Update on our store!

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Doctor M

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So, Lifecare has been opened for 8 months or so. We are up to 85-100 scripts daily on average. On monday of this past week we filled 227 rx's due in part to an ALF acct. We expect to be doing around 1100 rx's weekly at our 1 year anniversary. I will keep updates monthly!

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Congrats! The website looks great and your philosophy seems built for success. When I was perusing the site, I noticed the word "opioid" spelled incorrectly on the services page. Not sure who does the website, but just wanted to alert you. Good luck in the future!
 
Congrats! The website looks great and your philosophy seems built for success. When I was perusing the site, I noticed the word "opioid" spelled incorrectly on the services page. Not sure who does the website, but just wanted to alert you. Good luck in the future!

Haha, ironically when we designed the website we added that as a joke. But when we sent it to the guy that did the website, we forgot to delete that out!!! We have a new webmaster and he will be removing that section!

In case anyone would like to visit the site, go to www.lifecare-rx.com
 
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It sounds like you guys are doing well! Keep us all updated!
 
It sounds like you guys are doing well! Keep us all updated!

I will! Thanks all for the congrats! I remember doing an income statement back in 2008. My projections have been dead on...We are growing at a 10-15% rate monthly...With the ALF acct we doubled in script count...Very exciting!
 
Well done, Doctor M. The chains have become a farce, so I expect your script count will continue to grow. You've embraced what the chains are too myopic to recognize...patient care and profit are not mutually exclusive.

Keep fighting, and please keep us updated.
 
dude this is friggin awesome! i love the set up of the pharmacy and all the pictures on the wall and stuff.... good job and I hope the pharmacy continues to do well!

btw how did you figure out where to establish your pharmacy?! location wise i mean.

(im not opening one or anything but im just curious as to what the thought process was in that issue)
 
dude this is friggin awesome! i love the set up of the pharmacy and all the pictures on the wall and stuff.... good job and I hope the pharmacy continues to do well!

btw how did you figure out where to establish your pharmacy?! location wise i mean.

(im not opening one or anything but im just curious as to what the thought process was in that issue)

Thanks MyTalon4U2NV for the congrats! As for the location? It was a no brainer for my business partner and I. We worked 1/2 up the street at a really really busy CVS (did 2700-3200 weekly) so we figured if we opened up down the street and our patients found us we would do very very well. This turned out to be the case! We had taken about 15% of their business and it grows at a 10-15% rate monthly! The ALF account is what did it. I will update monthly!
 
Congrats Doctor M. Many blessings for you on your venture.
 
Wow doctor m also from UB, same with me ;D

Do you think you can safely say you already make just as much as you did in CVS by opening an independent pharmacy? How many scripts do you have to do to make at least $100k/year?
 
Wow doctor m also from UB, same with me ;D

Do you think you can safely say you already make just as much as you did in CVS by opening an independent pharmacy? How many scripts do you have to do to make at least $100k/year?

If my business partner and i stopped accepting new accounts (for the sake of argument only), we would be filling around 2400-2500 rx's monthly. With an average rx price of $70 per rx, thats $175000 in sales monthly. Now we are seeing about 23% which equals 40250 in gross profit. Once we pay off a small loan we have and after monthly expenses, we will have roughly 28,000 left over for our salaries and profit. Assume a 3% net profit or $5250 per month, that leaves 22750 monthly for our salaries. That corresponds to around 147000 yearly. Ok, well, we are accepting new patients every day so we need to buy new drugs and more drugs everyday, so we are not paying ourselves anything yet until we have a nice cushion in the bank. So to answer your question, yes, we are making more than we did at the chain, but we are reinvesting every penny!

Dr. M
 
So, Lifecare has been opened for 8 months or so. We are up to 85-100 scripts daily on average. On monday of this past week we filled 227 rx's due in part to an ALF acct. We expect to be doing around 1100 rx's weekly at our 1 year anniversary. I will keep updates monthly!

AWESOME!!!!!! What a remarkable job!
 
Thanks MyTalon4U2NV for the congrats! As for the location? It was a no brainer for my business partner and I. We worked 1/2 up the street at a really really busy CVS (did 2700-3200 weekly) so we figured if we opened up down the street and our patients found us we would do very very well. This turned out to be the case! We had taken about 15% of their business and it grows at a 10-15% rate monthly! The ALF account is what did it. I will update monthly!

