How many of you are really interested in Independent Pharmacy?

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Doctor M

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Im really curious to know how many of you are really interested in Independent Pharmacy. If you are interested, what are your setbacks? I see so many threads on the subject and would like to know what you are all thinking. Tell me your fears and myths!

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I would be, but it seems too time-consuming to start up a brand new pharmacy.

That and finding a location, arranging reimbursements, attracting new patients, and overall start-up costs seem too overwhelming.

It's a shame though because I know of an area in town that doesn't have a nearby pharmacy and have even thought out what I would like my store to look like. Maybe one day...
 
I would be, but it seems too time-consuming to start up a brand new pharmacy.

That and finding a location, arranging reimbursements, attracting new patients, and overall start-up costs seem too overwhelming.

It's a shame though because I know of an area in town that doesn't have a nearby pharmacy and have even thought out what I would like my store to look like. Maybe one day...


You can always find one that is already doing well and work with the owner to see if you could take over one day.
 
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Still a student, but I would like like to have my own store eventually. I've worked at a friend of a friend's store a little bit when they needed some help, and it really seems interesting. At the same time, this store has been there for years, and with so many chains around, I have no idea how I'd attract patients. I've also heard that reimbursements are falling, and without a large patient base, I'm not sure how I would stay afloat.

Also, I have no idea what else is really involved on the "business" side, actually acquiring the reimbursements from insurance, I'd like to hear more about that part.
 
I'm interested, but I have worries about the stability of running a small business in general. Reading stories in the past that discussed how one employee in a small business got cancer and health insurance premiums doubled for everyone made me gunshy on the idea of small business ownership, though I think I'd really enjoy it.
 
I'm interested in an independent pharmacy/community clinic with ambulatory care. The only issue would be start up costs... I have enough mentors with experience in this arena that have already mentioned they would be willing to help. There are a couple of pharmacists that are interested in going into something together after I graduate. The question will be whether or not I want to continue to live here in Arizona and, right now, I can't say that is likely...
 
I am definitely interested but cannot get the funding needed to start the business in this economy and do not want to risk everything that I have worked for, for the last 20 years. No one wants to fund a start-up and I couldn't even get my foot in the door to find out everything that needs to be done.
 
Im really curious to know how many of you are really interested in Independent Pharmacy. If you are interested, what are your setbacks? I see so many threads on the subject and would like to know what you are all thinking. Tell me your fears and myths!

I'm interested, but one of the setbacks would be that it would be a lot of work even after the pharmacy is closed, like taking work home, paperwork, reviewing insurance reimbursements, inventory, etc.

Fears

#1 - Reimbursement is complete **** right now. Will have to do a lot of OTC, salon products, etc.
#2 - My friend who is currently an entrepreneur in the restaurant business, and used car sales business wants to work with me and provide all the capital for opening up the pharmacy. The fear is that it will strain the friendship and the other fear is that since he's providing the capital, he'd only care about the bottomline and Rx volume since he's not a pharmacist, he wouldn't wanna do other things I'd be interested in such as running an immunization clinic, diabetes/HTN monitoring, ambulatory care, MTM, compounding etc.

The pharmacy would be in an urban area of NYC with a lot of foot traffic and stores with small lot sizes, where chains would not be able to open up a store. Now, since we'd have a small lot for the pharmacy, would there be enough room inside the pharmacy for a private counseling room, OTC aisles, or setting up an ambulatory care clinic?
 
I am definitely interested but cannot get the funding needed to start the business in this economy and do not want to risk everything that I have worked for, for the last 20 years. No one wants to fund a start-up and I couldn't even get my foot in the door to find out everything that needs to be done.

Can you elaborate on this more please? There are sources that can tell you what needs to be done. Tell me more.
 
Can you elaborate on this more please? There are sources that can tell you what needs to be done. Tell me more.

He/she might prefer to see it from working at an independent, like I have been doing.
 
