LAS VEGAS — When big companies convene a conference for franchisees, more often than not it is seen as an opportunity for a top-down presentation of a predetermined strategy. Good Neighbor Pharmacy and its corporate parent, pharmaceutical solutions company Cencora, took the opposite approach at this year’s ThoughtSpot, which brought together more than 4,000 independent pharmacy owners and other health care stakeholders. Executives repeatedly voiced their commitment to tapping into the experience, insights and innovation of frontline pharmacists.
“We, as a leadership team, have been dedicated to active listening, active learning and active leading,” said Cencora’s CEO Bob Mauch during the general session. “In order to do that, you have to get out of the office and go where things are happening. Because the only way that we can support you, support our team members, is to really understand what the opportunities are. We want to hear that firsthand.”
Openness to new ideas and new ways of doing things will, no doubt, result in tactical changes at Cencora and Good Neighbor Pharmacy. It will not, however, alter the overarching mission.
“Cencora is a purpose-led, purpose-driven company. We are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures,” Mauch explained. “We are not a logistics company – we’re a health care company. We’re committed to helping providers of all kinds enhance patient care by delivering solutions tailored to their needs, including reliable and efficient access to medications.
“The second thing that will not change is our commitment to care in the community, supporting community providers. This is where patient access to health care happens, with all of you and other community sites.”
Jeffrey Woldt
Cencora, said Mauch, is bolstering its digital and physical infrastructure through a multi-hundred-million-dollar investment program over the next few years. The upshot of all the activity leaves Cencora better positioned to support the evolving needs of pharmacies of all kinds at an especially challenging time. None will benefit more than Good Neighbor Pharmacy members.
“You’re in a tough business,” Mauch told attendees at ThoughtSpot. “Very challenging, and yet, you continue to make it. The reason that you all continue to thrive, in most cases, is because of you individually and because of you collectively. And it’s an honor for us to support you. ”
Among those generating the creative ferment in independent pharmacy are winners of this year’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy Champion Awards, each of whom excels in a pivotal aspect of the business. Kevin DeMass of the Apothecary Shoppe in Salt Lake City was honored as an advocate for the profession; Justin and Allie Ceravolo of Cypress Wellness Pharmacy in Fort Myers, Fla., were recognized for strategic marketing; and Thomas McDowell of McDowell’s Pharmacy in Scotland Neck, N.C., won the award for clinical care.
“It’s a privilege to stand alongside these independent pharmacists and support them in navigating unique industry challenges, helping them expand their services, strengthen their businesses and continue to provide high-quality care to patients,” said Jenni Zilka, president of Good Neighbor Pharmacy and senior vice president of community and specialty pharmacy at Cencora.
“There’s so much work to do in terms of legislation just to get us to a viable business model that’s sustainable for our pharmacies. But that challenge isn’t stopping us from thinking creatively and differently about how to move the profession forward.”
Citing the clinical care work, including implementation of a remote patient monitoring program, now under way at McDowell’s Pharmacy, Zilka noted that Good Neighbor Pharmacy has undertaken several pilot programs designed to make it easier for members to expand their scope and capitalize on increasing demand for community-based health care services.
“We want to enable our pharmacies to provide more clinical care,” she said. “Right now it’s so complicated; there are so many barriers. And there aren’t a lot of clear payment pathways for those clinical services. Our goal is to remove those barriers and make it easy for our pharmacists to participate, so that they can do things other than dispense prescriptions because, in the future, they’re going to have to do that to be successful.
“We’re going to continue to listen to our customers, trying to solve this with them. We need their feedback — we need to do it together.”
The company’s determination to support the pharmacy profession was underscored by Mauch, who was trained as a pharmacist, as were his father, wife and daughter. “I want you to hear something directly and personally from me,” he told audience members. “I believe in what you do. I believe deeply in the role of independent community pharmacy. Deep in my heart, I feel like I’m one of you, and I’m committed to delivering on Cencora’s responsibility to help you succeed.”
