currently taking five or more medications every day. This is set to rise to three million within a decade. That’s a lot of pills and a lot of packs. But when you realise only 480,000 of these chronic sufferers are using a DAA, that’s probably a lot of confusion, mistakes, misadventure and possibly even adverse drug reactions. So there’s a huge market opportunity there for the taking: 1.2 million people who could really use a DAA service from their local pharmacy right now. So how much of this pie do you want?

SET YOUR SIGHTS HIGH To size up your own market, find out from GuildCare how many multiple medication customers you have in your database, who aren’t already signed up to DAA. 20? 50? 100? 500?

Whatever that figure, consider it to be your total target market today. In future you can safely presume this figure will grow:

the population will age, people will live longer and the medical profession will prescribe more and more pills. You will almost certainly acquire more multiple-medication patients.

The market opportunity really is unquestionable. The only thing stopping you is your operational capacity.

GET YOUR BUSINESS MODEL RIGHT Many pharmacies engaged in providing DAA services are suffering unnecessarily because they don’t charge for any aspect of the DAA service.

They work on a zero-cost to patient model, hoping that any profits made from dispensing their prescriptions would fully-subsidise their operational model.

This may have been successful 5-10 years ago, but the game and the profit 22 |

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

margins have changed dramatically.

Many factors need to be considered in determining your patient worn costs (if any): local competition from pharmacies, total DAA operational costs, delivery costs (in-bound, and outbound,), infrastructure costs, and the level government-funded subsidy but to name a few. It is essential that this is reviewed quarterly to ensure that any new changes don’t railroad your DAA service success.

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BUT SET IT UP SMART The Dose Administration Aid business has a lot of manual aspects to it. Unless you’ve got your efficiencies nailed from the beginning, you can drown. If this happens, DAA becomes a drain on your floor space, your time and your profits. It takes you away from patient interaction, problem solving and healthcare provision because you’re too wrapped up in dealing with packets and boxes. Unless you’re smart about the costs of running a DAA service, it could end up being an immensely valuable service for your patients but a horribly unprofitable venture for your pharmacy.

OUTSOURCE TO SCALE UP On average, the typical pharmacy’s probably handling around 35 to 40 DAAs a month. If, like the government is predicting, the DAA market doubles in the next 10 years, you could be looking at 80 DAAs. You need to decide whether your current processes can handle this increase. Do you have the room?

Do you have the staff? Can you pay their salaries? This is where an outsourced DAA such as the MPS model can really contribute. MPS can take you from 40 to 300 DAAs within a month if you have the patient numbers. It enables you to really maximise your growth potential in a way that doesn’t increase your cost burden.

FIX COSTS AND MAXIMISE GROWTH All you would need is one technician at a computer terminal trained to use the MPS system.

know immediately how much it

One technician working three to four days a week could probably fulfil around 300 DAAs per month.

You will need to check the packs before handing them out, but the automated error rate is significantly lower then the manual error rate (1:50,000 as opposed to 1:15). So not only does it improve accuracy, outsourcing any aspect of your business is a great way to make its costs instantly transparent. You’ll

paying the invoice every month.

costs to do whatever activity you’ve commissioned because you’re So you’ll know to the penny how much it costs to create each DAA blister pack. And when you look at the financials, which I encourage you to do with your accountant at the next available opportunity, you will see that outsourced DAA packing allows you to scale and grow your business, leaving you to maximise your time with patients.

SIGN PATIENTS UP IN-STORE Once you’ve identified those customers in your pharmacy that are on five or more medications, make a note in their history/ patient notes to discuss with them your DAA service. Every time a customer

comes in with multiple scripts, show them a sample DAA pack and ask if they want to trial the service.

the old way of getting their medications.

Reassure them that there’s no obligation: if they don’t like it they can revert back to

You’ll probably find that they will go out

Most will be converted for life.

and recommend it to their friends as well.

Before you start, decide what kind of numbers you’re aiming for over the next five to ten years and what kind of numbers you can scale up to, either in-house or with a service like MPS. Either way, make sure you’re ready to handle the customers you’re likely to get. Don’t be the pharmacy that turns DAA requests away because you can’t cope. Customers will go elsewhere.

