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The NACDS Total Store Expo Rewind | Part One · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: We're here in Boston at the National Association of Chained
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Drug Stores Total Store Expo at Booth 2024 First Data Bank.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Are you a pharmacist Jedi or a pharmacist fossil? Master
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: your universe with revolutionary pharmacy tools. More coming from First
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Data Bank here with our podcast press coverage, the NACDS
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Total Store Expo Rewind.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: Hello, this is Mike Polinsky with First Data Bank at NACDS,
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: and you're listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
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  Speaker 3: Mike, it's been some time, but it's great to see
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: you here at the Total Store Expo.
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  Speaker 5: How are you? Doing well, Todd.
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  Speaker 6: How are you doing?
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  Speaker 7: Doing really well.
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  Speaker 3: I like partnering with First Data Bank, bring a lot
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: of information to the markets. I've seen your booth, lots
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: of traffic here, people interested.
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  Speaker 7: I want to talk about Navajo.
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  Speaker 3: I want to talk about how that's changing the game
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  Speaker 3: for a lot of our pharmacies. Right out of the gate,
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  Speaker 3: our listeners might not know about that new system.
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  Speaker 7: Talk about what is that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Todd.
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  Speaker 4: Navigo is our new smart DUR system built specifically for
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  Speaker 4: retail pharmacies. And it provides essentially three things for retail pharmacists.
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  Speaker 4: So one of those things is it's consolidated alerts, and
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  Speaker 4: this provides pharmacists with what the risk to the patient is.
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  Speaker 4: And this allows pharmacists to not have to decipher what's
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: going on with the alerts within their system. Navigo will
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  Speaker 4: provide that to them. The second thing that you get
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  Speaker 4: with it is that Navigo is action-oriented. So it provides
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  Speaker 4: the pharmacist with the next step. So most alerting systems
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: today just basically kind of fire an alert and then
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  Speaker 4: pharmacists have to, yeah, you do what you do. You
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  Speaker 4: have to like pharmacists using their, you know, brains all
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  Speaker 4: the time to try to figure out what's going on.
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  Speaker 4: With Navigo, we kind of surface what the next step
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  Speaker 4: should be and provide them with that action. So action
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  Speaker 4: types could be like contact the patient, contact the prescriber,
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  Speaker 4: take an administrative action, and then... once you are presented
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  Speaker 4: with that action, there's also narratives that go along with it.
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  Speaker 4: So if it's like, for example, contact the prescriber, it'd
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: be written, the narrative would be written for more of
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  Speaker 4: a medical professional, that type of terminology, where if it
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  Speaker 4: was something more driven towards the patient, it would be
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  Speaker 4: written more towards patient level. So it's more in their
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  Speaker 4: terms as opposed to be in medical terminology. And I
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  Speaker 4: guess if you think about it, there's probably one other
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  Speaker 4: thing that Navigo does offer retail pharmacies is that it
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  Speaker 4: can also surface pre-screened therapeutic alternatives. So when there is
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  Speaker 4: an issue that you need to contact the prescriber, Navigo's
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  Speaker 4: algorithms is able to basically look at the medical condition
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: that the prescription is being used for. And if there
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: is a contraindication, then Navigo can go ahead and surface
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  Speaker 4: what other medications might do that that are pre-screened so
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  Speaker 4: that when you are speaking to the prescriber to maybe
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  Speaker 4: switch the med out, you could suggest, hey, we could
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  Speaker 4: switch it to this med or that med so it
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  Speaker 4: kind of makes the workflow more efficient so you're not
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  Speaker 4: having to deal with another issue down the road when
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  Speaker 4: the prescriber changes the medication.
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  Speaker 3: Mike, is it embedded into the pharmacy management system so
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  Speaker 3: it feels seamless to the operator?
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  Speaker 8: It is.
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  Speaker 5: It's exactly what it does.
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  Speaker 4: It's an embedded workflow that self-programmers or some pharmacy software
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  Speaker 4: vendors integrate into their systems that then replaces their current
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  Speaker 4: DUR screening process.
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  Speaker 3: All right, and then that workflow helps us stay on track.
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  Speaker 3: What else is interconnected to be able to pull out
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  Speaker 3: data reporting, follow-up? What else is there for the pharmacist
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  Speaker 3: and pharmacy operators?
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  Speaker 4: So one unique thing about Navigo is that it will
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  Speaker 4: remember the previous action that was taken.
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  Speaker 9: Okay.
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  Speaker 4: So therefore, some of the real-world results that we get
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  Speaker 4: from Navigo is that it will easily reduce your alerting
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  Speaker 4: by over 70% and therefore makes the alerts much more
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  Speaker 4: relevant as opposed to an annoyance.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: There's a big desensitization to alerting today, so a lot
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  Speaker 4: of the alerting is just being bypassed and ignored. True.
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  Speaker 4: So this way, you can trust the alert that's being
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  Speaker 4: fired to actually be meaningful, actionable, and then it also
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  Speaker 4: guides you what you should say during that conversation with
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  Speaker 4: the patient or the prescriber.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, if you're listening, you want to learn more about Navigo,
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  Speaker 3: reach out to Mike. Mike's on LinkedIn, or you could
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  Speaker 3: go to First Data Bank. To learn more, Mike, thanks
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  Speaker 3: for sharing this time with us here at Total Store Expo.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Thomas.
