In a recent survey, three out of five American health consumers (61%) said they can envision most primary care services being provided at pharmacies, retail clinics, and/or pharmacy clinics instead of going to a traditional primary care office in the next five years. Fortunately, the marketplace of clinics is expected to meet the demand. Forrester, a leading analyst firm, recently predicted that retail health clinics – many of which will be located within pharmacies – are expected to see great growth and double their share of the primary care market by 2028.
This growth is good news for consumers as it will offer flexibility in where, how, and when they can receive care. Today, a minor sports injury such as hand or foot sprain might require trying to schedule a meeting with a primary care doctor or a trip to an emergency room. With the chance to do walk-in visits at the local pharmacy, care is more immediate, convenient, and likely less costly.
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This expansion by pharmacies makes sense from a business point of view. While filling and dispensing medication remains the core of what they do, it is no longer enough to stay profitable and meet customer expectations and needs. As healthcare breaks beyond the four walls of a clinical site, pharmacies are rapidly pursuing opportunities to become a central hub that connects their community to services and drugs needed. It also offers additional resources for patients seeking health information, as another survey found 94% of patients want educational content from providers.
However, pharmacies and retail clinics now need to do much more, including delivering on growing expectations about the consumer experience and supporting pharmacists on the quest to operate at the top of their licenses, while delivering even more healthcare services.
As pharmacies look to transform, there are three “must dos” to take into consideration.
- Continue to focus on the core pharmacy business to fill and dispense safely, effectively, and efficiently. Safety is top of mind with consumers as pharmacists begin to expand their roles. A survey found that half of Americans (51%) worry about potential problems with their prescriptions stemming from understaffed pharmacies. While they need to keep their staffing robust, pharmacies also need solutions that enable quick decisions, and do not disrupt their workflow. Fast access to equivalency information for brand/generic substitutions helps save time and, potentially, costs.
- Offer transformed, omnichannel experiences to drive growth. New competitors are entering the market, offering new technology and services for patients. If alliances between current players and retail pharmacies are to be successful, they will need to deliver an enhanced customer experience that is patient centric and drives them to action, whether that is showing up to their appointments or adhering to follow-up instructions. It also means ensuring options are available to consumers to receive their prescriptions how they want to – whether it be in-person pick-up, local delivery, or delivery by mail.
- Ensure harmonized care across continuum of providers. Decentralization of care poses consistency and quality challenges that are quickly coming to the fore. And while consumers have communicated that they are comfortable with a variety of providers delivering their care – pharmacists, nurses and assistants, and clinicians – pharmacies need to make sure there is alignment in care. To avoid a patchwork system, clinical decision tools capable of bridging the gaps between settings will be needed to eliminate care variability, better coordinate care, and ensure a single source of evidence-based information exists at every touchpoint in a patient’s healthcare journey.
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Greg Samios Gregory Samios is the President and CEO of the Clinical Effectiveness business at Wolters Kluwer where he is leading efforts to reduce unwanted variability in care and measurably improve clinical effectiveness with industry-leading solutions. Samios served as President and CEO of the Health Learning, Research, and Practice business from 2019 to 2021, and […]
According to Bain & Company, as much as 30% of the primary care market could go to non-traditional providers such as retail pharmacies by 2030. While primary care will likely still have a role in managing more complex or ongoing conditions, the expansion of where consumers seek care will disrupt what is traditionally thought of as the central hub in a patient’s journey.
Connectivity and transparency will be paramount to ensure patients don’t end up caught in the middle, with information lost between care settings. The creation of consistent and high value engagements with individuals across their digital and in-person engagements will enable these providers to both attract and retain consumers in the rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem.
Photo: Irina_Strelnikova, Getty Images
Gregory Samios is the President and CEO of the Clinical Effectiveness business at Wolters Kluwer where he is leading efforts to reduce unwanted variability in care and measurably improve clinical effectiveness with industry-leading solutions.
Samios served as President and CEO of the Health Learning, Research, and Practice business from 2019 to 2021, and previously served as the President and CEO of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. business. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Duke University Fuqua School of Business and a BS/MS degree in Engineering from the University of Rochester.
