Question about Wal Mart new NPS Patient satisfaction scoring system.

[sozetone]

So wal Mart has taken on the Net Promoter Scoring system that many other companies have used before. Here is my issue. When you pay for your RX and leave the counter your receipt has a website and unique number/letters that allow you to go online and "rate" the pharmacy for friendliness, cleanliness, greeting, over all satisfaction...etc. Its all their and all set up. It has been changed since the QPF was phased out a few months ago. However.....You CANNOT use the receipts anymore! they absolutely do not count , even if people go home and give you a 10 across the board....

They send a TEXT message to everyone on texting who picked up a script. But let me correct myself ..... NOT everyone gets a text.....i dont know how that works. So their is no way to "beat" the system. But more importantly is this not a problem? You are not allowing folks who do not use or want text messaging to rate the pharmacy! Wouldn't this be an unfair representation of over-all patient/customer satisfaction?

Why do they have it setup then?... hmmmm...? you can go online from your receipt, and see the NPS styled questions (i verified this and they are new and relative to NPS at WM) . But why does it NOT count towards your stores promoter score? why would the company create the website and forms, yet block the submissions? only allowing Text message subscribers to randomly rate the store? I call foul.

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[Sine Cura]

They are just years behind CVS. I know as late as 2014 they still printed survey codes for at least one store in Vegas but I never saw a single survey any of the two CVS in Arizona where I worked, in a snowbird area no less.

Obviously people cheat the surveys so that is a greater priority to eliminate vs having a "representative" set of surveys

 

[SoylentGreen]

Previously when it was based on surveys on receipts we had a mix of pharmacies doing their own surveys and a very, very small and unrepresentative sample of a few very friendly or very hostile people, or people who had been hustled by the pharmacist to do the survey. It was bull****. The current system can't be worse.

 

[owlegrad]

Your post cracks me up soze. I am sorry Walmart made it harder to beat the system but yeah that’s the point.

The problem isn’t how the surveys are sent out IMO it’s how few responses you get. Think of how many thousands of scripts are sold per month vs how many surveys are completed. That’s the real problem with it being representative IMO.

 

[owlegrad]

The current system can't be worse.

What do you think a better system would be?

 

[Sine Cura]

No, dissatisfied people are more likely to bitch and moan (sometimes for good reason, sometimes they're idiots) than people who are neutral towards the pharmacy. You can see it with Yelp reviews of Walmarts (I worked at probably the lowest-rated Walmart SC, not lowest-rated pharmacy, in California with a rating < 2).

Ex: *****s who bitch about waiting for consultation then bitch about the consultation being too short/curt.

 

[gwarm01]

Set up a kiosk like Ikea has by their exit. Three buttons - smiley face, neutral, frowny face. I'd throw you a positive review if it was that easy.

 

[SoylentGreen]

What do you think a better system would be?

As with any survey system, you need an unbiased sample (not just a few loud people) and large enough numbers to provide some statistical power. The new system is probably as good as you can reasonably expect to do. It gets enough surveys, unlike the old system, where we got a few dozen per year. It's still biased in that it only asks people who get the text and only counts those who bother to reply, but that's better than getting only those who were willing to spend 15 minutes doing a computer survey, and it can't really be gamed by the pharmacy staff.

I don't really have a better idea that wouldn't be intrusive or expensive to implement.

 

[SoylentGreen]

No, dissatisfied people are more likely to bitch and moan (sometimes for good reason, sometimes they're idiots) than people who are neutral towards the pharmacy. You can see it with Yelp reviews of Walmarts (I worked at probably the lowest-rated Walmart SC, not lowest-rated pharmacy, in California with a rating < 2).

Ex: *****s who bitch about waiting for consultation then bitch about the consultation being too short/curt.

True. The fact that 15% or so percent of our surverys say they wouldn't recommend us proves this. Obviously they are using us if they did the survey, and if they thought there was a better pharmacy to recommend, presumably they would use it themselves. Sometimes they do transfer out, but far less than 15% of our customers do so at any given time, so there's no way that represents reality.

