New emphasis reinforces pharmacy identity

Drug Store News,  August 18, 2003  by Mike Troy

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When Eckerd opened a new prototype store last year, it placed a large sign near the pharmacy waiting area that reads, "A pharmacy. First."

It can at times be easy to overlook that fact given the company's high profile focus on driving front-end sales and financial analysts' emphasis on Eckerd's sputtering monthly same-store sales. Considerable effort has been expended the past few years to convert nearly all of Eckerd's approximately 2,700 stores to a new merchandise layout. Earlier this year, there were high profile management changes in the merchandising area, and the responsibilities of senior operations executives were realigned. And then there is the new prototype. Eckerd built a 13,800-square-foot store that is about 2,000 square feet larger than its average store and devoted most of the increased space to traffic generating consumables categories and seasonal merchandise.

Despite all of these activities, Eckerd is a pharmacy first and derives 68.5 percent of its annual sales of $14.6 billion from pharmacy. Accordingly, the nation's fourth-largest chain pharmacy has numerous initiatives under way to improve the services it offers customers.

One of the most recent was the introduction of Specialty Pharmacy Services by Eckerd. The service had been launched earlier this year to target the fast-growing market for bio-tech drugs. Customers with chronic conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, cystic fibrosis, HIV/AIDS and others, now are able to have their prescriptions filled by an Eckerd pharmacist. To help administer the program, Eckerd enlisted the help of Orlando-based Curo-Script, which has a trained call center staff and computer software designed to handle billing and patient relations. The result is a turnkey situation for customers.

"In the Specialty Pharmacy, we will take care of everything for the patient," said Eckerd vice president Joan Gallagher.

In addition, Eckerd has become more aggressive with its patient counseling programs. Eckerd has offered various clinical care and patient care programs for about four years, but more recently it has branded and had begun to expand the program. Now known as the Eckerd PatientCARE Network, the program involves roughly two dozen clinical care pharmacists, half of whom work in Eckerd stores in the Tampa Bay area near Eckerd's headquarters. Others are located in areas such as Atlanta; Dallas; Kansas City, Mo.; Pittsburgh; and upstate New York.

The pharmacists attempt to reach customers and generate awareness of the program in several ways. Pharmacists are able to identify patients suitable for extensive counseling in stores, and they work with local physicians to make them aware of their drug therapy capabilities and generate referrals. Eckerd pharmacists are also involved in speaking at senior centers, mobile home parks and assisted living centers.

Eckerd also is continuing its involvement in a 5-year-old undertaking known as the Asheville Project. The North Carolina city wanted to cut health care costs for its employees, so it created an integrated network of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and other health care providers. Pharmacists able to demonstrate cost savings are paid a fee to manage patients with asthma, diabetes and other conditions by providing regular reports to patients' physicians about the progress of their conditions.

Eckerd also is involved in a similar disease state management effort known as Project: Impact, sponsored by the American Pharmacists Association. The elusive goal, as it has been for years, is to demonstrate to payers that pharmacists can help health plans save money by working with physicians to manage chronic conditions and improve patient compliance. Such efforts position Eckerd to take advantage of changes in the nation's health care delivery system should the day come when there is broader recognition among payers that pharmacists are capable of reducing costs through their interaction with customers.

3. ECKERD AT A GLANCE

                                        No.
 2002         2001       2002 % of    of stores        % of stores
Rx sales *  Rx sales *  total sales     with          with pharmacies
                                      pharmacies **

$10,031      $9,277        68.5%         2,686            100%

Source: China Store Guide/Drug Store News

* Sales in millions

** As of April 2003

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