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with Luke Fitzgerald Simply click on the speaker icon.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW Back to Contents Page

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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IT SYSTEMS

HOW CAN I LEVERAGE SMART TECHNOLOGY IN MY BUSINESS? Scale and Grow

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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I.T Systems | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

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JUST NOT THAT INTO TECHNOLOGY? Pa t r i c k R e i d C E O - L AS A , P h a r m a c y O w n e r, a n d D i re c t o r o f C a p i t a l C h e m i s t is a passionate supporter of h a rd - w o rk i n g p h a r m a c i s t s a n d h a s h u g e re s p e c t f o r t h e c l i n i c a l a n d re t a i l e x p e r t i s e they have. That doesn’t stop him sharing a few home truths about the profession’s re l u c t a n c e t o w a rd s c h a n g e .

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confess I’ve been a gadget boy from a young age. But I know many of my fellow pharmacists aren’t necessarily that interested in technology – or change in general for that matter.

But you are interested in having happy customers, a healthy business and a motivated workforce? Thought so. So we’d better get you interested in how technology can help with all of that.

Start with these six steps.

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1

DO THE MATHS, SPLASH THE CASH

I don’t want to call my fellow professionals tight with money but… the fastest way to a pharmacist’s heart is definitely through their wallet. So when it comes to making capital expenditure on big-ticket items like dispensing robots we can be reluctant.

If there’s a lack of concrete metrics to give us conviction, we often stagnate and avoid change altogether. Unless pharmacists happen to like shiny gadgets, we don’t invest, we carry on running around, getting stuff off shelves, wasting

time and energy, making human error, not having enough time in front of customers.

DO THIS: Find the metrics. Root out all the time-consuming but not incomeproducing processes in your pharmacy and then automate them, one by one.

Automation is the thing that can take us away from low value repetitive activities and free us up to focus on the high value things we’re trained to do.

LET CUSTOMERS TELL YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT

If you’re not sure exactly what to change, improve or focus on first, ask your customers. I’m going to give you an example for this one: Lorna Jane is a sportswear brand, mainly for women.

My wife is a huge fan. They use a platform called Jive to connect with their customers. They originally got it for managing customer complaints about faulty items or stitching coming apart and so on. But what they realized quite quickly was that they were actually getting a lot of feedback on how to modify products, tweak the colours or improve the fit. It Back to Contents Page

was basically a little ideas pipeline for new product ranges they hadn’t dreamt of yet. Since then they’ve expanded Jive to create, a kind of ecosystem of users, their own consumers, who help the brand innovate.

DO THIS: Think about ways you can encourage more customer feedback and create an innovation pipeline in your business. Not only will you be engaging existing customers, you’ll be attracting new ones.

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I.T Systems | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

3

EMBRACE THE HATERS

If you love giving great customer service, your heart sinks every time a complaint or a whinge comes in.

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DEMAND BETTER FROM YOURSELF AND OTHERS

But look at it this way: if a customer has taken the time to write an email or post something on a discussion forum, even if it’s negative, it shows they are engaged with us and that’s a valuable asset to the pharmacy.

Again look outside pharmacy for this, at other retail and service industries. Look at the functionality that’s on offer in the world at large and start demanding it for your business.

It’s the ones that we never hear from again, the ones that vote with their feet and disappear somewhere else that we should worry about.

Our customers know what superb online retail feels like (Amazon), they know what amazing in-store experiences feel like (Apple) and they know what seamless mobile, multi-channel experiences feel like Domino’s Pizza.

DO THIS: Look into how you react to negative feedback and complaints that come in store, via email or social media; turn them into positive change.

Make contact with disappointed or angry customers and aim to resolve their issue.

You’ll have a customer for life.

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DO THIS: Talk to vendors and demand functionality that’s available in all of these other areas of life: “Why CAN’T I have a point of sales system that lets me sell in-store, online and via mobile-optimised devices?”

Stamp your feet while you’re at it.