But this is no more true at your pharmacy than it is at mine, and we are judged relative to each other's performance, so it really doesn't matter. It gets baked into the goal.

 

[sozetone]

It's not a very effective tool. Most happy people dont bother with it, forget to do it ...etc. We are all guilty of that. But when your angry....lookout... they will take every step possible to sink your ship. yeah and i dont agree with them dropping it 6 months into the year, with all the stores in our market at different starting points.... some high 90's some as low as 30's..... im in the mid at like 67, gotta dig outta that hole by years end? that kinda unfair. And they just reduced help Dramatically..... so rule of business says you reduce help you lose quality..... they cant really expect their clients to get a BETTER service level with LESS people, that s not logical. but when it comes to our performance evaluation its suddenly logical....slime baggy behavior. And has ANYONE seen their MIP incentive package yet this year? GEEEEEE i wonder why.....they retooled the qualifiers to probably reduce overall payout.....lets watch and see.

 

[Sine Cura]

Apparently paper surveys count now but that is probably trap to lure idiots into doing their own store's surveys on their phone.

 

[sozetone]

Apparently paper surveys count now but that is probably trap to lure idiots into doing their own store's surveys on their phone.

When did this start? they did not count as of a month ago. FOR SURE,....lol

 

[Sine Cura]

They started mentioning it last week at least.

Did you guys see in the New OTM they still have the supportive personnel utilization metric? Just ****ing lol after cutting hours.

These days I do 3 techs one sales associate on weekdays, which is not that bad with 2 pharmacists if the store is not too ghetto but the other RPH is usually a sloth. (200 hrs week with ~1700 sold but trash store)

 

[sozetone]

yeah i saw it..... they have no clue what is going on inside their pharmacies. Most are running on fumes.....barely clearing the ques before leaving.....and they want moments of care? disney environment? they cant even keep techs on board , its a constant cycle of revolving doors. no point in even training them on moments of care....

 

[King2440]

They started mentioning it last week at least.

Did you guys see in the New OTM they still have the supportive personnel utilization metric? Just ****ing lol after cutting hours.

These days I do 3 techs one sales associate on weekdays, which is not that bad with 2 pharmacists if the store is not too ghetto but the other RPH is usually a sloth. (200 hrs week with ~1700 sold but trash store)

You get 200 Rph hours for 1700 script store??!

 

[Sine Cura]

You get 200 Rph hours for 1700 script store??!

Exactly these California pharmacists are garbage. 9 out of 10 are dog**** just standing around refusing to fill or anything really. Getting them written up takes forever

Last 4 days filled 90-150 Rx myself every day since techs are constantly drawn to drop-off and the other pharmacist just wants to stand around being massively butthurt. No joke I 4-pted 211 to 70 the other day too. That's not spillover work from the previous day either; those are for that day only.

 

[sozetone]

Exactly these California pharmacists are garbage. 9 out of 10 are dog**** just standing around refusing to fill or anything really. Getting them written up takes forever

Last 4 days filled 90-150 Rx myself every day since techs are constantly drawn to drop-off and the other pharmacist just wants to stand around being massively butthurt. No joke I 4-pted 211 to 70 the other day too. That's not spillover work from the previous day either; those are for that day only.

Man i had one like that.... performanced her out, but it took a year! she took a leave and had her knee worked on .... came back with a god darn walker!!! swear... was so funny....caught her sitting on it sideways once eating cheesburgers from mcdonalds WHILE VIS VER'ing... (was watching camera for something else) lol. wrote her up for that....

 

[sozetone]

You get 200 Rph hours for 1700 script store??!

King, i duno if your at walmart, but ~200 for a 1700 rx store is about right. spot on for what i'm at as well in CO...CVS and WAGS runs much lower, but have a simpler system to get things done. Wal mart is seriously labor intensive and they dont show signs of fixing it. It will drop a bit after flu season is over.

