Patient care draws customers

Drug Store News, April 29, 2002 by Diane West

Aurora Pharmacy continues to harvest the fruits of its disease management and patient care initiatives. Aurora Health Care, parent of the 120-unit Aurora Pharmacy, which is based in Wauwatosa, Wis., recently was named an honoree in the American Medical Group Association's Acclaim Award competition for its work with patients with coronary artery disease. The Accliam Award recognizes physician-directed health care organizations that have established innovative patient-care processes and systems.

Aurora's cholesterol-management initiative, according to the company, resulted in a 31 percent increase in the number of coronary artery disease patients with an LDL cholesterol level at or below goal, under the care of Aurora's health professionals in Wisconsin. But cholesterol management in coronary artery disease patients is one of more than 20 clinical improvement and quality initiatives Aurora is pursuing.

Some of the initiatives hope to improve quality of life for patients with chronic conditions, such as asthma and diabetes. Other initiatives focus on improving outcomes for patients with acute episodes of illness, such as heart attack and pneumonia, or on disease prevention through vaccination programs. Aurora currently is in the process of rolling out a new color-coding system for its private-label disease state products. Diabetes items, for example, will carry the same color, as will cardiovascular products, among others. The project should be completed by year's end.

Awards, such as those from the American Medical Group, and fine-tuning the disease-state management product categories underscore that Aurora, as a whole, still is focused on hands-on health care management, even with a sizable purchase of 15 pharmacies in October. Twelve stores were purchased from Roundy's, which acquired the pharmacies with its May 2000 purchase of Copps Corp., and three of the acquisitions were formerly independent pharmacies. The purchases brought Aurora's store count to 120, with 36 of these pharmacies now located within Roundy's supermarkets.

According to its corporate history, Aurora began in 1984 with an affiliation between two Milwaukee hospitals, St. Luke's Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center. Three years later, Aurora Health Care Ventures was incorporated as a for-profit subsidiary of Aurora to support its health care operations. Aurora Health Care Ventures owns ACL Laboratories, formerly Bayshore Clinical Labs, a regional reference lab that provides laboratory services to physician's offices and drug testing to the industry, as well as the Aurora Pharmacy chain. The pharmacies, located throughout eastern Wisconsin, include free-standing community pharmacies with locations within Pick 'N Save supermarkets and Aurora clinics and hospitals. Three are drive-through pharmacies.

Its focus on disease mangement and patient care initiatives seems to be working for Aurora. The chain tallied pharmacy sales of $192 million in 2001 and filled 4.59 million prescriptions. Total sales climbed to $202.5 million. The pharmacy chain relies on distributor F. Dohmen as its primary wholesaler and Cardinal Health as its secondary supplier.

In 2002, Aurora plans to continue exploring the possibility of offering mail-order and home-delivery services, as well as implementing electronic prescribing systems that connect physicians directly to store pharmacists by hand-held devices.

RELATED ARTICLE: SCORECARD

Headquarters: Wauwatosa, Wis.

2001 sales: $202.5 million

Percent change versus 2000: 31 percent

No. of stores: 120

Average store size: 12,000 square feet

Pharmacy sales: $192 million

Percentage of sales from pharmacy: 95 percent

Source: Drug Store News research