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  Speaker 8: Hey, it's Amanda Bagdon from RxPost. Welcome to the Pharmacy
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  Speaker 8: Podcast Network.
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  Speaker 3: Amanda, good to see you here at NACDS Total Store Expo.
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  Speaker 3: I love your booth. It wasn't full power with all
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: the balloons as it was, but you still have the
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  Speaker 3: theme of it, and I love the vibe.
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  Speaker 7: You bring so much energy.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm glad we're still able to pull our personality
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  Speaker 8: out into our booth. Sad that we don't have the
• 6:08
  Speaker 8: full balloon artist experience here at NACDS, but I will
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  Speaker 8: push them for next year in San Diego to allow
• 6:16
  Speaker 8: us to have the balloons because.
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  Speaker 5: They are safe.
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  Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 6: So.
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  Speaker 3: The theme at Total Store Expo is really, they say,
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  Speaker 3: all in, and it's about profitability. It's about doing things
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  Speaker 3: differently than you did the last five years just because
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  Speaker 3: profit is so important to keeping things going. RxPost, if
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: the listeners don't understand what that system is, give us
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  Speaker 3: an overview about RxPost.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, RxPost is a pharmacy to pharmacy marketplace. We help
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  Speaker 8: pharmacies sell their unused drugs directly to other pharmacies. It's
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  Speaker 8: a great way to minimize waste in the supply chain
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  Speaker 8: and an easy way for pharmacies looking for better cash
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  Speaker 8: flow to kind of liquidate some of those assets that
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  Speaker 8: they're not using in the store.
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  Speaker 7: So how does that work?
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  Speaker 3: I can imagine it's a network at the independent level
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  Speaker 3: where they can jump on and seek what's available, and
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  Speaker 3: then what they can upload to the system.
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  Speaker 7: But talk to me about that chain environment.
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  Speaker 3: Is there any differences between those two models?
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, I think a lot of the larger chains already
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  Speaker 8: have an internal model for inner store transfers and optimizing,
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  Speaker 8: redistributing inventory that's slow moving towards the stores that have
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  Speaker 8: high volume of demand and need and dispensing for those products.
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  Speaker 7: So RxPost was.
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  Speaker 8: Really born to give independent pharmacies, that same competitive edge.
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  Speaker 8: One of the interesting things I'm learning here at NACDS
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  Speaker 8: and doing meet the market meetings is even with the
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  Speaker 8: large organizations, inventory continues to be a challenge. A few
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  Speaker 8: feel like they have successfully kind of nailed down their processes,
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  Speaker 8: both between data systems and people, but it was a
• 8:11
  Speaker 8: two to three year process in order to.
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  Speaker 5: Get that done.
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  Speaker 8: Other companies and organizations feel like they're halfway there, there's
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: still pieces that are missing, and so they're curious to
• 8:22
  Speaker 8: have conversations with us about where we can fill those gaps.
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  Speaker 3: Shout out to our pharmacy technicians. Amantha, you started in
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  Speaker 3: this industry as a pharmacy technician. Look what you've accomplished.
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  Speaker 3: Look at the entrepreneurial spirit and the business that you've built.
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  Speaker 3: I want other technicians who understand the business of pharmacy,
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  Speaker 3: and maybe they specialize in something very specific. Maybe they're
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: the ones that does restocking, or maybe they're the ones
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  Speaker 3: that design the front ends, or maybe they're doing inventory management.
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  Speaker 3: But based on your experience as a tech, look where
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  Speaker 3: you are now. I think there's something that we must...
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  Speaker 3: encourage our technicians to build businesses inside their pharmacies, of course,
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  Speaker 3: and take ownership, but then possibly moving into entrepreneurship.
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  Speaker 7: And it's not easy. It's not easy.
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  Speaker 8: I am a proud pharmacy technician. When I go on
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  Speaker 8: stage and introduce myself, I always introduce myself first as
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  Speaker 8: the pharmacy technician before a founder and CEO, because it's
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  Speaker 8: so core to why I started this business. And I
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  Speaker 8: really want to encourage other pharmacy technicians who have that
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  Speaker 8: entrepreneurial spirit You don't necessarily have to go out and
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  Speaker 8: start a business to be entrepreneurial. You can take those
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  Speaker 8: skills that you have at the pharmacy that you enjoy
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  Speaker 8: working at and go to your owner and kind of
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  Speaker 8: have those conversations of can they empower you with some
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  Speaker 8: projects that you can deliver results on. The long-term goal
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  Speaker 8: is how do we get you to negotiate higher pay
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  Speaker 8: if you're bringing in additional revenue for the store. So
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  Speaker 8: I know AI automation is.