I think this is a model that will work for others. CVS and Walgreens have such bad service you could get this to work almost anywhere with some hard work and good research. Doctor M is a genius!!!
 
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Well done, Doctor M. The chains have become a farce, so I expect your script count will continue to grow. You've embraced what the chains are too myopic to recognize...patient care and profit are not mutually exclusive.

The chains are run by fools! This is the key to running a successful Pharmacy. Provide outstanding customer service and the patients will come. Enough of us follow Dr.M's lead and big corp pharm may be in trouble. Have an idenpendant open next to every Walgreens and CVS and take 20% of thier business and they will take note.
 
The chains are run by fools! This is the key to running a successful Pharmacy. Provide outstanding customer service and the patients will come. Enough of us follow Dr.M's lead and big corp pharm may be in trouble. Have an idenpendant open next to every Walgreens and CVS and take 20% of thier business and they will take note.

Now, it is your turn MountainPharmD!
 
I think this is a model that will work for others. CVS and Walgreens have such bad service you could get this to work almost anywhere with some hard work and good research. Doctor M is a genius!!!

I cannot take all the credit...My business partner is close to a genius...he works numbers in his head like no one ive seen. He's got a talent for numbers and finance. Our brains put together makes it work nicely! Another year or so and we will be retired by 45 years old :)
 
Congrats!!! This is really exciting news. Keep us all updated, please. :)
 
The chains are run by fools! This is the key to running a successful Pharmacy. Provide outstanding customer service and the patients will come. Enough of us follow Dr.M's lead and big corp pharm may be in trouble. Have an idenpendant open next to every Walgreens and CVS and take 20% of thier business and they will take note.

We talk about starting campaigns and begging our professional organizations to take a stand for us, but these are giant corporations we're up against! There's little chance we'll form a union, or pharmacists will walk off the job en masse, so our only hope is to hit them where it hurts most...their wallet.

You're right, if we have more excellent pharmacists like Doctor M opening an independent right down the street from chains, they will be forced to take notice. We've established the chains only care about profit, so let's go for the jugular!
 
Great job Dr. M keep up the good work...it always pays off in the end :thumbup:
 
Retail pharmacy for someone else is just unappealing. However, if I could open up my own shop with my name on the sign like M has...that would be pretty cool.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you have to invest in the beginning? I think that's the big hurdle for most people...other than apathy towards your career.
 
Very inspirational. Keep up the good work!
 
Retail pharmacy for someone else is just unappealing. However, if I could open up my own shop with my name on the sign like M has...that would be pretty cool.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you have to invest in the beginning? I think that's the big hurdle for most people...other than apathy towards your career.

About 150-175k. All cash. From myself, business partner and family. We recently picked up an assisted living facility acct; we had to take out a 50 k loan to pay for the drugs (lots of psychiatric drugs); It was a pretty big acct so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of cash to cover the cost...Other than that loan, it was pretty much all cash.
 
About 150-175k. All cash. From myself, business partner and family. We recently picked up an assisted living facility acct; we had to take out a 50 k loan to pay for the drugs (lots of psychiatric drugs); It was a pretty big acct so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of cash to cover the cost...Other than that loan, it was pretty much all cash.

Congrats, you really are an inspiration to those of us who want to one day be owners but lost hope along the way in academia. I signed up for a community rotation next year with an independent who is really involved in offering pharmacist services and expanding his business/patient care.

I am planning on applying for residencies after school but the idea of ownership still sits in the back of my mind.

How much home delivery are you actually having to do? Are you able to offer any kind of health, retirement benefits to your techs and if not are you planning on it down the road? Did your wholesaler take care of otc/front end for you, as far as what and how much to carry? What kind of DME do you guys do?

I was talking to an independent who said he goes around and drops pens off at all the Doc offices with his Pharmacy Name and phone number on them sense none of them get pens from drug reps anymore. Seems like a good idea to me and fairly cheap to implement. I think he said he drops them off at retirement communities too.

Keep kicking ass!
 
150k is a ton for most people. Thank God I don't want children.

hell yeah what is that top 2%? top 1%?

