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Monday, February 13, 2017

Adopt-A-Phriend

Welcome to CP's Pharmacy where we are always at the phorephront oph phun and ephphiciency. Today's discussion is "Bring a Phriend to the Pharmacy".
Always looking at ways to revolutionize the practice of pharmacy and stay one step ahead of the competitors out there, CP has once again developed a growth strategy that will be a real game-changer. We will initially celebrate with a monthly program with the goal of this becoming a weekly, or even daily, program in certain markets. 

Bring A Phriend To The Pharmacy is a simple concept.
Chains have invested a lot of time and money into med synchronization programs that simply don't work. The idea is that the patient will be contacted when her refills are automatically filled on a predetermined schedule. The problem with this idea is the patient herself. It's the human factor. (Patients often forget to take their medications as prescribed; forget to pick up the refills; or otherwise miss doses or generate stockpiles of certain prescriptions.)

As I got to thinking about this and how we could improve the idea I asked myself, "CP, who are the most compliant patients in the pharmacy world?". After about 3 milliseconds of brainwork, I responded with "Controlled Substance Patients (CSP)". That's when it hit me. If we partnered the MOST compliant patients (CSP) with the lesser compliant patients, Other Disease-State Patients (ODSP), we could really affect compliance. Think about it...

Controlled Substance Patients
-are always on time (even early).
-never miss an appointment.
-know exactly when their refills are due.
-know exactly when their next dose is due.
-never miss doses (and sometimes take an extra, just in case).
-take even "as needed" medications on a strict schedule.
-know the hours of operation of every pharmacy.

CP, what does this have to do with "Bring A Phriend To The Pharmacy"?
I'm getting to that. Patience. I mean, Patients.

This program will join a CSP with an ODSP. It will be like a life coach knocking on your door every morning at 5am for your workout ... except, we'd encourage the ODSP to drive.

CSP: Time to pick me up!
ODSP: It's 5am.
CSP: It's Refill Day!!
ODSP: But they don't open for 4 more hours.
CSP: We have to be first in line.
ODSP: The pharmacist said our prescriptions wouldn't be ready until 10am. They don't actually work on them until they open.
CSP: Right. But they hate it when we stare at them. Makes them feel pressured and they just want to get rid of us. They speed ours through and we can have them by 9:30.
ODSP: <click>
<<10 minutes later>>
ODSP: Hello?
CSP: Where. ARE. You? Let's go.
ODSP: Ugh. Being healthy is tiring.

Eventually we can expand the program to pair up patients who are on a similar dosing schedule. This way, the patients will always take their meds together, thereby increasing compliance. I'm working on the name, but "Let's Do Drugs Together" will be the working title.




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