McKesson

LAS VEGAS — Community pharmacy is a profession, but it’s also a business. To that end, McKesson has over the past three years provided a comprehensive and confidential online resource for prospective pharmacy buyers and sellers and for students interested in a career in independent pharmacy.

LAS VEGAS — Independent pharmacy owner-operators, by definition, stand somewhat alone. It’s the nature of their calling, and it defines their particular brand of pharmacy retailing as a responsive, patient-focused center for community care and high-touch, individualized personal service.

With some 3,000 stores now under its banner coast to coast and official designation by JD Power & Associates as the nation’s favorite pharmacy service provider, Health Mart has achieved a remarkable growth record in the eight years since McKesson launched a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Health Mart brand and marketing strategy. Now, the nation’s top name in independent franchised pharmacy is stepping up to a new level of customer care, operating performance, marketing sophistication and technological prowess.

LAS VEGAS — An overwrought U.S. healthcare system in desperate need of new solutions and new ways to cut the unsustainable cost spiral will demand a new, more engaged and more patient-centered role for community pharmacists.

LAS VEGAS — Owning and operating a community pharmacy has never been the easiest way to prosper in the healthcare field. But in the face of unrelenting reimbursement challenges, big-chain competition and the pressures imposed by powerful pharmacy benefit managers that dictate take-it-or-leave-it contracts covering the majority of patients and prescriptions, it’s a safe bet that the vast majority of independent and small-chain pharmacy owner/operators wouldn’t trade places with any other health professional.

LAS VEGAS — In many ways, the future of community pharmacy relies on evolving the role of the pharmacist to drive better patient adherence, improve health outcomes and perhaps most importantly, from a business perspective, to get paid for it. To help independent pharmacy owners and community pharmacists step closer to that future today, McKesson, the largest healthcare services company in the country, showcased Tuesday its Sponsored Clinical Services Network to hundreds of attendees here at McKesson ideaShare 2012.

The life of a patient with diabetes is a juggling act to maintain good glycemic control — from daily blood-glucose testing to eating healthy and staying active. This is a complex and sometimes inconvenient task requiring significant commitment. Today, the American Diabetes Association estimates 60 percent of diabetes patients do not adhere to their treatment regimen.

LAS VEGAS – What can McKesson do for me that will help drive my success and assure my continued viability in a fast-changing and competitive healthcare market?

That question was on the minds of many independent pharmacy owners attending Tuesday’s business and educational forums at ideaShare 2012.