In comparison, pharmacy is way behind and we shouldn’t settle

GET YOUR CORE DISPENSING RIGHT

Supply is still the engine room of pharmacy and will be for the foreseeable future so dispensing is one system you just have to nail in terms of optimising efficiency.

and the UK have leapfrogged us in terms of functionality. My frustration is down to the fragmentation between best-of-breed dispensary and best-of-breed point of sale.

Over the years I’ve been a little bit frustrated with our dispensary systems.

They used to be state of the art, they used to be best in the world but the US

You’ve always got to add some kind of third party integration between systems and they don’t necessarily talk to each other.

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LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

DO THIS: Prioritise your core dispensing system and aim for best-ofbreed functionality, even if it means you have to spend a little bit more.

There’s not much point having shiny gadgets all over your pharmacy if your beating-heart core system is clunking away in the background.

BE POSITIVE AND YOUR STAFF WILL BE POSITIVE

If you’re seen to be even a little bit change-averse, that’s going to rub off on your staff big time. If they sense any uncertainty from you, they’ll begrudge it too. So when you begin to automate parts of your business, by introducing a robot for example, their natural urge is going to be resentment or panic: “We’re going to lose our jobs”.

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for that. Google are going to start penalising businesses that don’t have mobile responsive websites so it’s only going to get worse unless we start catching up and fast.

DO THIS: Project confidence into your workforce.

Talk positively about change and technology. Reassure them that it’s about redeployment not unemployment: helping them move to more interesting tasks, worthy of their skills, engaging with customers, promoting the business and so on.

with Patrick Reid Simply click on the speaker icon.

Capital Chemist

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Mobility | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

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PHARMACY LEVERAGES TECHNOLOGY TO COMMUNICATE MOBILITY WITH PATIENTS 7 LESSONS FROM EARLY ADOPTERS

Robert Read - CEO

WITH HALF OF THE AUSTRALIAN POPULATION NOW SUFFERING FROM AT LEAST ONE CHRONIC DISEASE, THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHARMACIES TO FUTURE-PROOF THEIR BUSINESS BY IMPROVING MEDICATION ADHERENCE, WHICH ACCORDING TO THE WHO AVERAGES BETWEEN 50-60% GLOBALLY, AS WELL AS IMPROVING CUSTOMER LOYALTY.

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t is much easier to grow revenue by making your customers more loyal to your pharmacy and take their prescriptions as prescribed. A recent Monash study showed that 1 in 4 patients don’t plan which pharmacy they will go to and 13% will see multiple pharmacies in the same shopping trip! Patients using MedAdvisor are 97% loyal to their MedAdvisor pharmacy, and medication adherence has increased by up to 20%.

Unsurprisingly, early adopters are reaping the rewards, with pharmacies gaining more than an additional $194 revenue per year for each patient signed up to MedAdvisor.

A typical pharmacy has about 2000 chronic

patients who average around 4 scripts.

Locking in these patients to your pharmacy and then getting them coming in more often is critical in the face of PBS reform.

Since launching in late 2013, MedAdvisor has disrupted the pharmacy industry by bringing to market the first digital platform connecting patients directly with their local pharmacy. And the results have been astounding. It has been the number 1 most downloaded free medical app from the Apple and AndroidTM app stores with hundreds of patient reviews averaging 4.5/5 stars.

Although most pharmacists recognise

the value that MedAdvisor can add to their patients and the business, there is some trepidation about whether they can successfully implement the program. MedAdvisor works across all demographics with anyone connected to the internet via smart phone, tablet or PC. Some pharmacies have thousands of patients signed up and others struggle to understand how to offer communication and medication management services to a diverse client base. To help address some of these concerns, we have gathered the 7 key lessons learnt from the early and successful adopters of MedAdvisor.

MedAdvisor Rebranding

REWARD PER PATIENT

THE LESSONS

For every new patient you sign up to MedAdvisor from 1st of September 2015

WIN

LESSON 1: KNOW THE PRODUCT

a Harley Davidson or a Holiday to the value of $15,000

Every 10 patients activated is 1 entry into the draw (Holiday is given in $1000 Flight Centre Vouchers)

For more information speak to your Apotex Account Manager, or contact MedAdvisor on 1300 893 566 or support@medadvisor.com.au

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It’s much easier to recommend a product which you’ve tried and tested, than something you’ve simply heard about.