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  Speaker 8: A hot topic right now, hot takes right now. I'm
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  Speaker 8: excited in a lot of ways for pharmacy technicians to
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  Speaker 8: be freed up. to work on more patient-facing activities that
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  Speaker 8: actually create additional revenue for the store. I know in California,
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  Speaker 8: we're working on pilots for pharmacy technicians to be dual
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  Speaker 8: trained as community health workers with health navigation for patients
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  Speaker 8: in both urban and rural communities to get them connected
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  Speaker 8: to the things that they need in order to address
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  Speaker 8: the social drivers of health. Another avenue that's been talked
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  Speaker 8: about a lot, I think, in the pharmacist space, but
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  Speaker 8: not as much in the pharmacy technician space is, you know,
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  Speaker 8: these insurance brokers, you know, when Medicare patients hit open enrollments,
• 10:52
  Speaker 8: how are you helping them navigate their plans based on
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: their existing medication list? And educating them on when they
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  Speaker 8: choose a plan, does it mean that they can keep
• 11:01
  Speaker 8: their pharmacy or are they going to be forced to
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  Speaker 8: go to mail order? You know, what's what's important to
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  Speaker 8: them beyond just the cost of the medication. And I
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  Speaker 8: think technicians are well positioned to jump into a lot
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  Speaker 8: of these roles. And where I see the future of pharmacies,
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  Speaker 8: these technicians are the little business operators helping pharmacies bring
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  Speaker 8: in the additional revenue, management of systems, processes, people. So
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: when the pharmacists want to do clinical services....
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  Speaker 7: They're freed up to do so.
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  Speaker 8: And it's a much more cohesive style of operations instead
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  Speaker 8: of just continually trying to put out fires and stay afloat.
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  Speaker 3: Pharmacy operators, people that are making business decisions, I want
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  Speaker 3: you to reach out to Amantha Bagdon, rxpost.com.
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  Speaker 7: Reach out to Amantha. Tell her that you.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Heard her on the NACDS Total Store Expo Rewind here
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  Speaker 3: on the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Samantha, I'm so proud of
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: what you've built. Shout out to you and your team.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Your team's growing. And we always look for RxPost at
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: every conference. So we will see you in Kansas City
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: at NCPA.
• 12:16
  Speaker 8: Yes, see you in Kansas City. We'll get some barbecue.
• 12:22
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• 12:26
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• 12:31
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• 12:35
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• 12:39
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• 13:07
  Speaker 11: For pharmacists and clinicians, that means more relevant medication alerts,
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• 13:39
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• 13:43
  Speaker 4: Day, worldwide.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: NACDS Total Store Expo here with Chris Ray.
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  Speaker 7: Chris, it's so good to see you.
• 13:56
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Todd, thank you for having me. This is so
• 13:58
  Speaker 10: exciting to be here. This show is so massive and
• 14:02
  Speaker 10: so many great technology partners and supply chain partners are
• 14:06
  Speaker 10: here for the retailers.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: I'm more comfortable sometimes at shows like this. because there's
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: not as much clinical discussion at the Total Store Expo
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: where our focus is profitability and being able to maximize.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Even if you don't change your prescription volume, even if
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: you don't change the number of patients that come through
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: your door, squeezing profit where you can is so paramount.
• 14:35
  Speaker 7: It's so important.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: So let's shift gears from you and I like to
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: talk our community independent pharmacies, but You and I know
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: that the evolution of privately owned pharmacy is definitely coming
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: into the chain space. And I'm so proud of some
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: of our private owners out there that have grown their
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: businesses beyond three, five, 10, 15 stores. So talk to
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: us about your, you've watched this since your McKesson days
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: start transforming. So how does pharmacy marketplace kind of tie
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: into the chain environment and supporting those pharmacies that we
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: love the most?
• 15:09
  Speaker 10: Yeah, I think that the key is as these baby
• 15:12
  Speaker 10: boomers are exiting the market, selling their pharmacies, some of
• 15:15
  Speaker 10: the younger generation know that, hey, to really compete, they're
• 15:19
  Speaker 10: having to scale their operations and buy multiple stores and
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: then apply best practices and workflow and technology and efficiency optimization, right?
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: So that's why I'm here. Pharmacy Marketplace is really trying
• 15:35
  Speaker 10: to help understand what medium chains are doing from an
• 15:38
  Speaker 10: efficiency standpoint on workflow and purchasing of drugs and how
• 15:44
  Speaker 10: we can leverage that to teach our community pharmacy owners
• 15:49
  Speaker 10: what they can do to be as optimal as possible.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Chris, you and I reflect who we serve, and those
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: high performers are the kinds of operations that we're most
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: attracted to. I love The Chris Antipas is out of
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh who are just hyper-focused and hyper-active and hyper-market, where
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: they're serving multiple markets. The reason why I mention that
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: is you and I serve multiple channels in the media space.
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: We have to.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Pharmacy Podcast Network's moving into public relations, moving into business
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: development support and bridge-building. You've moved into media as well
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: and how important it is to drill down into the
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: private owner and how Dispense Times has really risen. It's
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: becoming a major publication in the pharmacy industry. Talk to
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: us about that experience because we've kind of watched it
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: grow up from the beginning.
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: Yeah, Todd, it's been such a wonderful thing to see.
• 16:52
  Speaker 10: We just saw that there was a need for information
• 16:55
  Speaker 10: relevant to community pharmacy owners. How do I stay in business?
• 16:59
  Speaker 10: How do I operate at the top of my license?
