Business Idea

[deleted820760]

Hi guys,

I have a business idea for anyone interested, but I’m not sure if it’s a good one. What do you guys think about pharmacists opening up their own vaccine administration business? From what I understand, the reimbursement rate for vaccines is better than filling prescriptions. You could even have a private room for vaccine administration so patients can have more privacy. Costs would be lower because you wouldn’t have to keep meds in stock, just vaccines. You could also get by with just one technician. You could easily provide better service than the chains, so word would spread.

I wonder if you could have a truck, kind of like a food truck, instead of paying rent for an office. You could have a website that shows where you will be parking the truck each day, so patients would know where to find you.

This isn’t something I’m interested in personally, since I’m not really a business-minded person. It’s just an idea I thought of, and I wanted to share in case someone else would be interested. I think it’s a fabulous idea.

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[rxkrafted]

I personally don't think it would be worth the investment of time and money. Of course you have to market this business and have to promote enough vaccinations but I feel like you'd have to pump out a lot of vaccine administrations in order to be worth the profitability of the time and effort spent into this. What would you do differently that would attract patients to get their vaccines from you rather than at a doctor's office, clinic, or pharmacy (where they may already have a file) ?

 

[Marzapan]

Hi guys,

I have a business idea for anyone interested, but I’m not sure if it’s a good one. What do you guys think about pharmacists opening up their own vaccine administration business? From what I understand, the reimbursement rate for vaccines is better than filling prescriptions. You could even have a private room for vaccine administration so patients can have more privacy. Costs would be lower because you wouldn’t have to keep meds in stock, just vaccines. You could also get by with just one technician. You could easily provide better service than the chains, so word would spread.

I wonder if you could have a truck, kind of like a food truck, instead of paying rent for an office. You could have a website that shows where you will be parking the truck each day, so patients would know where to find you.

This isn’t something I’m interested in personally, since I’m not really a business-minded person. It’s just an idea I thought of, and I wanted to share in case someone else would be interested. I think it’s a fabulous idea.

1. Your business will be seasonal and be mostly during the fall/flu season. What are you going to do for the remaining 8 months of the year to keep your doors open?

2. If you're thinking covid vaccines, the big chains CVS, WAG etc already have contracts/supply chain agreements with the federal government for immediate access and distribution of these products once approved. How are you going to get into the fray and out-negotiate the corporate chains when they have priority?

3. Isn't the government making the covid vaccine free for everyone? In which case you will be paid a set fee from the government to administer the vaccines to patients and cannot drive up your profit margins via markups like you can otherwise.

4. The food truck concept won't work because vaccines are a one and done type deal. So there is no point for anyone to "follow you on Facebook/Twitter" because once they got their shot your food truck becomes irrelevant to them. Plus, think how sketch this concept is from a liability standpoint. If I received a shot one day and suffered a delayed adverse reaction or found out I got the wrong vaccine, then I can't simply go back to complain because the food truck might be in a location 5 hours away the next day.

5. I'd imagine that from a legal standpoint you'd need to have some sort of approval from the DEA/BOP because you're dispensing drugs, and likely be in a CPA with a physician depending on what shots are given. Highly doubt the legal/admin part of this is any less work than if you owned a normal pharmacy.

 

[owlegrad]

I hate to be a nah-sayer, but this definitely sounds more like a side hustle than a business idea. You can undoubtably make a little money by doing flu shot clinics and being flexible/aggressive about marketing but honestly how many shots can you possibly give per season and will that cover all your expenses? And once the flu season is over what do you do the rest of the year?

It's conceivable you might be able to get some LTC facilities to let you come in and give their vaccines. I could see a fairly successful side hustle in doing that. If you can convince enough large employers to let you come in and do flu clinic each year and have a few stable LTC clients that support you outside flu season with Zoster and Prevnar shots you might be able to make it work. But supply chain, permits, storage and handling, etc etc. I just can't see it being worth the effort.

 

[deleted820760]

Ok, so maybe the vaccine truck part won’t work. I guess the pharmacist could just go offsite and give shots like CVS makes people do anyway.

Why would it only be good during flu season? People need other vaccines, too.

 

[Wickett]

Ok, so maybe the vaccine truck part won’t work. I guess the pharmacist could just go offsite and give shots like CVS makes people do anyway.

Why would it only be good during flu season? People need other vaccines, too.

People need their maintenance meds monthly. Repeat business. Outside of flu, other vaccines are one (or two) then done. There's little to no repeat business. It'll be diminishing returns. And the reimbursement for vaccines isn't as high as you think.

 

[mentos]

Yeah this is more of a side hustle. You need to complement this with a full time business. So you could have a taco truck which also offers vaccinations. Tacos will sell year round while the vaccines give you extra income in the fall.