Download the MedAdvisor app and play around with the features. There’s a Demonstration Mode if you don’t personally take any medications. Ask your family and friends to use it too, and ask for their feedback. You will feel more confident about the program, and so will your patients. As an added benefit to your business get all your staff to do this.

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LESSON 2: DON’T ASSUME Pharmacists are quick to assume that older patients don’t have access to mobile and web technology. However, this is not true. In 2014, 50% of people over 67 owned a tablet device and 68% of people over 65 used the internet. It is great for the older generation to print out their medication history from the MedAdvisor internet page and take to their GPs or specialists. And for those who don’t have direct access to the internet or MedAdvisor, the Carer Mode feature is a great way for family members to manage their loved one’s medications.

LESSON 3: DON’T ASSUME This should be a staff member with enthusiasm and a keen interest in technology. The MedAdvisor champion should be responsible for supporting and driving the team to sign up as many patients as possible.

Make sure your store champion has the appropriate tools and training, and don’t forget to recognise and reward their efforts.

LESSON 4: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE MedAdvisor has loads of useful features, but when speaking with patients, concentrate on 1-2 features which they would find most valuable. For example, if the patient is always forgetting to fill scripts, tell them about the Script Reminder feature; if someone always forgets to take doses, highlight the Take-My-Dose reminder function; and if the patient is time poor, focus on the convenience of Tap-To-Refill.

LESSON 5: INTEGRATE It can become overwhelming when there are so many initiatives to focus on at the same time. Here are some ideas on how you can integrate MedAdvisor into everyday practice.

• Print out an activation code for each patient as part of the dispensing process • Focus on a different disease state or drug class each month e.g. Asthma or Statin users • Tie in MedAdvisor with other health promotion activities • Create a buzz by holding MedAdvisor promo days

LESSON 6: SET ACHIEVABLE GOALS Setting daily goals can often feel more achievable and less overwhelming than monthly or yearly goals. If each staff member can sign up 1 patient per day, for a pharmacy with 5 staff members that would equate to 150 sign ups per month. These 150 patients can generate $29,000+ in additional revenue per year for the pharmacy.

LESSON 7: BE PREPARED FOR REJECTION As with any product or service recommendation, there’s never going to be a 100% strike rate. For those patients who don’t have time, provide them with a MedAdvisor brochure and an activation code and tell them they can register in their own time. For those who aren’t interested, ask if you can leave them with a brochure in case a family member might find it useful.

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Mobility | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

MOBILITY

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MEDADVISOR The MedAdvisor journey has only just begun, with an exciting year ahead. MedAdvisor will raise $5 million in capital with an upcoming IPO and list on the ASX in early November.

The investment will be used to increase its consumer marketing efforts and development of new features, including a GP feature.

This feature will allow patients and pharmacists to communicate with GPs, and GPs will be engaged in the MedAdvisor platform to help them make better prescribing decisions.

GET YOUR PHARMACY INVOLVED MedAdvisor is available to all Australian community pharmacies for a subscription fee of $100/month, with no lock in contracts or additional per message fees.

To help you get started, MedAdvisor is offering all new and existing MedAdvisor pharmacies a $1 reward for each patient sign up from 1 September 2015.

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Learn more about MedAdvisor or activate your pharmacy by calling 1300 893 566 or visiting www. medadvisor.com.au/pharmacist.

with Josh Swinnerton Simply click on the speaker icon.

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Your Pharmacy of the Future

Your Rowa is an inventory management system for your dispensary, that will help sustain your pharmacy’s future.

Total stock control. Effortless reporting.

• No more counting stock • Automate 97% of your pharmacy stock including round items • Virtual dispensing with your Vmotion • Let your Rowa put your stock away • Higher accuracy Leaving you to spend time with your customers.