• 17:01
  Speaker 10: What's happening on the legislative front? And then from a
• 17:04
  Speaker 10: workflow optimization technology standpoint, those are the pillars that we're
• 17:08
  Speaker 10: really focused on. I'm so excited about this issue that's
• 17:11
  Speaker 10: coming out in the fall. We interviewed Douglas Hoey. We
• 17:16
  Speaker 10: interviewed Mina and Joe Moose. We interviewed Chris Lynn Weaver
• 17:20
  Speaker 10: from NASPA. Just asking them, hey, as we go into
• 17:24
  Speaker 10: the fall and the NCPA conference, what are the initiatives
• 17:28
  Speaker 10: that you all feel have gained momentum in 2026 from
• 17:32
  Speaker 10: a legislative and clinical standpoint? And I think it's going
• 17:35
  Speaker 10: to be our best issue yet. to date because it
• 17:38
  Speaker 10: is from our leadership like, hey, these are the things
• 17:41
  Speaker 10: that we're focused on. And as a servant to you
• 17:44
  Speaker 10: as the independent owner, this is what you need to
• 17:47
  Speaker 10: be looking at for 2027 to keep shifting the paradigm
• 17:52
  Speaker 10: of how you innovate in your business.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: Is there any specific focus that you're noticing in the
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: chain environment, a non-prescription driven service that you see rising?
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Is there a drive to do something that is, say,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: cash-based for patients.
• 18:11
  Speaker 10: Yeah, obviously, you know, we're still kind of coming off
• 18:13
  Speaker 10: the GLP bubble and all these medium-chain grocery stores are
• 18:18
  Speaker 10: having to adjust what they're stocking in their products. pharmacies,
• 18:24
  Speaker 10: in the supermarket to address, hey, we're not selling as
• 18:28
  Speaker 10: many Cokes and snack foods and sugary items.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: We're needing more.
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: Fiber, wellness items, supplements to attend to those patients. So
• 18:37
  Speaker 10: that was something that we started noticing last year from
• 18:40
  Speaker 10: all the data. And I think that they're having to
• 18:43
  Speaker 10: adapt to the modern consumer and the popularity of that item.
• 18:49
  Speaker 10: But yeah, I think They're looking at what our independent
• 18:51
  Speaker 10: pharmacies are doing from a community health worker perspective and
• 18:55
  Speaker 10: from some of the clinical things that popped up recently
• 18:58
  Speaker 10: and saying, hey, how can we apply that in our operation, i.e.
• 19:02
  Speaker 10: through our dieticians and some of our pharmacists? How can
• 19:05
  Speaker 10: we be better connected and stewards of the community?
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  Speaker 2: And I think.
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  Speaker 10: One thing that the chains do so well, or these
• 19:14
  Speaker 10: medium chains that our community pharmacies can learn from, is
• 19:17
  Speaker 10: their immunization efficiency, right? I think our independents a lot
• 19:23
  Speaker 10: of times are very concerned about inventory control when they're
• 19:26
  Speaker 10: doing vaccine programs and getting stuff with items. And these
• 19:30
  Speaker 10: medium chains figure out some of that. So wanting to
• 19:34
  Speaker 10: glean some information on that side to bring back to
• 19:38
  Speaker 10: our independents.
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  Speaker 7: Chris, appreciate you stopping by.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: We're at the first Data Bank booth today, 2024. Appreciate
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: you being here at the NACDS Total Store Expo.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: You, Todd.
• 19:55
  Speaker 7: NACDS Total Store Expo. E.J. George, P3 pharmacy student.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: I love having pharmacy students on because I want to
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: know from your perspective, what you think of the future
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: of pharmacy. We're in the chain environment this time. Chain
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: is a huge part of the careers of a lot
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: of pharmacists have started their careers in. Some of them
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: make a life of it. Others transition to other parts
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: of pharmacy. EJ, talk to us. Tell us the school
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: that you're with and what you're most interested in when
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: it comes to pharmacy practice.
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so like you said before, my name is EJ.
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: I'm a current third-year student pharmacist at Western University of
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: Health Sciences in Pomona, California. And like you said, everything
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: is changing pretty rapidly. The world, healthcare, the future. So
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: there's a lot of uncertainty in general within the role
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: that pharmacists are going to be playing in the future,
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: in the quite near future.
• 20:51
  Speaker 11: So it's all super exciting.
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: The influx of this new technology, artificial intelligence, I truly
• 20:58
  Speaker 6: personally believe that there's always going to be room for
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: pharmacists and specialists to help kind of make those critical
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: clinical decisions for patients. And it's really hard to program
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: a computer to understand how to give culturally competent care.
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: So there's always going to be the need for that
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: actual individual interventions and being able to really meet patients
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: where they're at in order to give them the best
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: level of care that they need based on their own
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: kind of situations and circumstances.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: The spirit of the provider, there's different layers, different personalities.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: There's pharmacists out there, maybe a P2, a P3 pharmacy
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: student who want to go into clinical or they want
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: to go to specialty rare disease or they really like pediatrics.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: They might go into whatever, whatever sector it is.
