OREANDA-NEWS.   In an effort to help independent pharmacies achieve better pharmacy health, McKesson Corporation is showcasing several new solutions at the 115th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), held October 12-16, 2013.

Focused on providing insights into how to run a better business, achieve better results for patients, create a better future for community pharmacy, and seize the benefits of coming together with other pharmacy owners for greater scale, McKesson's new solutions for Health Mart® and community pharmacies are featured at NCPA Booth #1001.

"The NCPA is dedicated to the continuing growth and prosperity of independent community pharmacy, which, in today's dynamic healthcare landscape, means taking advantage of the tremendous opportunity for community pharmacies to grow their practices and expand their role as healthcare providers," said Mark Walchirk, President, McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical. "McKesson is committed to helping our customers - and the industry - achieve better pharmacy health for the long term, and we are proud to introduce innovative new solutions this week at NCPA."

Health Mart continues to invest in solutions that help its franchisees compete and thrive with the most comprehensive portfolio of solutions backed by a national brand widely recognized for superior customer service. With more than 3,100 member stores nationwide, Health Mart is quickly becoming the franchise model of choice for community pharmacy owners looking to complement their local identity with a national brand. "Health Mart is constantly looking for opportunities to help our pharmacies deepen the local relationships they have in their communities," said Steve Courtman, President, Health Mart. "New offerings such as a mobile app, adherence support programs and fresh marketing materials provide the pharmacies with new tools to grow these relationships and build trust, which is critical to improving a patient's health, ensuring loyalty and building the pharmacy business."

To help community pharmacy improve patient health results as well as business results, several new and enhanced offerings are being highlighted at NCPA:

New Mobile App for Your Pharmacy OnlineSM: Health Mart is showcasing its newly launched mobile application, the latest component of the Your Pharmacy Online consumer-facing pharmacy website. The mobile app gives patients more on-the-go prescription-management options, including placing refill requests, receiving reminders or learning about in-store promotions. The new communication tool can help improve patient medication adherence and drive positive health outcomes, while increasing prescription volume.
Local Marketing Support: Health Mart is featuring its Local Marketing Support program, designed to help owners market their store to the local community. Anticipated to be available in November, the program will help franchise owners attract new patients and retain current customers to help grow revenue.
New Tools to Maximize the Adherence Opportunity: Health Mart is providing attendees with information on new adherence opportunities available to retail pharmacies, such as medication therapy management (MTM), behavioral coaching and more. Attendees can learn about the importance of measurable clinical results, Star Ratings, and how to best position their pharmacy to participate in preferred, performance-based programs.
New Store Design: With the guidance of experienced retail experts, Health Mart has updated its store design and dйcor to help create a shopper-friendly atmosphere with easier access to the pharmacist. The new store design is scalable, affordable and adaptable to almost any store footprint.
Supporting Pharmacy Ownership: To help community pharmacy achieve a better future, McKesson Ownership Advisors are providing information to existing or prospective pharmacy owners on programs that can help them establish a new business or grow their current business through expansion into multiple pharmacies. McKesson's RxOwnership® program is dedicated to providing independent pharmacy owners, prospective owners and pharmacy students with tools to help them map out their future. "Since the RxOwnership program's inception in 2008, we have been involved in more than 700 pharmacy buy, sell or transfer deals and supported 1,300 startups," said Bob Graul, National Vice President, RxOwnership. "Whatever your ownership goals are - own your first store, purchase additional stores or even sell your current store - RxOwnership can help."

For the fifth year, McKesson sponsored the Future Pharmacists Network Reception on Saturday, October 12th. The annual Future Pharmacists Network event is designed to give NCPA student members the opportunity to connect with peers and experienced Ownership Advisors to learn about pharmacy ownership and help them with their future pharmacy goals.
Supporting Expansion into LTC: McKesson understands the alternate site pharmacy business and offers support to pharmacies looking to expand into or grow their long-term care, infusion and specialty pharmacy services. McKesson Alternate Site PharmacySM provides a wide range of products and solutions such as customized packaging, inventory management, Six Sigma workflow analysis, 340B support and software, and tools for revenue growth.

NCPA LTC Division: McKesson is a sponsor of the NCPA LTC Division, which advocates on behalf of LTC pharmacies. McKesson has proudly supported NCPA through sponsorship of an important cost-to-dispense study that provided pharmacy's perspective to CMS on the potential impacts of short-cycle dispensing rules, participation in NCPA's LTC Business Fundamentals programs, and the creation and provision of educational courses on long-term care pharmacy for NCPA members. "As the healthcare industry undergoes a fundamental transformation, the needs of alternate site pharmacies will also evolve to meet the demands of serving patients in a variety of care settings, ranging from long-term care to home infusion. We're proud to support NCPA as they provide their members with important resources to help identify the most critical business issues and advocate on behalf of the pharmacies they serve," said Rich McKeon, Vice President, McKesson Alternate Site Pharmacy Solutions. McKesson is hosting a NCPA LTC Networking Reception on Monday, October 14th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Physician Outreach Program: Available to alternate site pharmacies to help identify new referral stream opportunities, build relationships with healthcare professionals in their community, and increase efficiency. McKesson's Physician Outreach Program for Alternate Site Pharmacies is an easy-to-use online search tool that provides physician-specific data on more than 1 million prescribers and helps identify skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare agencies and 340B hospitals in a specific area. Users can also find best practices and templates to build and execute marketing plans for success.
McKesson Pharmacy Systems & Automation: MPS&A is committed to helping our community pharmacy customers achieve better pharmacy health by providing them with pharmacy-management systems and integrated business services that drive the overall success of their business. MPS&A's technology solutions help pharmacies boost their margins, achieve optimal business efficiency, support adherence programs, and perform extensive reporting to identify areas for operational improvement and opportunity.

MPS&A's pharmacy-management systems are on display at NCPA Booth #1001:

NDC PharmacyRx®: A cost-effective pharmacy-management system that can be installed quickly and makes processing prescriptions swift and easy.
Pharmaserv®: An intuitive, fully integrated system that gives users full control of their pharmacy operations.
EnterpriseRx®: The only cloud-delivered system on the market, it provides centralization of patient records for consistency, HL7/HIE connections for sharing patient data with other care providers, extensive data analytics for reporting, and access to McKesson's Data Community.