Contact Dose Innovations today, and quote our special code 2015TMI3 to receive a limited offer.

• 1800 00 3673 (1800 00 DOSE) • enquiries@doseinnovations.com • www.doseinnovations.com Back to Contents Page

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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Automation | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

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GENERATE THE CHANGE RATHER THAN WAITING TO BE CHANGED!

BY ROBERT ALLEN

CHANGE IS A CONSTANT IN THE MODERN WORLD WE LIVE IN. IT IS IN OUR HUMAN PSYCHE TO FIGHT CHANGE. IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY WE ARE CONSTANTLY TOLD THAT CHANGE IS ALL AROUND US.

I

’m not going to pretend that change is enjoyable, however it is important that we embrace change, and facilitate change, in order for us to shape a successful outcome. Allowing change to just wash over us is dangerous because the outcome is unknown. If it is indeed true that community pharmacy needs to change in order to thrive, then the logical next question is to ask how to undertake that change process?

Change Step 1

ACKNOWLEDGING THAT CHANGE IS NEEDED The first step to successful change implementation, and to facilitate a better outcome, is to acknowledge change is needed. That may seem like a logical statement but translating it to the community pharmacy setting means that all members of the pharmacy team acknowledge that change is indeed needed.

Many pharmacists are reviewing their July 2015 dispensary figures and are pleased with the outcome. It is important that pharmacists are not lulled into a false sense of security because this ‘sugar hit’ will not last. As remuneration has transitioned from a mark-up to an Administration and Handling Fee (AHI), in the very short term, there will be an increase in the gross profit per prescription. The Commonwealth however has implemented 11 savings measures to generate government savings of $6.6 billion 32 |

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

over five years. These are detailed in the 6CPA document. Many of these measures will have a dramatic impact on pharmacy remuneration in coming years.

Let me undertake a deep dive into just three of these measures. The following three measures, that impact community pharmacy will begin to impact pharmacy’s bottom line from 1 October this year.

1. From 1 October 2015, originator brands will be removed from the calculation of the weighted average disclosure price of medicines under price disclosure arrangements, for those medicines that have been listed on the F2 formulary for three years or more. The original price disclosure cycles will continue each October and April.

2. From 1 January 2016 community pharmacies may (but are not obliged to)

discount the PBS patient co-payment by a maximum of one dollar per PBS supply.

3. From 1 April 2016 the component drug price disclosure arrangements under the act are to be applied to F2 combination medicines.

In simple terms, from the sugar hit of July 2015, significant cuts to remuneration, averaging a reduction of more than two gross dollars per prescription will flow through to pharmacy’s bottom line by June 2016 when measured across every prescription, including under co-payment prescriptions. Even after this period, price disclosure cycles will continue twice a year for each medicine, and price changes will be able to occur up to six times a year. If those simple statistics are not enough to generate a ‘call to action’ then nothing else will.

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Change Step 2

ASSESS THE IMPACT OF CHANGES TO YOUR SPECIFIC COMMUNITY PHARMACY. While the Guild, and other industry analysts, have generated reports to highlight the bottom line impact on pharmacy, there are elements that have not been included in the calculations and furthermore the figures are not tailored to the specifics of your pharmacy. Firstly there are two key flow-on impacts to pharmacy that have had little media coverage.

The first significant change will be that wholesaler trading terms will change, or indeed there may be new delivery fees and charges. The wholesalers have made it very clear that changes are about to hit our sector. There will be a review of wholesaler arrangements this side of Christmas and the wholesalers are keen to highlight why a structural change,

such as a floor price, is needed for the delivery of essential PBS Medicines by wholesalers.

Secondly the de-listing of selected over-the-counter medicines from the PBS will have flow-on impact to pharmacy’s bottom line if manufacturers, as expected, revise and restructure pricing arrangements for these products, including the price point to patients.

In simple terms, manufacturers whose medicine has been removed from the previous may choose to increase prices, and consumer pressure on margins will be introduced.

Tools like ScriptMAP can no longer assess the impact of price matching strategies or simple price point under co-payment

pricing.