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: Entrepreneurship.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Within that, regardless if you have your own business or
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: if you're working for a big corporation, the entrepreneurial spirit
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: makes you continue to push. And I think that drives innovation. EJ,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: the listeners might not know this. You have a very
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurial spirit. You have a side business that you're building music.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: You're doing some DJing on the side. Talk to me
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: about the spirit of entrepreneurship and how that helps to
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: excel pharmacy care.
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: Yes, definitely. So I actually started my first LLC in
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: undergrad as an event production platform that was really about
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: bringing kind of like culture to these undergraduate institutions, giving
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: students a safe space and also kind of using a
• 22:35
  Speaker 6: lot of those proceeds to crowdfund grassroots scholarships, emergency funds
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: for the students that needed it. I've since taken those
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: skills and gotten to travel the world doing all types
• 22:48
  Speaker 6: of event production stuff. from public address announcing to doing
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: a lot of stuff to the behind the scenes. And
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: like you saw, I am an international DJ as well.
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: So I was actually quite nervous going into pharmacy school,
• 23:03
  Speaker 6: kind of wondering how I'd be taken as a professional,
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: going into this corporate America as like a music producer
• 23:09
  Speaker 6: and DJ and being very forward about that. And I've
• 23:13
  Speaker 6: gotten a lot of acceptance and a lot of different opportunities,
• 23:17
  Speaker 6: seeing that I now have like this very unique skill
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: set and this unique kind of persona to bring into
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: the space. And it's been very well accepted. As you saw,
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: I got to DJ at the APHA annual conference in
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: Los Angeles in 2026.
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: So much fun.
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: It was a blast. It was a blast. And just
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: realizing that, wow, I could take my pharmacy experiences and
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: my music passion and have them come together in that space.
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: And I really think that this new generation of practitioners
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: kind of embody that.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: We are very much.
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: wanting to express our genuine selves, not necessarily fit into
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: maybe a traditional corporate box. I think all of that
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: is changing as well, just within the culture. And I
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: really think it's important. Personally, I grew up never getting
• 24:03
  Speaker 6: treated by any type of black providers. I am African-American
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: and that means a lot, you know, not having that representation.
• 24:11
  Speaker 6: Our communities have like a long distrust in the healthcare system.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: So when you bring this level of diversity together, and
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: allow students to express themselves freely within their school environments.
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: That translates to the professional environment, and it allows them
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: to really bring a different level of care and cultural
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: competence to health care that's, quite frankly, missing and leading
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: to a lot of preventable illness, preventable deaths. And I'm
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: excited for the revolution in health care.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: EJ, I think there is something very psychological about mixing
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: the arts together with medicine, and like you said, you
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: said corporate, and in my interpretation of that, that means
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: being super serious and very structured and very business. When
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: you start showing your personality through arts, whether you are
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: teaching kids to paint or if you're doing something on
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: the side with a community involvement, in your case, music,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: that brings you closer to the patient. And I think
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: that you get to be a little bit more contextual,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: a little bit more relatable, there might be young kids
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: who see you in a lab coat and maybe they're
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: scared because it's time for immunizations or it's time for
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: a shot. And you changing it up with asking, hey,
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: what kind of music do you listen to? And all
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: of a sudden they're like, oh, this guy's a human.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: And I'm looking up to him because he's a provider,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: he's a pharmacist. I think there's something to that in
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: communicating with the public.
• 25:35
  Speaker 7: Yes, exactly.
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: I know whether it's walking into a medical center and
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: your provider has sneakers on, you know, like that's going
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: to make me take a load off and realize like, okay, yes,
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: this is a person and it's a person that's not
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: afraid to express himself. And, and, you know, it automatically
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: will make you a little bit more comfortable or at
• 25:53
  Speaker 6: least in my case, you know, and, um, we're seeing
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: this new wave of, uh, practitioners of just corporate America,
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: not afraid to, to be themselves, you know, and I'm
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: a very, very, um, strict proponent of that. I think
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: that there's enough robots in the world, you know, we need,
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: we need what makes us special as humans, you know,
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: and what the embrace the diversity, embrace our passions. And
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: there's definitely space for that in healthcare.
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: I feel like.
• 26:21
  Speaker 6: I've gotten a lot of support from my faculty members.
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: I try to do my best to really encourage other
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: students and other faculty to kind of bring their own
• 26:31
  Speaker 6: level of flavor into these spaces, just so you never
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: know who you're going to inspire. You know, you never
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: know who's going to hear that, who's going to see
• 26:38
  Speaker 6: you and want to follow in those footsteps.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: So EJ, thank you so much for participating in our
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: interviews here and coverage of Total Store Expo. And we
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: have been watching your career for a while and going
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: to continue to watch it. So can't wait till you're
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: walking down here with your PharmD, and we'll be able
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: to meet up with you maybe in a year or
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: two and get you back on the show.
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
• 27:03
  Speaker 9: Hello, this is Christopher Thompson with Capsa Healthcare, and you're
• 27:07
  Speaker 9: listening to the Pharmacy Podcast.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Christopher, thanks for being here with us. The Total Store
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Expo here in Boston, The Rewind on the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: It's good to see you.
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: Good to see you too. Thank you very much for
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: inviting me.