Fears

#1 - Reimbursement is complete **** right now. Will have to do a lot of OTC, salon products, etc.

This is why my dad got out of the business. Work yourself to death keeping things afloat and barely make out in the end. However, he retired at 55 or so and is living quite comfortably after selling the pharmacy.
 
This is why my dad got out of the business. Work yourself to death keeping things afloat and barely make out in the end. However, he retired at 55 or so and is living quite comfortably after selling the pharmacy.

I just wanted to throw this out there. Business ownership is not for everyone. My parents owned a shop and it is highly unlikely that I will follow that example. It is great for the right kind of person, but it is not for everyone.

To contribute more positively to Dr.M's thread I will ask something that I am curious about. There are so many insurances - do you negotiate with them individually or are you a part of some kind of collective bargaining group? Or is the whole negotiating thing overplayed and you basically just accept their terms or choose not to take that particular insurance? Hope my question made sense.
 
I just wanted to throw this out there. Business ownership is not for everyone. My parents owned a shop and it is highly unlikely that I will follow that example. It is great for the right kind of person, but it is not for everyone.

To contribute more positively to Dr.M's thread I will ask something that I am curious about. There are so many insurances - do you negotiate with them individually or are you a part of some kind of collective bargaining group? Or is the whole negotiating thing overplayed and you basically just accept their terms or choose not to take that particular insurance? Hope my question made sense.

Its overplayed and you basically accept their terms!
 
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Im really curious to know how many of you are really interested in Independent Pharmacy. If you are interested, what are your setbacks? I see so many threads on the subject and would like to know what you are all thinking. Tell me your fears and myths!

As a recent grad (1 year now, time flies) but just saving enough to get myself a nice safety net and getting my life together.

Then just to get enough saved up to get the business started. (which I still don't know how much I'd need on my own.)
 
I am interested and will be pursuing this after graduation. Although, my idea for distinguishing myself may not be realizable any time soon.
 
Billing insurance, inspections, and setting up an arrangement to obtain products
 
Now, since we'd have a small lot for the pharmacy, would there be enough room inside the pharmacy for a private counseling room, OTC aisles, or setting up an ambulatory care clinic?
Multiple small lots in a row ;)
 
This is why my dad got out of the business. Work yourself to death keeping things afloat and barely make out in the end. However, he retired at 55 or so and is living quite comfortably after selling the pharmacy.


ya but im sure he retired based on the past reimbursements when they could charge a ton for generics and other such that is so difficult now.
 
I just wanted to throw this out there. Business ownership is not for everyone. My parents owned a shop and it is highly unlikely that I will follow that example. It is great for the right kind of person, but it is not for everyone.

same here. my grandparents owned their own business for decades, and they worked like animals. my dad also has a business and it's really really hard if the economy decides to be lame. i understand why some people prefer to be their own boss, and have a sense of ownership over their work, but it's just not for me. i wouldn't mind having my own business in the sense of consulting, or something mobile perhaps, but that is as far as i would go.

in summary... my main issue/fear is definitely overhead. and also investing so much (time, money, etc) that i would not easily be able to get out and do something else if things weren't going well.
 
I was brainstorming and thinking I'd like to open an exclusive pet pharmacy. Maybe have it latched on with a vet clinic.

People spend OODLES of dollars on their pets nowadays, and 1800 Pet Meds isnt the greatest resource for pet meds; not everyone needs bulk amounts of flea medication.
 
I was brainstorming and thinking I'd like to open an exclusive pet pharmacy. Maybe have it latched on with a vet clinic.

People spend OODLES of dollars on their pets nowadays, and 1800 Pet Meds isnt the greatest resource for pet meds; not everyone needs bulk amounts of flea medication.

Yeah, just make sure you charge an affordable price. One of my parakeet flew into something once and hurt their feet. Took them to the vet who decided to give a liquid formulation of Meloxicam and charged me like $50 for a 15 mL bottle with a concentration of 1 mg/mL. That was ridiculous.
 