The optional $1 co-payment on prescription items could significantly impact your profit. The impact is on all claimed prescriptions except for SN Entitlement Prescriptions.

• What percentage of your prescriptions does this impact, if indeed the $1 can’t be passed on the patient?

• What is the bottom line impact?

• Is it really ‘optional’?

• What general media can we expect towards the end of this calendar year, prior to the implementation of this initiative?

• How many customers will you lose if you don’t pass on the discount?

Change Step 3

ACTION PLAN TO OFFSET THE IMPACT TO YOUR COMMUNITY PHARMACY Some say business is pretty simple because to improve the bottom line you either have to increase revenue or decrease costs.

Taking the second point as a starter, it is important to review all business operational costs to ensure efficiency is maximised.

Please note that I did not use the words ‘costs are minimised’, because some expenses have a direct flow on impact to performance if expenses are cut too dramatically. When business is doing it tough the first expense line to be targeted is often wages yet I advise caution in this approach. Reduced wages can lead to reduced servicing of customers. If that occurs, customers may indeed take their business elsewhere.

Some say business is pretty simple because to improve the bottom line you either have to increase revenue or decrease costs.

Taking the second point as a starter, it is important to review all business operational costs to ensure efficiency is maximised.

Please note that I did not use the words ‘costs are minimised’, because some expenses have a direct flow on impact to performance if expenses are cut too dramatically. When business is doing it tough the first expense line to be targeted is often wages yet I advise caution in this approach. Reduced wages can lead to reduced servicing of customers. If that Back to Contents Page

occurs, customers may indeed take their business elsewhere.

Almost every article that gives advice to community pharmacy on improving financial performance, places a huge importance on professional programs contained in the community pharmacy agreement. It is important to read the signed agreement in its totality to comprehend if this is indeed the case.

Unlike all previous agreements, funding for many programs is only secured in the first year of the agreement, with almost every program undertaking a formal review before funding is guaranteed in subsequent years of the agreement. To highlight this point, in the first year of the agreement for all Medication Management Programmes (includes Clinical Interventions, Home Medicines Reviews, Residential Medication Management Reviews, MedsChecks etc) funding of $63.4 million is detailed in the 6CPA agreement for the first year that ends 20 June 2016. If the same funding, with indexation, was to be maintained in subsequent years of the agreement, then some $273 million would be expected to be detailed for years 2 – 5 of the Agreement. Of concern, for the remaining four years of the agreement, only $114.9 million is listed as the funding amount.

Clearly one or more programs will receive

either reduced funding or indeed may be cut. It is this example that highlights the importance of not relying on agreement funding for professional programs to offset PBS remuneration cuts. These same programs are under pressure of caps, which limit the ability for these professional programs to offset reduced dispensary income.

In developing an action plan for your business it is important to consider a variety of potential funding sources including; private professional programs; schedule medicines; traditional front of store categories; and new departments.

The simplest and easiest revenue generator is to ensure that your pharmacy gets its fair share of prescription volume growth over the life of the agreement. Some 15% volume growth is expected over the life of the agreement. That volume growth will come from existing patients and you can play a role on assisting the patient to achieve improved compliance and persistence with therapy. Another volume growth opportunity is to target new prescription customers. This volume growth can be achieved through numerous strategies including signing more patients to Dose Administration Aids, amongst other initiatives.

Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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Automation | How can i leverage smart technology in my business?

Change Step 4

CHANGE FACILITATORS, CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND GETTING CLOSER TO PATIENTS At Dose Innovations we facilitate change in pharmacy by transforming the way pharmacists and pharmacy assistants engage with patients. No matter what action plan you have set up in Step 3, we believe our technology frees up the time for pharmacists and staff to enable them to execute new professional programs, focus on schedule medicines, or establish new departments in the pharmacy. The bottom line is that success in business is almost guaranteed if you get closer to your patients and establishing a deep relationship with them. This deep relationship leads to trust and loyalty and these strong emotions override the temporary lure of price. You may not want more time to focus on new programs. You may choose to simply have more time to talk to your existing customer base and thus build your business through this process.