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: Oh, absolutely.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: We like to hear from a mixture of people and
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: the main theme from our perspective is innovation and how
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: pharmacy care has drastically changed. I've been in pharmacy for
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: 22 years. There's not as many silos anymore where you're
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: talking about specialty, chain, community, long-term care, compounding.
• 27:45
  Speaker 7: It's really starting to all blend together.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I want you to tell our listeners an overview of
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: what CAPS is doing here at the NACDS and where
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: your interests and connections are with pharmacy care as well.
• 27:57
  Speaker 9: Sure. Well, I've been in this business starting way back
• 28:01
  Speaker 9: when we started as CripPro, so over 30 years. And
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: just as you said, I've seen so many things change
• 28:08
  Speaker 9: in pharmacy and in technology. Certainly a consolidation of number
• 28:14
  Speaker 9: of pharmacies from independents to chains, supermarkets with pharmacies. The
• 28:19
  Speaker 9: dynamics of the market, the business has changed dramatically. And
• 28:24
  Speaker 9: I think what we're seeing right now, Todd, is that
• 28:29
  Speaker 9: the role of the pharmacist is changing to a much
• 28:33
  Speaker 9: more important patient-centered focus. And I think we're experiencing a
• 28:38
  Speaker 9: dynamic shift. in how things are done in the pharmacy.
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: I mean, we all grew up with the pharmacist behind
• 28:45
  Speaker 9: the counter in the white coat, and that's the person
• 28:47
  Speaker 9: that filled the prescription and talked to us. But the
• 28:50
  Speaker 9: most important part of that business or that professional is
• 28:54
  Speaker 9: being there for us and speaking to us. And so
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: what we have seen here changed dramatically, and this really
• 29:02
  Speaker 9: started to get accelerated through COVID and after COVID. It
• 29:06
  Speaker 9: is moving from filling the prescriptions at the pharmacy and
• 29:10
  Speaker 9: handing those over to the patient to a central fill focus.
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: It's not new.
• 29:15
  Speaker 9: Central fill and mail order is 20, maybe 25 years old.
• 29:19
  Speaker 9: It was started back in the 80s, 90s with central
• 29:22
  Speaker 9: fill operations for the VA so that they could become
• 29:26
  Speaker 9: more efficient. There were a few companies around like Express Scripts,
• 29:31
  Speaker 9: and then you started to see some of the PBMs
• 29:33
  Speaker 9: get into the mail order. And Centrofil was talked about,
• 29:37
  Speaker 9: but it was not really embraced completely like we're seeing today.
• 29:41
  Speaker 9: Fast forward past COVID, we saw obviously patients were unable,
• 29:47
  Speaker 9: not willing to go to the pharmacy. And so pharmacists said,
• 29:51
  Speaker 9: and pharmacies, how do we get those medications to our patients?
• 29:55
  Speaker 9: Some of them shifted their Centrofil operations to mail order.
• 29:58
  Speaker 9: Others started up Centrofil. so they could accelerate that process.
• 30:02
  Speaker 9: And so we stepped into it and really embraced it wholeheartedly.
• 30:06
  Speaker 9: Now we're not new to this. 20 years ago, we
• 30:09
  Speaker 9: built one of the first high volume dispensing systems for
• 30:12
  Speaker 9: Express Scripts. And then CVS came along and they tapped
• 30:17
  Speaker 9: us and said, we'd like to use that as well
• 30:19
  Speaker 9: as we're starting up our mail order facilities. But after COVID,
• 30:23
  Speaker 9: all of a sudden we said, there is such an
• 30:24
  Speaker 9: interest in this and a need for this. And then,
• 30:28
  Speaker 9: you know, it's not just, getting those medications to the patient,
• 30:31
  Speaker 9: but it's getting harder and harder to retain pharmacists and technicians.
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: The labor force, it's very competitive now. It's tough to
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: find some of the labor. And then some of those
• 30:41
  Speaker 9: operations in Central Phil are so labor intensive that pharmacies,
• 30:48
  Speaker 9: the businesses that are running pharmacies are finding out that
• 30:51
  Speaker 9: automation is really a good way to reduce the cost
• 30:55
  Speaker 9: of labor, especially when you can't find it or retain it.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: And then from there, grow and build your business.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: So is there like a number of either individual pharmacies
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: who are coupling themselves into a chain brand and putting
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: messaging out to the different communities that they're serving? What's
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: the magic number where an organization would start to say, hey,
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: we should be looking into central fill technology?
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: It's a really good question.
• 31:24
  Speaker 9: We get asked that all the time because it's obvious
• 31:27
  Speaker 9: for some of the larger entities, Express Scripts, no problem.
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: They get it.
• 31:31
  Speaker 9: It's a large organization. The larger chains, the larger healthcare systems,
• 31:36
  Speaker 9: they get because of the patients they serve and all that.
• 31:39
  Speaker 9: But there are different models starting to emerge. Central fill
• 31:42
  Speaker 9: is a service. That is where a group comes together,
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: builds a central fill, and then create what we call
• 31:49
  Speaker 9: a multi-tenancy delivering system so that for smaller chains, for
• 31:53
  Speaker 9: even the independents to become part of that. So they
• 31:56
  Speaker 9: can offload some of their heaviest volume that is currently
• 32:00
  Speaker 9: trying to get processed inside the stores, send that out
• 32:03
  Speaker 9: to a central fill as a service, and then that
• 32:06
  Speaker 9: comes back in, gets filled at a much different rate,
• 32:09
  Speaker 9: and then it comes back into those pharmacies, just as
• 32:12
  Speaker 9: if it had been filled in the back of the pharmacy.