I'm interested, but one of the setbacks would be that it would be a lot of work even after the pharmacy is closed, like taking work home, paperwork, reviewing insurance reimbursements, inventory, etc.

Fears

#1 - Reimbursement is complete **** right now. Will have to do a lot of OTC, salon products, etc.
#2 - My friend who is currently an entrepreneur in the restaurant business, and used car sales business wants to work with me and provide all the capital for opening up the pharmacy. The fear is that it will strain the friendship and the other fear is that since he's providing the capital, he'd only care about the bottomline and Rx volume since he's not a pharmacist, he wouldn't wanna do other things I'd be interested in such as running an immunization clinic, diabetes/HTN monitoring, ambulatory care, MTM, compounding etc.

The pharmacy would be in an urban area of NYC with a lot of foot traffic and stores with small lot sizes, where chains would not be able to open up a store. Now, since we'd have a small lot for the pharmacy, would there be enough room inside the pharmacy for a private counseling room, OTC aisles, or setting up an ambulatory care clinic?

I work for an independent. I thought that this was something I'd do after school, but not now. This store is owned and operated by 1 pharmacist (who is phenomenal), but it's her life- she probably spends 12 hours a day 6 days a week running it. She hasn't taken a vacation in like 8 years, and it's a train wreck when she leaves for a day (like today- ugh). I respect what she does, but I can't in good conscious commit to that when I'll be newly married and starting a family.
 
I would love to own an independent pharmacy and have put out feelers with 2 drug distributors and the state pharmacy association. My main hold up is finding a store to buy in a city I want to live in for the next 20 years. I don't feel comfortable opening up a totally new store, I want to buy an existing business.

DrM, how did you get patients in your door? Is it a great location? I've read about your services and they sound great but also very similar to the competition here in Fargo. I don't think great service would be enough to draw people away from their established pharmacies. Thoughts?
 
I would love to own an independent pharmacy and have put out feelers with 2 drug distributors and the state pharmacy association. My main hold up is finding a store to buy in a city I want to live in for the next 20 years. I don't feel comfortable opening up a totally new store, I want to buy an existing business.

DrM, how did you get patients in your door? Is it a great location? I've read about your services and they sound great but also very similar to the competition here in Fargo. I don't think great service would be enough to draw people away from their established pharmacies. Thoughts?

Our location is situated between 2 cvs and 2 walgreens. Honestly we offer great service, compounding, and ALF services. I cannot pinpoint what makes it work for us. we are at 4100 rxs monthly. It just works even with all the pharmacies around.
 
I would like to open my own pharmacy years down the line from now. I'm currently in the process of opening my own insurance agency (hence me not being around a whole lot right now) that does life, health, auto, and property.

It's amazing how similar insurance agents and independent pharmacy owners are... I'll leave it at that.

I'm hoping to use the funds from the book as part of a savings while being a pharmacist to open my own pharmacy. And it'd be nice if there isn't a legal reason why I can't have my insurance agency in the same building as well for medicare and health insurance and whatnot to help out the patients. Since the gf is looking to be a nutritionist I think that we found the niche in the area. It's a large metro area, however.

Maybe it's just a pipe dream though :rolleyes:

Any resources that show the basic steps to opening a pharmacy would be much appreciated. I'm happy to be learning to open my own office now, I think it'd help me get a more realistic expectation of opening a pharmacy later down the line.
 
I would like to open my own pharmacy years down the line from now. I'm currently in the process of opening my own insurance agency (hence me not being around a whole lot right now) that does life, health, auto, and property.

It's amazing how similar insurance agents and independent pharmacy owners are... I'll leave it at that.

I'm hoping to use the funds from the book as part of a savings while being a pharmacist to open my own pharmacy. And it'd be nice if there isn't a legal reason why I can't have my insurance agency in the same building as well for medicare and health insurance and whatnot to help out the patients. Since the gf is looking to be a nutritionist I think that we found the niche in the area. It's a large metro area, however.