 

[King2440]

King, i duno if your at walmart, but ~200 for a 1700 rx store is about right. spot on for what i'm at as well in CO...CVS and WAGS runs much lower, but have a simpler system to get things done. Wal mart is seriously labor intensive and they dont show signs of fixing it. It will drop a bit after flu season is over.

WM in Texas. My market and region is at 160 Rph hours per pay period. I do 1900-2100 a week. I bet It’s coming to you soon.

 

[Sine Cura]

My bad; I meant 200 tech hrs a week for a 1700 Rx sold store but yeah there are 194 RPH hours per pay period for that store.

 

[thecoolpharmboi]

King, i duno if your at walmart, but ~200 for a 1700 rx store is about right. spot on for what i'm at as well in CO...CVS and WAGS runs much lower, but have a simpler system to get things done. Wal mart is seriously labor intensive and they dont show signs of fixing it. It will drop a bit after flu season is over.

Walmart just needs to invest in better technology and systems to get things done. 200 tech hours for 1700/week? That would be crazy at Wags. We do ~2000/week and we get 160 tech hours average in October. It goes down to 150 in other months.

 

[sozetone]

Walmart just needs to invest in better technology and systems to get things done. 200 tech hours for 1700/week? That would be crazy at Wags. We do ~2000/week and we get 160 tech hours average in October. It goes down to 150 in other months.

yep i agree 100% , system is great and designed for optimal patient safety, but requires intensive labor to keep it moving....

 

[sozetone]

WM in Texas. My market and region is at 160 Rph hours per pay period. I do 1900-2100 a week. I bet It’s coming to you soon.

im already single coverage at 160 bro lol..... started in august, sucks but whatcha gonna do right? but your S3G hours? what are you at for scripts sold?

 

[Sine Cura]

FYI I do not conflate sold with filled Rx nor use 90-day equivalents. 1700 sold is actual Rx sold. However last week we filled 2050 actual rx on 190 support hrs / sold ~1800

 

[sozetone]

yeah that sounds about in everyones neighborhood.....but the more i research NPS scoring, by industry and benchmarks......etc. I'm realizing that wal-mart is lying about their next competitor having a score of +85..... totally not true. checked CVS and walgreens, amazon....etc... If you read on outcomes that matter the little "I" next to NPS for the definition you will get WAL MARTS VERSION which is " a "good" score would be in the range of 75--84, with 85+ as "excellent". Below 75 would be "needs improvement". do the research and you will see this is simply not true of the NPS scoring system anywhere in ANY industry. A "good score" is anything above "0", "excellent" is above "50" and above "70" you are "exceptional", Yet, they are about to ding 15% of our Evals on this metric if your not at 75? . now that is scumbag to the max....+70 and you are basically an industry leader..... here is an example of my stores NPS. I have a sample size at this point of ~158 people surveyed, and 80% are "promotors", 9% are "detractors" , the rest are "passives" and only count to increase sample size.....so 80-9 = 71 is the formula.... ok?, why on earth would that be a "bad" score? (71). according to the entire NPS world we are industry leaders...? i think they dropped this system on us in August assuming their managers would not look into the matter or research it, which most obviously have not. Does anyone else find this disturbing?

 

[Sine Cura]

Field management is wont to come up with fake goals like 85+ for the whole market (LOL)

Your store is not that bad to have n = 158. Some stores won't touch that with lack of English literacy

 

[sozetone]

Field management is wont to come up with fake goals like 85+ for the whole market (LOL)

Your store is not that bad to have n = 158. Some stores won't touch that with lack of English literacy

Well i can kiss my 71 goodbye after the last few days and the next week or so. I got one tech sick with a migraine so bad she apparently had to be in the hospital and they last a week! and another took off on me to a neighborhood market unexpectedly last week(couldnt get along with the other girls). So im trying to do 350-400/day with 3 techs! in a ghetto, dumpster store....we have long azz wait times now and the fill que has had 90+ last few nights left over.... no bueno man....I hired someone yesterday and another is fairly new, so it's becoming revolving doors after the cuts... i knew this would happen....i'm seeing it at most of the stores in my district. I still have my 4 full timers who have been with me for the duration and are ace techs... but they are getting tired....all pulling overtime to do what they can.....Over all though i'm still better off than a lot of the stores. We have some with no manager or staff! just operating with floaters...WTF? my DM wont fill it for some reason....i bet hes trying to keep his P&L looking good through December....several other stores of the 12 in my market are falling apart...