60k is a ton for most people... means you're makin more than 80% of the us population


edit: numbers reflect 2008 census data
 
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Not to be a debbie downer about salary but you do have to factor in health insurance and life insurance and also the other half of social security (the other 15%). I mean that in a respectable way.

I certainly like to hear that things are going well for a UB pharmacy graduate! This is awesome and really goes to show what can happen if you take care of patients the way that they want to be treated! You are an inspiration for those who are afraid of the risks involved in starting an independent in the shadows of the giant corporations.
 
Not to be a debbie downer about salary but you do have to factor in health insurance and life insurance and also the other half of social security (the other 15%). I mean that in a respectable way.

I certainly like to hear that things are going well for a UB pharmacy graduate! This is awesome and really goes to show what can happen if you take care of patients the way that they want to be treated! You are an inspiration for those who are afraid of the risks involved in starting an independent in the shadows of the giant corporations.

We are filling 600-700 a week, so factor in health ins, retirement and taxes, gross pay would be 115-120k (50-58 an hr). 600-700 weekly is not that many prescriptions. We are expanding and growing every day so that number can and will go up. We are not paying ourselves anything yet, but when we do, it will be well worth it.

As for employee benefits, we are not offering anything yet. We pay our techs top dollar and will soon be offering health ins.

Dr. M
 
We are filling 600-700 a week, so factor in health ins, retirement and taxes, gross pay would be 115-120k (50-58 an hr). 600-700 weekly is not that many prescriptions. We are expanding and growing every day so that number can and will go up. We are not paying ourselves anything yet, but when we do, it will be well worth it.

As for employee benefits, we are not offering anything yet. We pay our techs top dollar and will soon be offering health ins.

Dr. M

You are only filling 600-700/week and are able to have a salary of 115-120k/yr? Not sure if i understood that right. If so, wow. Im inspired.
 
We are filling 600-700 a week, so factor in health ins, retirement and taxes, gross pay would be 115-120k (50-58 an hr). 600-700 weekly is not that many prescriptions. We are expanding and growing every day so that number can and will go up. We are not paying ourselves anything yet, but when we do, it will be well worth it.

As for employee benefits, we are not offering anything yet. We pay our techs top dollar and will soon be offering health ins.

Dr. M
:thumbup: good to hear. Those are the big concerns that I would have. How is malpractice insurance different from those of chains? How do you handle issues like that?

I hope my questions aren't to obtrusive or probing? Its merely a curiosity and I am not trying to be offensive.
 
2400-2500 rx's monthly. With an average rx price of $70 per rx, thats $175000 in sales monthly. Now we are seeing about 23% which equals 40250 in gross profit.
Dr. M


Is this normal? $70 per rx? 23% margins? Strikes me as exceedingly high
 
Is this normal? $70 per rx? 23% margins? Strikes me as exceedingly high

yes, this is normal...avg rx price can range between $60-$75 per rx. gross margins can range between 17-25%. We do alot of psychiatric meds now... the brand names increase our avg price...the generics we do keep our gross margin avg high...
 
yes, this is normal...avg rx price can range between $60-$75 per rx. gross margins can range between 17-25%. We do alot of psychiatric meds now... the brand names increase our avg price...the generics we do keep our gross margin avg high...

Is this cash price Rx or Rx with insurance reimbursement @ 17% margin? That's really good margin if they are rx using ins
 
yes, this is normal...avg rx price can range between $60-$75 per rx. gross margins can range between 17-25%. We do alot of psychiatric meds now... the brand names increase our avg price...the generics we do keep our gross margin avg high...


Wow, great job Doctor M. You guys should really think about packaging your business plan up and selling it . Your pricing and strategies seem to be working exceptionally well. Putting something together could liberate some of your fellow SDN'rs and make you a nice buck! :)
 
Is this cash price Rx or Rx with insurance reimbursement @ 17% margin? That's really good margin if they are rx using ins

This is the avg price with ins and cash rx's avg together. For the month of february, we filled 1800 rx's exactly with an rx price of $70. Thats a monthly revenue of $126,000. We avg for the month of feb 26.5% gross margin. Since we picked up the ALF, our rx count will go up to around 2600. Our gross margin will drop to around 23% because of the brand names associated with psychiatric meds. So our avg rx price will go up, with a slight drop in gross margin percent to around 23%. The unfortunate part of the ALF is the cost of these brand name drugs...But we do make profit on almost every single rx we fill. Generics are the way to go, especially generic risperdal and trileptal and depakote er...you see 100-300% of your money when you fill those. On one risperdal rx, we saw a 2388% profit :eek: Amazing, then on a fluphenazine injectable we saw a small loss...
 