Our Robotics and technology tools are great enablers for change but the technology advancement alone may not

Your Rowa could save your pharmacy 30 hours per week We conservatively estimate your Rowa automated dispensary robot could save you 1 minute on every prescription – how many prescriptions in your pharmacy?

Not to mention the time you’ll save when your Rowa automates your stocktake, ordering, reporting and expiry date management.

CONTACT DOSE INNOVATIONS TODAY, QUOTE OUR SPECIAL CODE 2015TMI3 TO RECEIVE A LIMITED OFFER. • 1800 00 3673 (1800 00 DOSE) • enquiries@doseinnovations.com • www.doseinnovations.com be enough to maximise your outcome. It is important that staff utilise this new means of patient engagement to change work flow, as well as their systems and procedures to maximise contact with patients. The use of robotics in the dispensary may not generate more time with patients unless the pharmacist redesigns their workflow and reassigns the way staff work in your business. There is a second key advantage

if technology tools are used correctly. Space is a premium in a community pharmacy and many believe that dispensary shelving is dead space. Maximising every square metre of your business has a flow on impact to maximise productivity. Don’t underestimate what additional retail and professional services space robotics can provide in your retail or professional services area if designed appropriately.

Change Step 5

MEASURE, REVIEW, ADJUST, ENGAGE, MEASURE

WATCH THE CASE STUDY

Even if you have implemented steps 1 to 4 successfully, your success may be short lived. It is critical that you are constantly measuring performance, reviewing the results, adjusting systems and procedures, engaging with the team members, and measuring once more. Continuous Quality Improvement is a journey and not a destination. If Quality Care accreditation is any example many pharmacists believe the end point is the day the assessor states that your pharmacy has passed your QCPP assessment. QCPP should be a process that facilitates the measure, review, adjust, engage and measure cycle.

TIME FOR ACTION There are many elements in the new 6CPA that the Guild should be thanked for. However it would be a critical error of judgement, in my opinion, to believe change is not needed in the way you operate your community pharmacy.

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Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

Simply click on the image to watch instantly.

Facilitating the change process in your pharmacy is key. I have attempted to provide a broad blueprint for change.

Improved customer engagement is essential as a targeted outcome.

It is my view that automation can decrease

your cost to serve those customers, in readiness for increased prescription volume or new and increased services. As John F Kennedy stated, “Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

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THE 4 KEYS YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR PHARMACY DOORS OPEN IN 2030

I N OV E R 1 0 0 AU ST R A L I A N P H A R M AC I E S , T H E AV E R AG E S C O R E F O R I N N OVAT I O N I S O N LY 46 % , W H AT I S YO U R S C O R E ?

CLICK HERE

with Morris Miselowski, Business Futurist

THE FUTURE IS NOT SOME MYTHICAL SPOT ON THE HORIZON, MARKED X. IT’S HERE. RIGHT WHERE WE’RE STANDING. THERE’S NO INVENTION, VISION OR GRAND INSIGHT WE NEED BEFORE WE CAN KICK IT OFF AND GRAB IT BY THE HORNS. TODAY’S THE DAY. LET’S ROLL. Automation is nothing new. It’s been

rebuild their identities.

changing our lives for a couple

Well, pharmacy owners, it’s your turn. If you were sitting there wondering whether anyone can have much of a future in a profession with dwindling sales, stagnating salaries and robots round every corner, you should know that the opportunities for pharmacists are astounding. But only if you start playing a bigger game and only if you start now.

of hundred years now, since the Industrial Revolution in fact. By and large, automation has made life better, easier, faster, healthier and more fun. But when you look back, it’s a pretty traumatic thing for humans: whole industries have disappeared; new industries have been conjured out of thin air. It’s made thousands of human skills, trades and livelihoods utterly redundant. People have had to reinvent their professions and

YOU CAN create a better future for you and your pharmacy today by thinking and planning for 2030.

“WE CANNOT SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE SAME THINKING WE USED WHEN WE CREATED THEM” - ALBERT EINSTEIN

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INSTANT DOWNLOAD CLICK HERE! Transpharmation Magazine / Issue 3

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