Maybe it's just a pipe dream though :rolleyes:

Any resources that show the basic steps to opening a pharmacy would be much appreciated. I'm happy to be learning to open my own office now, I think it'd help me get a more realistic expectation of opening a pharmacy later down the line.

Theres really nothing basic about it. You will make mistakes and learn. You will lose money and learn...Nothing basic.
 
Theres really nothing basic about it. You will make mistakes and learn. You will lose money and learn...Nothing basic.

Here here! I think I'm more looking into finding out the things that are just taken for granted working as a pharm tech or pharmacist in retail. Like the pharmacy system to use or getting appointed for contracts, stuff like that. coming in those things are all taken care of for you but starting up there is a mess.

I'm looking forward to it though; there is no better feeling than to feel like you are directly in control of your performance and success and the only people you really have to answer to are your patients and your insurance companies. Better than a DM getting on you for not flavoring enough flavored antibiotics every month :smuggrin:

Yes that happened to one of my pharmacists, I came into the break room and the DM was talking to the pharm. about it. He stopped when I walked close enough for him to see me.
 
Here here! I think I'm more looking into finding out the things that are just taken for granted working as a pharm tech or pharmacist in retail. Like the pharmacy system to use or getting appointed for contracts, stuff like that. coming in those things are all taken care of for you but starting up there is a mess.

I'm looking forward to it though; there is no better feeling than to feel like you are directly in control of your performance and success and the only people you really have to answer to are your patients and your insurance companies. Better than a DM getting on you for not flavoring enough flavored antibiotics every month :smuggrin:

Yes that happened to one of my pharmacists, I came into the break room and the DM was talking to the pharm. about it. He stopped when I walked close enough for him to see me.

IN opening up our store, i found that i had many questions and had no one to really ask. I just did it and crossed my fingers. So far, i have opened up 3 pharmacies, 1 retail facility with my partner, our LTC facility, and a LTC facility in miami florida. Each one was different and hit snags.

I would like to hear more from many of you. I know there are questions to ask and what ifs...Independent Pharmacy really is a great profession and i just want to know where all the snags are.
 
I would be, but it seems too time-consuming to start up a brand new pharmacy.

That and finding a location, arranging reimbursements, attracting new patients, and overall start-up costs seem too overwhelming.

It's a shame though because I know of an area in town that doesn't have a nearby pharmacy and have even thought out what I would like my store to look like. Maybe one day...

What if you had someone do it for you, with you of course calling all the shots? What if there were services where a company would do all this for you, with you learning as you go? There are some companies doing this, but do charge an arm and a leg. What if there was a company charging considerably less to do all the paperwork, design, filing, computer system, DEA, licensing, etc etc for you while you still worked. Would that change your mind? Im just saying....
 
Still a student, but I would like like to have my own store eventually. I've worked at a friend of a friend's store a little bit when they needed some help, and it really seems interesting. At the same time, this store has been there for years, and with so many chains around, I have no idea how I'd attract patients. I've also heard that reimbursements are falling, and without a large patient base, I'm not sure how I would stay afloat.

Also, I have no idea what else is really involved on the "business" side, actually acquiring the reimbursements from insurance, I'd like to hear more about that part.

acquiring the reimbursements can be daunting, cause there are 5 ins companies that require you to do individual contracts, but the rest of the PBMs, are done with your wholesaler. Its a step by step process that requires diligent organization; if your not organized, you will have a severe mess.
 
I work for an independent. I thought that this was something I'd do after school, but not now. This store is owned and operated by 1 pharmacist (who is phenomenal), but it's her life- she probably spends 12 hours a day 6 days a week running it. She hasn't taken a vacation in like 8 years, and it's a train wreck when she leaves for a day (like today- ugh). I respect what she does, but I can't in good conscious commit to that when I'll be newly married and starting a family.