Wow, great job Doctor M. You guys should really think about packaging your business plan up and selling it . Your pricing and strategies seem to be working exceptionally well. Putting something together could liberate some of your fellow SDN'rs and make you a nice buck! :)

Sorry, we plan on expanding, maybe in a few years :rolleyes:
 
:thumbup: good to hear. Those are the big concerns that I would have. How is malpractice insurance different from those of chains? How do you handle issues like that?

I hope my questions aren't to obtrusive or probing? Its merely a curiosity and I am not trying to be offensive.

We buy our malpractice insurance via an agent. The package we bought included general liability ins, insures our products, and insures the pharmacists. We carry $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 aggregate. We pay $7200 per year. When you work for the chains, you were pretty much covered via the chain. When you work for yourself, you gotta make sure you are completely 110% covered from every angle. We are looking to immunize next year, so we will need ins for that. That will run $2000 more yearly.
 
Not to be a debbie downer about salary but you do have to factor in health insurance and life insurance and also the other half of social security (the other 15%). I mean that in a respectable way.

I certainly like to hear that things are going well for a UB pharmacy graduate! This is awesome and really goes to show what can happen if you take care of patients the way that they want to be treated! You are an inspiration for those who are afraid of the risks involved in starting an independent in the shadows of the giant corporations.

I took a course back in 2003 at UB that Feibelkorn taught (forgot the name) but we got to learn how to do a business plan. Great course! You should take it!

Dont be afraid of the giants, once you get out on your own, people will come. Treat them right, listen to them, and service them. You will have nothing to worry about!
 
I took a course back in 2003 at UB that Feibelkorn taught (forgot the name) but we got to learn how to do a business plan. Great course! You should take it!

Dont be afraid of the giants, once you get out on your own, people will come. Treat them right, listen to them, and service them. You will have nothing to worry about!
Admittingly, I did not take Fiebs class. I am in the research track (and overwhelmed as it is) but my friends who took it rave about it. I have some friends that want to do independent pharmacies after graduation. This is some inspiring news to pass along to them. I am happy for you and I am happy there is hope. Since so many are interested perhaps there can be a revolution. Superior patient care goes a long way.

The more inspiring pharmacists that I have experienced go a long way to provide that superior care.
 
Congratulations! keep us posted!
 
that is AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! as many previous posters have said, I think you'll find a great niche in your field... there's some bad media about chain pharmacies this week (ahem, ABCnews Monday night) so i think having your own PERSONAL pharmacist will be very appealing to many people!

BEST of luck... i'm so happy for you!
 
Heres an update: Our pharmacy has gone into agreement with a local physician to become his pharmacy for opioid detoxification. We will be supplying him with suboxone and bi-monthly visits to his facility to sign off on the orders ( as required by law). We will be paid 15% above cost for suboxone and paid for our bi-monthly visits. Not much invested on our end, but yet another account. We are excited as we will be doing a good deed in helping opioid addiction.

Dr. M
 
Heres an update: Our pharmacy has gone into agreement with a local physician to become his pharmacy for opioid detoxification. We will be supplying him with suboxone and bi-monthly visits to his facility to sign off on the orders ( as required by law). We will be paid 15% above cost for suboxone and paid for our bi-monthly visits. Not much invested on our end, but yet another account. We are excited as we will be doing a good deed in helping opioid addiction.

Dr. M

I don't know how it is in Florida but in Arizona there is no control for c2s. Like in illinois you have triplicet forms or some sort of standard rx pad that makes it hard to pass a fake rx. Here in az drs print rxs from Microsoft word and just sign rx or people order legit looking rx pads from Internet and write their own rxs. Easy to make a legit looking fake rx. It's easy to get oxycodone 30 mg or oxycontin 80 from pharmacies in az, as long as it Is written correctly most don't bother checking with dr if it is legit because as long as it looks valid you are ok with the board. I personally won't fill any oxy 30 or oxy 80 without checking with dr first, unless regular customer because I actually care that these drugs get off the street and I WILL call the cops because I do care about society and by stopping just one person can save lives of innocent victims that may be killed by someone driving high who just snorted the oxy 30 they got from local pharmacy.