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: But now you have alleviated the pressure, so the labor
• 32:18
  Speaker 9: pressure off of that pharmacy and you're allowing those pharmacists
• 32:21
  Speaker 9: and technicians in that pharmacy to really focus on and
• 32:23
  Speaker 9: take care of the patient.
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: Do I see Centrofil, or do we see data out
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: there that shows that Centrofil cuts down on waste?
• 32:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we're starting to see some of that.
• 32:34
  Speaker 9: We're controlling the inventory in a much better rate, so
• 32:37
  Speaker 9: there are larger volumes, the inventory, the buying power that
• 32:41
  Speaker 9: a Centrofil is able to do. There's not as much
• 32:44
  Speaker 9: waste in terms of the medications. you know, and some
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: of the things that go along with that. So there's
• 32:51
  Speaker 9: definitely an advantage or an opportunity to do that. And
• 32:54
  Speaker 9: I think you'll start to see a lot more on
• 32:55
  Speaker 9: that as well.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: Delivery to the patient. We have, let's say, Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: so many of them. And now they're saying to their
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: patients who they know might need a little extra care,
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: but they're not so sick where they need like a
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: skilled nursing facility. Maybe it's their home that's being delivered to.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: Talk to us about kind of some of the the
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: success stories of some of your organizations that are relying
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: on your technology to deliver to the home. And I
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: also want to talk about packaging and the individual where
• 33:32
  Speaker 3: there's multi-dose in a strip, you know, where they're ripping
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: their 830 dose versus their 12 versus their 4 p.m.
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: So talk to us about that as well.
• 33:42
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, we have experience and clients with us
• 33:45
  Speaker 9: that are doing both. So you've mentioned two different ways
• 33:48
  Speaker 9: to give the medication to the patient in the home.
• 33:50
  Speaker 9: And sometimes, like you said, they're not in a home.
• 33:53
  Speaker 9: They want to stay in their own home. They may
• 33:54
  Speaker 9: have a caregiver that comes and visits them and takes
• 33:57
  Speaker 9: care of them or someone in the family. But we
• 33:59
  Speaker 9: need to get those medications to them on time so
• 34:01
  Speaker 9: they continue to take their medications at the right time,
• 34:05
  Speaker 9: the right doses and all that. Sometimes it's coming to
• 34:08
  Speaker 9: them in the vial form. It's coming to them in
• 34:10
  Speaker 9: a unit of use prepackaged. Or it's coming into them
• 34:13
  Speaker 9: what we call the strip packaging or pouch packaging where
• 34:17
  Speaker 9: it's dosed out for the morning, the afternoon, or the lunchtime, afternoon,
• 34:21
  Speaker 9: and evening. Make it easy for them to acknowledge what
• 34:25
  Speaker 9: it is they're supposed to be taking. Once that package
• 34:27
  Speaker 9: is taken, then they know they've taken that dose. We're
• 34:29
  Speaker 9: starting to see some really good new technology based in
• 34:35
  Speaker 9: the home where it can be filled at central fill
• 34:38
  Speaker 9: in a traditional vial. with a specialized cap that gets
• 34:41
  Speaker 9: mailed directly to that patient's home, and they place it
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: in the device, and it reminds them when they should
• 34:46
  Speaker 9: be taking their medications. And then they log in, and
• 34:49
  Speaker 9: it actually observes them taking those medications and connects it
• 34:52
  Speaker 9: back to the pharmacist and to their physician or caretaker.
• 34:57
  Speaker 5: Not caretaker, but, you know, taking care of their health.
• 35:00
  Speaker 9: And so they can actually observe how they're taking their medication,
• 35:03
  Speaker 9: what time they took it, and if there's something that's
• 35:05
  Speaker 9: not right, they can remind them that they need to...
• 35:08
  Speaker 9: to change that. So they're monitoring them. It's almost like
• 35:11
  Speaker 9: a form of telepharmacy, but now it's in the home.
• 35:13
  Speaker 9: So we can get the medication to them very, very efficiently. And,
• 35:17
  Speaker 9: you know, if we're doing, we're delivering to the home,
• 35:20
  Speaker 9: it's because sometimes they can't get out or their caregiver
• 35:23
  Speaker 9: is unable to get, go to the pharmacy. So it's
• 35:26
  Speaker 9: a very efficient way of doing it and keeping them
• 35:28
  Speaker 9: on their healthcare regimen.
• 35:30
  Speaker 7: This has been good.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: Talk to our, or let our listeners know where can
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: they reach out and learn more about your organization and
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: And reach out to you.
• 35:38
  Speaker 9: Well, it's very easy. We have our website. We're on
• 35:42
  Speaker 9: social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, et cetera. But it's capsahealthcare.com, and
• 35:47
  Speaker 9: you'll find us there. Everything you need to know about
• 35:50
  Speaker 9: our company, but especially about the central fill, the mail order.
