Change is afoot in pharmacy today. New regulations, competition, and the need to intensify focus your customers have all changed how you must do business.
You need a fresh retail pharmacy strategy – and a new pharmacy design to match
You need a new pharmacy strategy to address these issues, but your pharmacy design, too, must be updated to support those changes. Here's how:
New regulations mean a more secure layout
The US HIPAA regulations that took effect on September 23, 2013 require your pharmacy design to incorporate specific directives to protect patient privacy. Patients can now restrict who see their personal health information, or PHI, with the exception of necessary health professionals, and security and breach regulations have been tightened as well.
- Physical and electronic safeguards protect PHI
Access to electronic hardware or media that stores PHI must have restricted access; workstations should be centralized so that no physical access is permitted without authorization, and to prevent theft. Policies must be put in place to establish when workstations can be used. Every login should have appropriate authentication measures used, and electronic media, hardware, or other components used to access PHI must have regulations established as to when he can be removed, eliminated, or reused.
The competition is fiercer than ever
What can you do to "beat" the competition, especially retail pharmacists, in this age of price wars and rising costs? You can serve your customers better than they do. How?
- Get to know your customers personally
You became a pharmacist to help your customers, and the extra personal touch you can provide puts you far ahead of the competition in that regard.
- Make sure customers know they can trust you to keep them safe
Personal customer service has another very important component to it besides the "feel-good" factor. When you get to know your customers personally and you fill prescriptions in house, medication errors are much less likely because you are familiar with your customers' histories such that these potentially dangerous situations are much less likely to happen.
A good pharmacy design can serve customers better
In addition to a foot traffic path that meanders easily throughout the store, soothing, pleasant decor, and good lighting, seating placed strategically throughout your store can give your customers with physical challenges places to sit and rest as they need to.
Expand your reach and serve a growing need by incorporating clinical pharmacy into your design
Now may be the time to expand your services into clinical pharmacy. As healthcare expands to cover more patients in the United States, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the traditional healthcare system is struggling. It is not feasible, economical, or convenient for patients with nonurgent medical needs to use traditional avenues such as the emergency room or a visit to the family practitioner to get these needs met.
Clinical pharmacy seeks to change that. With this, you can employ nurse practitioners who do most of the work of family care physicians in a non-urgent setting.
This benefits patients by:
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Allowing them to get their needs met quickly and easily, with very little notice
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Giving them the opportunity to spend significant time with a healthcare professional, rather than within the rushed atmosphere of the traditional medical setting
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Providing an affordable alternative to non-urgent healthcare versus other avenues
Let your customers and patients know that you can serve them better because you're independent, not in spite of it. You have a personal touch no retail pharmacy can hope to match. Make sure your pharmacy design matches your new strategy design, and then focus on serving your customers.