 

[Sine Cura]

Receipt survey ids count now so you can nag the **** out of customers to do those too

 

[sozetone]

Receipt survey ids count now so you can nag the **** out of customers to do those too

have you verified this?

 

[Sine Cura]

People very rarely identify themselves in comments and I do not ask people to state specific things so I know the receipt IDs work.

However they been nagging us to nag people about the receipts again.

 

[ranger99rx]

My overall score just went up last month to 86. Let hope we don’t get that many low scores till February. Haven’t seen compensation packet yet. Couldn’t find on the Wire. Has anyone seen it?

 

[King2440]

My overall score just went up last month to 86. Let hope we don’t get that many low scores till February. Haven’t seen compensation packet yet. Couldn’t find on the Wire. Has anyone seen it?

Compensation = employment

 

[sozetone]

Compensation = employment

You thinking they got rid of the MIP? by this time every year, we see it and have an idea of what to expect.... not this year....hmmmm...your thoughts?

 

[Sine Cura]

Just took a cursory look at the OTM dashboard yesterday. 88 or above is like top 500-600 (top 10-12 percent) and below 60 is in the bottom 15-20 percent (there will be many ties obviously so that's why I put a range), so being 60 or below is a "problem" even though some stores will bring up the rear due to demographics and/or bad staff.

If Walmart was being really honest, NPS is really just a measure that correlates with script volume and demographics. The fewer the scripts, the fewer the problem patients in absolute numbers and the better the area the fewer ratchet people who spam the ED and complain you won't do emergency fills for their maintenance meds and fewer ****ty clinics that you get blamed for when those clinics don't know how to their job (barring Walmarts near enclaves with a bunch of snooty white people).

Pick a random NHM market where most pharmacists hold sinecures compared to any CVS pharmacist. All of them will probably be in the 80s aside from an outlier store or two that are located in ****ty areas.

Also I don't think Walmart workflow handles anything above 2000/week well at all unless ALL your staff are efficient, which is a fantasy considering there are few solid applicants out there, tech or pharmacist.

The only "good" thing about the new survey system is that it captures zero pay patients whereas in the past basically 60% of the customers at my store were excluded from surveys due to being on Medi-Cal only (like 60% Medi-Cal only, 20% dual eligible, 10% Medicare only, 3% commercial, 7% other)

 

[King2440]

You thinking they got rid of the MIP? by this time every year, we see it and have an idea of what to expect.... not this year....hmmmm...your thoughts?

I’m thinking so..why would they give raises and bonuses when all other companies have cut that off? Hopefully I’m wrong but LY and future past years we’ve had quarterly MIP updates.

 

[Sine Cura]

It is claimed that MIP still exists but I wouldn't be surprised if it is scaled down like 50% of max.

 

[Sine Cura]

If you checked the "final statement" for MIP for last year it actually shows this year's metrics (or did a few days ago), including pharmacy controlled profit, even though the date(s) are wrong

 

[Chrish]

Easiest way to fix NPS score is to get people out of line. If there are more than 3 people waiting, you gotta have at least two people at the register. And take care of the waiters. Bump them up to in-store or even critical if they are in front of you.

Our NPS was bad but then we took on this approach and we are above the goal of 70 now.

 

[King2440]

Easiest way to fix NPS score is to get people out of line. If there are more than 3 people waiting, you gotta have at least two people at the register. And take care of the waiters. Bump them up to in-store or even critical if they are in front of you.