Why do I bring this up because I feel a lot of narcotics like these get filled at independents because they care more about profit than I do cause I work for a chain, and filling a fake rx does nothing for me. And these drug seekers tend to flock to independents because they know that most likely as long as they got the cash no questions will be asked.

So basically, if you go this route you can retire fast because now your making money on both ends of the problem. Not that I think you would, but for some the temptation to increase profits stops them from making ethical and moral judgements.
 
I don't know how it is in Florida but in Arizona there is no control for c2s. Like in illinois you have triplicet forms or some sort of standard rx pad that makes it hard to pass a fake rx. Here in az drs print rxs from Microsoft word and just sign rx or people order legit looking rx pads from Internet and write their own rxs. Easy to make a legit looking fake rx. It's easy to get oxycodone 30 mg or oxycontin 80 from pharmacies in az, as long as it Is written correctly most don't bother checking with dr if it is legit because as long as it looks valid you are ok with the board. I personally won't fill any oxy 30 or oxy 80 without checking with dr first, unless regular customer because I actually care that these drugs get off the street and I WILL call the cops because I do care about society and by stopping just one person can save lives of innocent victims that may be killed by someone driving high who just snorted the oxy 30 they got from local pharmacy.

Why do I bring this up because I feel a lot of narcotics like these get filled at independents because they care more about profit than I do cause I work for a chain, and filling a fake rx does nothing for me. And these drug seekers tend to flock to independents because they know that most likely as long as they got the cash no questions will be asked.

So basically, if you go this route you can retire fast because now your making money on both ends of the problem. Not that I think you would, but for some the temptation to increase profits stops them from making ethical and moral judgements.

We will be a Detox facility, a place where addicts come to get help...Not fill Oxycodone...Not sure I understand your post...
 
Heres an update: Our pharmacy has gone into agreement with a local physician to become his pharmacy for opioid detoxification. We will be supplying him with suboxone and bi-monthly visits to his facility to sign off on the orders ( as required by law). We will be paid 15% above cost for suboxone and paid for our bi-monthly visits. Not much invested on our end, but yet another account. We are excited as we will be doing a good deed in helping opioid addiction.

Dr. M
Cool... The people that I've seen who take suboxone need it or else, and it's not always easy for them to get access.
 
We will be a Detox facility, a place where addicts come to get help...Not fill Oxycodone...Not sure I understand your post...

All I was saying from my experience independents will fill rxs for oxycodone 30mg #120 as long as it looks legit even if in the back of their mind they may think it's fake because they want the profits. So I was saying if you did that you would not only make profits on that but also on their future detox. not saying you would, but it would be a lucrative practice although unethical. But not illegal because if you don't check with the dr and it is written according to law, and not filled early you didn't do anyrhing wrong.
 
All I was saying from my experience independents will fill rxs for oxycodone 30mg #120 as long as it looks legit even if in the back of their mind they may think it's fake because they want the profits. So I was saying if you did that you would not only make profits on that but also on their future detox. not saying you would, but it would be a lucrative practice although unethical. But not illegal because if you don't check with the dr and it is written according to law, and not filled early you didn't do anyrhing wrong.

We have regular pts who take narcs, but they also take other meds, BP, DM, etc. We stay away from "iffy" rx's as much as possible; you know, the 22 year old kid from 50 miles away who has an rx from Dr. ABC who I have never heard off...We tell them to get lost...They dont come back. Unfortunately, narcs are a part of the business, we fill them in good faith effort...
 
All I was saying from my experience independents will fill rxs for oxycodone 30mg #120 as long as it looks legit even if in the back of their mind they may think it's fake because they want the profits. So I was saying if you did that you would not only make profits on that but also on their future detox. not saying you would, but it would be a lucrative practice although unethical. But not illegal because if you don't check with the dr and it is written according to law, and not filled early you didn't do anyrhing wrong.

BTW, #120 is standard and a really low number. The "iffy" rx's are written for 240, 270 or 330! When I worked for CVS, we had a pt that got 720 monthly. Totally legit rx, yet too many at one time.
 
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