New DrSN initiative targets caregivers

Drug Store News, April 28, 2003 by Antoinette Alexander

NEW YORK -- In an effort to reach out to the millions of caregiving households nationwide and to enhance the role of retail pharmacy in serving their needs, Drug Store News, in conjunction with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation and the National Alliance for Caregiving, has developed the Caregivers Initiative.

The program--sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Eisai--is a broad-based industry program that will include research, professional pharmacist education, an exclusive National Industry Report to be published by Drug Store News and consumer advocacy and outreach initiatives.

"Clearly, caregivers are a very important part of the market. Probably not as well recognized and understood is the role of the caregiver in decision making and what their unique needs are from community pharmacies," said Kurt Proctor, president of the NACDS Foundation, the education, research and charitable arm of the NACDS. "We are certainly pleased to be working with Drug Store News on this project, and we are pleased with the sponsors who have identified this as an important piece of research. We look forward to the learnings that will come from [the research] and identifying what other things we might need to do in this caregiver space."

Echoing those sentiments is Gail Hunt, executive director of the NAC, which will serve as a research advisor. "We know from research we have done that family caregivers are a very critical part of the health care system as a whole and specifically are very involved in working on the issues of medicine management," Hunt commented. "We see pharmacists as really intricate players in the health care system, and we believe they have an important role they can play in helping to support the family caregiver, as well as the care recipient."

There currently are approximately 23 million care-giving households in the United States, and that number is expected to reach roughly 39 million by 2007. according to the National Alliance or Care-giving and the American Association for Retired Persons.

Of the caregivers, 72 percent are women with an average age of 42-a demographic that almost exactly parallels the chain drug shopper and represents a new marketing opportunity not currently being targeted by the industry.

Caregivers not only turn to community pharmacies to make purchases for the person they are caring for, but they also turn to drug chains to meet their own needs. Caregivers, who are under a great deal of stress, often report an increase in depression, sleeplessness, back pain, headaches and stomach disorders.

Among the first steps in the program is a multifaceted study conducted by research firm SmartRevenue that will take an indepth look at, among other things: what purchases caregivers make in the drug store and what are the motivations for these purchases, what types of services drug stores should offer to caregivers and what constitutes the optimal merchandising section and optimal product assortments.

"We want the research to be the definitive benchmark research on the evolving caregiver situation, especially with regard to the kinds of purchases that [caregivers] make in pharmacies," explained Steve Barnett, president of consumer insights for SmartRevenue.

According to Barnett, the study will include observations of caregivers' purchases and online surveys of both caregivers and pharmacists to understand how caregivers make their purchase decisions. The research is expected to continue through the spring with initial results emerging by late summer.

The findings of the study will be revealed at the NACDS Pharmacy and Technology Conference held Aug. 23 to 27 in Philadelphia.

"We look at this as a very important strategic initiative to really find a way to enhance the quality of service to a group of people that we feel is currently underserved," stated Roland Regnier, vice p resident of corporate development for GSK Consumer Healthcare. "The things we are really looking for are: What can we do to better serve the caregiver community, and what can we do through retail pharmacy to better serve the retail community?"

Frank Maione, vice president of trade relations and global sales development for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, agrees that the program will be able to provide valuable insight into the needs of caregivers.

"Understanding the end consumers' needs has always been a critical part of our go-to-market strategy, and with the Caregivers Initiative, we hope to define better what the [care givers'] needs are from a health care provider's perspective," said Maione.

Added Linda DaSilva, director of trade relations for Eisai, a U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary off Japan's Eisai Co.: "Many of us are going to try to keep [our parents] in the home longer, so whatever we can do to provide quality care in the home is important. I think retailers should be aligned with that.

We are very excited to be a part of the program.