Our NPS was bad but then we took on this approach and we are above the goal of 70 now.

Thought they say goal is 85? Lol

 

[King2440]

If you checked the "final statement" for MIP for last year it actually shows this year's metrics (or did a few days ago), including pharmacy controlled profit, even though the date(s) are wrong

Looks like today there was an update to MIP.

 

[Chrish]

Thought they say goal is 85? Lol

85 is an “ideal” score. But they will let you off the hook if it’s 70 or above for now.

 

[Sine Cura]

The company average is 70 (basically the same as the median) so 50% of stores are "let off the hook".

If you get any sizable proportion of detractors you're ****ed. The actual min and max of NPS is -100 to 100

If you have ****ty floaters that's another thing to considering when conducting damage control. Ghetto-ass people flip their **** that APAP liquid isn't covered anymore by a certain Medicaid plan (I don't care what the so-called formulary says when 11 diff NDCs don't work)

They really should have NPS data corresponding to shifts pharmacists work like they do/did with CVS MyCustomer Experience so we could have a way to write up these slug RPH

 

[King2440]

The company average is 70 (basically the same as the median) so 50% of stores are "let off the hook".

If you get any sizable proportion of detractors you're ****ed. The actual min and max of NPS is -100 to 100

If you have ****ty floaters that's another thing to considering when conducting damage control. Ghetto-ass people flip their **** that APAP liquid isn't covered anymore by a certain Medicaid plan (I don't care what the so-called formulary says when 11 diff NDCs don't work)

They really should have NPS data corresponding to shifts pharmacists work like they do/did with CVS MyCustomer Experience so we could have a way to write up these slug RPH

And don’t forget that half of the nps detractors are about the app not working, closing for lunch or something out of the control of the pharmacy team.

 

[Sine Cura]

Did you guys get any info that months with N < 30 won't count toward YTD NPS or was that just for October?

If any months with N < 30 don't count they need to throw away all surveys then for some stores. LOL. As it stands I have 6 out of 7 months with n < 30 for each of those months (including a month of -100 NPS albeit with n = 1) and it seems the results for all of the months count toward toward the YTD n, including October's results

 

[Sine Cura]

Got spammed today with degenerate white trash looking to burn off their Anthem Mediblue OTC benefits.

Please tell me these geniuses at HO ever thought about the impact this garbage would have on NPS.

(yes, WM, you know exactly who I am. LOL)

 

[sozetone]

Did you guys get any info that months with N < 30 won't count toward YTD NPS or was that just for October?

If any months with N < 30 don't count they need to throw away all surveys then for some stores. LOL. As it stands I have 6 out of 7 months with n < 30 for each of those months (including a month of -100 NPS albeit with n = 1) and it seems the results for all of the months count toward toward the YTD n, including October's results

some market goals are 70, some are 85+, they do not know what they are doing anymore....it's pure chaos right now...i also smell a market re-alignment coming up.....most out of control company i have ever had the displeasure to work for. The re-structuring has sent them into a total spiral ......

 

[Sine Cura]

H&W is sclerotic and schizophrenic

 

[sozetone]

H&W is sclerotic and schizophrenic

sclerotic, you like that one dont you? lol. yeah the whole company is becoming very messed up. This is probably the largest re-structuring in history. And they cannot come out and tell people their jobs are going away ya know? In GM, they just keep saying , work hard, be the best and you'll succeed....you will make it! lol.....they need these people over the next 5-10 years. after that they will be a whole new entity. require people a whole lot less....thats why they dont share their 5 year plan with associates. Because its hard to say "were moving towards automation/technology and online sales, your store will eventually close and become a distribution center!" LOL....

 

[King2440]

Yea different goals for different markets/regions.

Same could be said about RPh hours. I’m working with 160 every period and do about 2400 a week. While other stores less busy than I am are getting 190+. It makes no sense.

 

[DruggieDoRight]

Did you leave already Soze?