Independent pharmacy does not have to be like this. You can do this, make a crap load of money, or you can have a partner, have a life, and make a good living. You control everything...
 
Something I am curious about is front store. It is probably taken for granted if you don't own your own store.

How much of a front store do you have? How much of your time is spent dealing with issues other than pharmacy operations, like making sure you ice cream in stock, etc?

What would you say was your main motivation for opening your own store? Has it lived up to/exceeded your expectations so far?
 
Something I am curious about is front store. It is probably taken for granted if you don't own your own store.

How much of a front store do you have? How much of your time is spent dealing with issues other than pharmacy operations, like making sure you ice cream in stock, etc?

What would you say was your main motivation for opening your own store? Has it lived up to/exceeded your expectations so far?

The front store is pretty important for a few reasons. First, many patients are always looking for a good deal on OTC products, such as advil, children's products for cough and cold, vitamins etc etc. You shouldnt price your otc to make a huge profit. just enough to be competitive with walmart or any chain around you. Your OTC isnt gonna make or break you, it is there for one stop shop for your customers. You make your money on the prescriptions. We want the patient to come in, see that we have a good size OTC, and in there head, they will say, wow, they have a full line of OTC cough and cold, medical supplies and some groceries, i might as well come here with my scripts too. And they are cheaper than such and such chain. You dont want just 1 shelf of product. Ive seen pharmacies like this and its just not appealing to the eye. Our front store is 4 rows of OTC cough and cold, feminine care, vitamins, GI products, first aid, and a full wall of medical supplies. My partner does a fine job of keeping it stocked and looking good. We also have a wall of stockings...the OTC can be maintained daily. We dont stock weird homeopathic medicines...we will order it for patients if they request it. The front store is a very important aspect of independent pharmacy and should not be left behind.
 
Something I am curious about is front store. It is probably taken for granted if you don't own your own store.

How much of a front store do you have? How much of your time is spent dealing with issues other than pharmacy operations, like making sure you ice cream in stock, etc?

What would you say was your main motivation for opening your own store? Has it lived up to/exceeded your expectations so far?

To answer the second part of your post, my main motivation was that im not a follower. I do not like following what others want me to do; i had my own vision of what pharmacy should be like. Working for CVS only enforced my beliefs that i do not like hierarchy at all. Another aspect, contrary to what many of you believe independent pharmacy may provide, i wanted financial freedom. I knew that working for a chain would not bring me financial freedom. Yes, there are 401Ks, stock blah blah blah...but in 2 years, we took a set amount of money and that money is now 10 times worth what we started. Meaning, that it would take my 401k to grow to what i would get for the store (split 50/50 with my partner) around 10 years. 2 years vs 10 years; it has become a no brainer to me that a business, if done correctly, can bring great financial freedom. Opening up this store has met my expectations, but we are not finished. Expanding takes the right timing, the right accounts, and patience. We are comfortable, however, we cannot lose sight of all the laws changing, the PBMs, and Obamas healthcare coming to light. We must keep moving forward and look for new avenues of income anyway we can.
 
Yeah, just make sure you charge an affordable price. One of my parakeet flew into something once and hurt their feet. Took them to the vet who decided to give a liquid formulation of Meloxicam and charged me like $50 for a 15 mL bottle with a concentration of 1 mg/mL. That was ridiculous.

If you came to me, we have the 7.5mg/5 ml concentration available, so if you wanted 15 mls of that i would have charged you $22.50. Seems like you got ripped off a bit.
 
