Patient/pharmacist connection is root of Kerr future success

Drug Store News, August 12, 2002 by James Frederick

DURHAM, N.C.--For Kerr Drug's pharmacy team, dispensing prescriptions is just the be ginning. More than most drug retailers, Kerr is rewriting the guidebook for community pharmacy and making the relationship between pharmacists and patients the cornerstone of its business.

Kerr now operates 132 stores in North and South Carolina, including 114 drug stores with pharmacies and six with in-store patient care centers. Those centers, called Enhanced Pharmaceutical Care Centers are staffed by a team of pharmacists with advanced clinical training and skilled in relating to patients. Care center staff also can include other health professionals, as well as pharmacy school residents and shared faculty members from the University of North Carolina's School of Pharmacy.

EPCC staffers offer a variety of health services for fees generally ranging from $10 to $35 for basic testing and consultation in diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and other conditions. Kerr's care centers also provide programs and classes in health topics, such as cancer, osteoporosis, women's health, hypertension and smoking cessation.

"This is a place where advanced pharmacy students can see their training put into practice," said a Kerr pharmacy official. "They'll be looking for this kind of setting when they graduate."

The chain also has "deployed clinical teams to establish relationships with all areas of the community, "noted a company official, including health fairs, senior centers and assisted-living centers, schools, medical centers and even self-insured employers. Results of these outreach efforts have been "very encouraging," noted the official.

Focusing on seniors

Within weeks, the chain will launch a major new marketing and merchandising initiative aimed at seniors, who comprise the core of Kerr's pharmacy business.

"We're probably going to launch the senior initiative around Labor Day," said Diane Eliezer, director of marketing for Kerr. That launch, she said, will occur at Kerr's drug store at University Mall in Chapel Hill, near the UNC campus and close to retirement communities.

The center, said Eliezer, will be adjacent to the store's EPCC--the first opened by the chain, in the late 1990s--and will be set off by separate wood-type flooring and other boutique touches to create a store-within-a-store effect. It also will include special touches to make it easier for the elderly to shop, including magnifying glasses on shelves to read small print an wider aisles.

The separate department--Kerr has yet to settle on a brand name for the new venture--will be "specifically targeted to seniors," Eliezer told Drug Store News. Among other features will be "a vastly expanded home health care assortment" and a broad selection of products for mobility, bath and shower safety and other independent-living aids. The new store-within-a-store a so will include special shoes and other products for diabetic patients, as well as hospital beds, first aid kits, eating trays and even sheets and gowns for homebound elderly and their caregivers.

In addition, said Eliezer, "We'll have a senior consultant there to help them negotiate the department, order from the home health catalogue if the products aren't in stock or locate resources on the Internet."

Shortly, she said, Kerr will sponsor an open house at the new senior care center, "inviting residents of assisted-living homes in the area to come and see the things we've done.

"We would love to do this in other stores where it makes sense, especially in stores close to assisted-living facilities, hospitals or clinics," Eliezer said. "We're looking at some locations now, but this will be our test site."

In a related venture, Kerr will sponsor a major senior living exposition in Raleigh, N.C., in October. The three-day event will offer a variety of products and services, as well as information on heals, financial planning and other topics, noted Eliezer.

In line with corporate mission

The chain's growing outreach programs for seniors, diabetics and other groups are in line with its retooled corporate mission, first laid out last year by Kerr president and chief executive officer Anthony Civello. The chain' s new mission prompted an overhaul in management including the elimination of the chief operating officer position. Kerr also began planning for the needs of aging baby boomers. In addition, there was a shift at some stores at the front end based on geographic area, in favor of a stronger emphasis on pharmacy, health and wellness. Stores in upscale areas saw additions of giftware and a bath/body shop, while the front-end. items were cut in stores with stronger pharmacy departments.

The overhaul focused Kerr on being more convenient and more efficent in its pharmacy department. Civello intended to make Kerr a health care setting rather than a retail setting.