Pharmacists care about patient Rx costs

It can’t be said that community pharmacists don’t try to save their patients money.

A survey earlier this month by digital pharmacy SaaS platform provider RxWiki found that 83% of community pharmacies actively search for drug manufacturer co-pay coupons to help their patients spend less on their medications. That includes by searching on Google, using coupons provided by the manufacturer, or calling local doctor’s offices to see if they have any co-pay coupons on hand, among other efforts.

RxWiki said community pharmacies are most likely to search for co-pay coupons when receiving a new script, when patients request a refill or when pharmacy staff see that a medication is expensive.

“Saving patients as much money as possible is part and parcel of our service,” Carey Vaughan, owner of of Lake Country Pharmacy & Compounding Center in Greensboro, Ga., told RxWiki. “We help patients understand their condition and discuss lifestyle and diet choices. But it’s also important to help patients understand coupons that may be available to them.”

Over 70% of community pharmacies polled indicated that they’d like a central resource on their website or mobile app to help in the search for co-pay coupons. RxWiki reported that half of pharmacies said they’d be more apt to look for a co-pay coupon if it was easy to access on their website or mobile app — a key finding since they cited time constraints as a chief reason why they sometimes aren’t able to search for these coupons.

Community pharmacies also try — all too often unsuccessfully — to ensure that patients pick up their medications. RxWiki’s survey found that nearly all pharmacies reached out to patients to remind them to pick up their prescriptions, with 93% saying they called their patients, 35% texting them and 15% emailing them.

Still, the pharmacies reported, their efforts result in a very low no-show and return-to-stock rate of 2%.

“Community pharmacists are key pillars of their community and will always go above and beyond to ensure positive patient outcomes,” commented Azim Nagree, senior vice president of customer success at Austin, Texas-based RxWiki. “As prescription medications get more and more expensive, community pharmacies are seeking out new ways to help their communities save money.”