Stakes are high for long term care pharmacies. Your clients serve a vulnerable group, people who need — and deserve — the highest level of around-the-clock care. But providing the daily customer service your clients expect, as well as emergency consultations and stat deliveries, isn’t always easy. Especially as the cost of running a long term care pharmacy seems to climb faster than the paperwork accumulating on your desk.
We may be a new company, but we’re no stranger to the challenges of working in long term care. Our team of healthcare executives has more than 40 years’ experience building solutions in the post-acute space. Here are the top three challenges we see our partners facing on a daily basis.
Changing Regulations
The regulations that drive our industry can change in the blink of an eye. Whether it’s a state-level shift, like California’s new fee-for-service outpatient drug reimbursement methodology, or the recent U.S. Senate Finance Committee investigation into insulin prices that led to the launch of a half-price version of Eli Lilly’s Humalog. It seems every day brings a new set of issues that drastically impact our partners’ businesses.
Being able to provide exceptional service while keeping up with legislative changes is difficult. We know. To help our long term care pharmacies stay abreast of the rules and regulations that affect their bottom line, we’ve joined several advocacy groups, including the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition.
While we can’t control the drastic swings in regulatory trends, we can align ourselves with the groups that are fighting for consistency and fairness in the long term care marketplace.
Rising Prices
Everyone’s trying to lower healthcare expenses in America. But in reality, costs are on the rise. Minimum wage is increasing. Unemployment is down. And facilities are expect their long term care pharmacy partners to provide advanced services like on-demand consultations and in-house automation — for free.
We know our pharmacy clients are committed to providing the highest level of customer service. But we also know it’s hard to do that when reimbursements are flat. That’s why we are constantly developing new tools and solutions to keep our costs down. We work with more than 70,000 pharmacies across the country to negotiate the fairest rates for our long term care pharmacy partners.
Competition
The ultimate challenge our long term care pharmacy partners are facing? Other long term care pharmacies. Competition seems to drive every decision. Whether it’s vying for the few skilled employees looking for jobs in today’s strong market or debating whether to invest in another drug cabinet for a facility.
The only way to stay ahead is to offer the best service. That means delivering on routine and stat orders with the utmost efficiency. And increasing your perceived value by keeping every promise your make.
As the market evolves and competition increases, we’re constantly looking for new ways to help long term care pharmacies provide the highest level of service — at the most competitive price.