To answer the second part of your post, my main motivation was that im not a follower. I do not like following what others want me to do; i had my own vision of what pharmacy should be like. Working for CVS only enforced my beliefs that i do not like hierarchy at all. Another aspect, contrary to what many of you believe independent pharmacy may provide, i wanted financial freedom. I knew that working for a chain would not bring me financial freedom. Yes, there are 401Ks, stock blah blah blah...but in 2 years, we took a set amount of money and that money is now 10 times worth what we started. Meaning, that it would take my 401k to grow to what i would get for the store (split 50/50 with my partner) around 10 years. 2 years vs 10 years; it has become a no brainer to me that a business, if done correctly, can bring great financial freedom. Opening up this store has met my expectations, but we are not finished. Expanding takes the right timing, the right accounts, and patience. We are comfortable, however, we cannot lose sight of all the laws changing, the PBMs, and Obamas healthcare coming to light. We must keep moving forward and look for new avenues of income anyway we can.

I'm like that also. I'm not a follower. I have an idea and a picture in my head of what I want my pharmacy to look like and function. The thing I'm afraid of is, since my buddy is gonna be the one providing the capital, he's gonna want a say in the way things are done. I don't want a situation like the New York Yankees where the owner meddles and interferes with what the General Manager and Manager want to do.
 
I'm like that also. I'm not a follower. I have an idea and a picture in my head of what I want my pharmacy to look like and function. The thing I'm afraid of is, since my buddy is gonna be the one providing the capital, he's gonna want a say in the way things are done. I don't want a situation like the New York Yankees where the owner meddles and interferes with what the General Manager and Manager want to do.

then why are you partnering with him? you need to put up capital, be 50/50. He who hold the gold makes the rules. Is that the type of ownership you want? Why dont you wait til you have some capital?
 
then why are you partnering with him? you need to put up capital, be 50/50. He who hold the gold makes the rules. Is that the type of ownership you want? Why dont you wait til you have some capital?

He's not a pharmacist. He owns a few successful restaurants and wants to move into other ventures.

Right now, what he's telling me is that I'd control everything about the pharmacy and run it. What I'm afraid of is that at some point he decides that all he wants in the pharmacy is prescriptions filled as fast as possible and nothing else. Also, when you went into opening your pharmacy, were you already done paying off your college debts?
 
He's not a pharmacist. He owns a few successful restaurants and wants to move into other ventures.

Right now, what he's telling me is that I'd control everything about the pharmacy and run it. What I'm afraid of is that at some point he decides that all he wants in the pharmacy is prescriptions filled as fast as possible and nothing else. Also, when you went into opening your pharmacy, were you already done paying off your college debts?

He who has the gold, makes the rules. At some point all he will care about is the profit. Id say go in at 50/50. When i went in opening the pharmacy, i had college debt, a mortgage, and a car payment. Not exactly the situation u wanna be in, but i made it work. I put my college loans in deferment and saved up enough to pay my mortgage and car payment for 8 months. At the 9th month, we got an ALF and were home free.
 
I want to open up a pharmacy some day also. I've read all of the posts about your pharmacy Doctor M and I the only thing I can say is you're my hero. I've already tried to make up a spreadsheet for income and expenses and such but it's over my head. I've got a few years to go though lol. Once I graduate, I'm hoping to work at a chain to pay off student loans and build some capital. I have a question though. Instead of opening a pharmacy with a partner, could you take out a business loan, own it by yourself and just hire another pharmacist to work with you? Besides having to pay off the loan, are there any downsides to this? You'd be able to make all of the administrative decisions.
 
I want to open up a pharmacy some day also. I've read all of the posts about your pharmacy Doctor M and I the only thing I can say is you're my hero. I've already tried to make up a spreadsheet for income and expenses and such but it's over my head. I've got a few years to go though lol. Once I graduate, I'm hoping to work at a chain to pay off student loans and build some capital. I have a question though. Instead of opening a pharmacy with a partner, could you take out a business loan, own it by yourself and just hire another pharmacist to work with you? Besides having to pay off the loan, are there any downsides to this? You'd be able to make all of the administrative decisions.

