owning a pharmacy

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blueclassring

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Is there anyone interested in owning their own pharmacy? It would seem to be very lucrative(400K-500K net) especially if you specialized in some clinical aspect.

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That is something that I would love to do but unfortunately haven't looked into any details. I'm so busy just keeping up with studies there's no time. I wish we could take an elective that addressed this as well as other pharmacy "business" aspects.
 
blueclassring said:
Is there anyone interested in owning their own pharmacy? It would seem to be very lucrative(400K-500K net) especially if you specialized in some clinical aspect.

Have you ever check out ncpa, its an association for independent pharmacists and they do have a program where retiring pharmacists can sell their pharmacy to new ones coming in.
 
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WSU2007 said:
That is something that I would love to do but unfortunately haven't looked into any details. I'm so busy just keeping up with studies there's no time. I wish we could take an elective that addressed this as well as other pharmacy "business" aspects.

While I'm not sure that I would want to open my own pharmacy, it's odd that more schools don't have this type of elective that you're talking about. It makes a lot of sense to have a "Pharmacy Business" type of class. Then again, if I wanted to open my own pharmacy I might look into one of the joint PharmD/MBA programs.
 
bananaface said:
The average independent pharmacy owner makes just under 300K and works 45-55 hours a week. There is a huge amount of variation there, though.

Can you post where you got these numbers? I'd like to know that if that's counting just Rxs or total store?

I've rolled the idea around some, but haven't looked into it seriously at this point. Let me get into pharmacy school first, then I can worry about taking over the world. :D
 
I'm not sure where all you are applying but SWOSU in Oklahoma has a great curriculum that requires students to take several Pharmacy Management/Administration classes where you do discuss quite a bit in detail the pros and cons of buying or opening a pharmacy. It's pretty interesting...

just a thought
 
We do have this class as a P3 elective. So far it's interesting, but they by no means paint an artificially rosy picture of store ownership. I'll post again at the end of the semester when I have more information. We have different speakers every week and thus far have learned about writing a business plan and what is required to obtain financing.

It seems like a ton of work!
 
I worked at an independent pharmacy. My boss was a pretty nasty guy. Seemed like owning a phamacy is pretty tough. He said insurance was making it hard to make a profit. I don't know how it works but he said that he buys the drug and insurance only pays him back that price and a couple dollars more.

If a customer came in and he didn't want to sell the drug because he wouldn't make a profit, he would lie and say he doesn't have any.

There was a riteaid near the pharmacy too.

I would like to own a pharmacy and I am not sure if these things are true.
 
KUMoose said:
Can you post where you got these numbers? I'd like to know that if that's counting just Rxs or total store?

I've rolled the idea around some, but haven't looked into it seriously at this point. Let me get into pharmacy school first, then I can worry about taking over the world. :D
It was a part of a lecture on independent pharmacy. I think PCCA was cited as the source. It's been a year and a half though. I don't know if those are whole store or RX only numbers.
 
The Pfizer Digest is published annually by NCPA and gives the average stats of how independent pharmacies are doing. It shows the yearly average expenses and revenues for over the counter and pharmacy business. I don't think you can get it for free. I read it last year for our business plan project, but here's the link to reading the executive summary and ordering or logging in to view it: http://www.ncpanet.org/digest/index.shtml
 
My husband is not too interested in this, but let me tell you it does rake in a lot of money. He works in an independent pharmacy and my eyes just bulged when I saw his boss's returns.. his boss averages almost a million a year.. but the 2 pharmacies are "conveniently" located in AIDS-infested and low socioeconomic neighborhoods of NY (ie medicaid patients).. so maybe the location depends too.
 
i worked at in independent compounding pharmacy for one of my rotations and then i stayed on over x-mas break and my vacation block. they did a lot of vet meds and very little insurance was taken there. if i don't get a residency that is where i will work with my eye to buy when the owner wants to retire.
 
rivatnt said:
I worked at an independent pharmacy. My boss was a pretty nasty guy. Seemed like owning a phamacy is pretty tough. He said insurance was making it hard to make a profit. I don't know how it works but he said that he buys the drug and insurance only pays him back that price and a couple dollars more.

If a customer came in and he didn't want to sell the drug because he wouldn't make a profit, he would lie and say he doesn't have any.

There was a riteaid near the pharmacy too.

I would like to own a pharmacy and I am not sure if these things are true.

I've heard similar things. The pharmacist I've worked for said the profit margin is thin, only 20%. Let's face it, if it was an extremely lucrative business, there would be a lot more indep pharms. It seems that to really make money, you'd have to do a chain.

Is this really just about money? Owning your own business is extremely stressful at times-- usually there's a reason why you make so much money. If you find it rewarding, then that's awesome but don't go in it just for money.
 
i don't that real estate investing works, but the reason that many people don't get into it is because it isn't like the commercials. yet, it is a great revenue generator if done right. anything worth having is worth working for!!!! the same is about owning a pharmacy
 
Hmmm...

We have an independent pharmacy, and yea, insurances does make it hard to make a profit. Starting out is really hard for the first year and then people don't want to buy prescriptions because the insurance doesn't cover enough.

One man needed to buy a $100 dollar prescription, and his insurance only gave him $5 dollars off.

I've been told by one of the pharmacists that not everyone can open an independent pharmacy. I don't know what he meant by that. He was probably just complimenting my parents.
 
I am really interested in owning a business at some point in my life, my parents have expressed intrest in opening a health store, even before I wanted to go to pharmacy school, so I thought a combo pharmacy, health food center would be a neat idea. I would like to bring disease education to "the people" in a hands-on way that I dont think the big chains do.
 
I would imagine that an independent pharmacy set up basically the same as any comercial one would be a pretty difficult business to handle. Specializing in a particular area is probably a good way to go.

My roomate in undergrad worked in an independent compounding pharmacy - the only one in a city of some 500K. Needless to say that alone would prob make it a unique and very lucrative practice, but the pharmacist also specializes in compounding hormone replacement therapies and has a family physcian, OB-GY, and a naturopath (who mostly counsells patients on nutrition) located within the practice....calls it a "wellness pharmacy" and does very well for himself.
 
yeah, the independent pharmacy that i worked at did hormone replacement and they had a nutritionist on staff there too to help council patient. one of the owners also does hormone consults for $2/min, no insurance billing for that. all cash.
 
yes, thank you.
 
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