I didnt want any debt. We have no debt as of right now. For us, it was best to have no debt, but the idea is very plausible. The only downturn i can see in since you wont be filling lots of rxs, and no one knows how long it will take to get your business afloat, you may run into problems paying the loan back at first. Or, the loan could help you with cash flow. Hard to say. I say if you have the cash, or most of it, you are better off. But then again, thats a lot of cash. Its an opportunity cost; and having a partner has it pros and cons.
 
I want to open up a pharmacy some day also. I've read all of the posts about your pharmacy Doctor M and I the only thing I can say is you're my hero. I've already tried to make up a spreadsheet for income and expenses and such but it's over my head. I've got a few years to go though lol. Once I graduate, I'm hoping to work at a chain to pay off student loans and build some capital. I have a question though. Instead of opening a pharmacy with a partner, could you take out a business loan, own it by yourself and just hire another pharmacist to work with you? Besides having to pay off the loan, are there any downsides to this? You'd be able to make all of the administrative decisions.

I see that you are pre-pharmacy/pre-medical. I would not be worried about spread sheets and income statements right now LOL. Right now, finish school and save money, as much money as you can save. Dont buy a fancy car and sock away as much money as you can! Then worry about income sheets, balance sheets etc etc. Depending on your student loans rate, sometimes they are consolidated at a low rate so you can take your time paying them back. I do not know what the rate is nowadays, but when i graduated, it was 2.75 or so. I would say working at a chain for 5 years should be good. Then make your move.
 
I mean, they're not like in depth or anything. It's just somethin to think about when I'm bored lol.
 
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I know this is a very general question, but when you speak of needing to save a lump sum to open a pharmacy without debt, what dollar range are you suggesting? $200k? $500k? $1M?

And excuse my naivete, but what is an ALF?
 
I know this is a very general question, but when you speak of needing to save a lump sum to open a pharmacy without debt, what dollar range are you suggesting? $200k? $500k? $1M?

And excuse my naivete, but what is an ALF?

you should have 175k-200k handy. An ALF is an Assisted Living Facility. Open a closed door pharmacy, have 3 large ALFS and some retail business, and you are golden.
 
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the setback are the necessary upfront cash and location

for example, i only know the location of where I live (and its saturated), so opening 1 here doesnt make sense....and I would have no idea where and how to look at other locations (i deem that too risky since Id be a unfamiliar with that area)

thats why I dont do it
 
Our location is situated between 2 cvs and 2 walgreens. Honestly we offer great service, compounding, and ALF services. I cannot pinpoint what makes it work for us. we are at 4100 rxs monthly. It just works even with all the pharmacies around.
Are your ALF included in your 4100? I was at an indy store that did around 900 rx among a few homes, but that was basically something to keep you busy on the nights and weekends, bulk of the scripts were walk-in.

While on the topic, how do you manage the ALFs? We mostly used Opus and changed cassettes once a month, billed all at once. Due to some staffing problems at one home, we went to straight blister packing, with them sending us rx as they needed them.
 
Are your ALF included in your 4100? I was at an indy store that did around 900 rx among a few homes, but that was basically something to keep you busy on the nights and weekends, bulk of the scripts were walk-in.

While on the topic, how do you manage the ALFs? We mostly used Opus and changed cassettes once a month, billed all at once. Due to some staffing problems at one home, we went to straight blister packing, with them sending us rx as they needed them.

Yes, we have 1 large ALF with 113 residents, and 1 small one. We use Bluestep and we fill their meds as they ask for them. We use to do cycle fills, but these patients are forever getting their doses changed, seeing different doctors that it became difficult to manage their medicines. We have a total of 1200 rxs from the ALFs. The rest are retail.
 
Yes, we have 1 large ALF with 113 residents, and 1 small one. We use Bluestep and we fill their meds as they ask for them. We use to do cycle fills, but these patients are forever getting their doses changed, seeing different doctors that it became difficult to manage their medicines. We have a total of 1200 rxs from the ALFs. The rest are retail.
How did you make an agreement with the homes? I'm sure most facilities already have some sort of system set up, or did you find a newly opened place?
 
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