• 35:53
  Speaker 9: And I'll just mention one last piece is we've got
• 35:56
  Speaker 9: into direct-to-patient. So we're seeing that there's a huge. Obviously,
• 36:01
  Speaker 9: we know all about the GLP-1s, the explosion of that.
• 36:05
  Speaker 9: And the need for that, I mean, this is a
• 36:08
  Speaker 9: great medication that is helping millions.
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: And millions of lives.
• 36:12
  Speaker 9: And so the manufacturers, as well as the pharmacy groups,
• 36:15
  Speaker 9: the PBMs, et cetera, are finding if we have this
• 36:19
  Speaker 9: demand for it, it's being prescribed by the physicians, how
• 36:22
  Speaker 9: do we get to these huge volumes that, for the
• 36:25
  Speaker 9: most part, they're manual filling operations. So we've developed special
• 36:30
  Speaker 9: technologies for that across our platform, both with software and equipment.
• 36:35
  Speaker 9: to handle just those kinds of medications directly to the
• 36:39
  Speaker 9: patient's home. So we're really, we're looking after all parts
• 36:41
  Speaker 9: of it. And quite frankly, I think we're the only
• 36:44
  Speaker 9: one that have the platform, both in software and equipment, are.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: Able to do it right now.
• 36:47
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Listeners, you heard from Christopher CapsaHealthcare.com. That's C-A-P-S-AHealthcare.com. Christopher, thanks
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: for spending time with us here at the Total Store Expo.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: My pleasure. Really enjoy it.
• 37:01
  Speaker 10: Thanks, Todd.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Heather Harlow with DiversifyRx. You're listening to
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: Heather, welcome to Boston and ACDS Total Store Expo.
• 37:18
  Speaker 7: It's great to see you. Great to see you too.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: It's been a great show, hasn't it?
• 37:23
  Speaker 7: It has been. It's been very busy.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Day one was busier than day two, but we still
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: see a ton of people here. The attitude is all
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: about profitability. It's about building the front end out. We're
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: hearing a lot about testing. We're hearing a lot about
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: artificial intelligence and better delivery, logistics. So when I think
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: of DiversifyRx, the sweet spot for you has always been
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: helping the independent community pharmacy. However, we both know in
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: the real world of pharmacy and the business of pharmacy,
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: that there are microchains, there are expansion of pharmacy, independent
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: pharmacies starting to do business with other independent pharmacy owners
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: to get buying advantages and scope of practice and build
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: out and operations and back office abilities.
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: To kind of work together.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: So talk to us about your attention here, why you
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: come to NACDS and why this is important to the
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: future of pharmacy. Sure.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: So I come to NACDS, well, we all know there's
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: no secret Lisa owns pharmacies. So I come truly as
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: a buyer for the pharmacy and then also to scope
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: out new products, new ideas, new things to pass on
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: to our Diversify members. So I really come to many
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: shows that we, even the ones that we exhibit, I
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: always keep an eye out. It's kind of my responsibility
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: to bring these things back, especially because Todd, there is 80.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: I think the number is like 89 total pharmacy shows
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: across the country each year. That is needed, yes. The
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: state associations all need one, yes. I'm not saying they're
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: not needed. I'm just saying that not everybody could be
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: at every one. And not even I can, but the
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: ones that I'm at, I feel a responsibility to take
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: back what I find.
• 39:12
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: Total Store Expo has been really interesting. This is our
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: sixth time covering the show. And I find that this,
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: like you were saying, I'll see things at the Total
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: Store Expo that I don't see happening in independent community
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: pharmacy for two or three years down the road.
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: So it's almost like we get to see a little.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: Bit of the future of what the retailer is doing,
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: what the front ends are doing to build out attention
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: to the front end. I think that that's important even
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: in the independents.
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: Well, it is.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: And I'll share a little story with you. And I
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: won't name the name of the company, but there are
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: a few companies in this room that... They're not very
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: independent friendly, but I don't think that they even knew
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: that they weren't independent friendly. So I don't think they're
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: bad actors by any stretch of the imagination, but I
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: think that they're just ignorant to the plight, the true
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: plight of an independent pharmacist. So I had some great
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: conversations where I was... To be perfectly honest, very blunt
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: with some of these very big companies that, number one,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: you're missing out on a huge, huge population of people
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that you could be servicing in such a way that
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: would make you, them, the company, not only the independents
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: love them, but the patients begin to recognize and love
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: and see that they are pouring into them. So yeah,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: I've had a few raised eyebrows this time. I don't
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: know what's quite gotten into me other than I'm just
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: tired of independent pharmacy being the low man on the
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: totem pole. We are not the low man on the
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: totem pole. We are at the very, very forefront of
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: patient care. And so I really believe that they should
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: be also treated in that way.
• 41:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: I've seen some pivots for some very big companies who
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: were hated- by independents who are making major pivots and
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: now are partnering with specific independent community pharmacies. And when
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: we say that, we're also talking about privately owned microchains
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: out there that are seeing expansion opportunities. Something that I
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: heard about at the show that was very exciting is,
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: number one, testing, and number two, food allergy reactions to
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: talking with your pharmacist about a diet plan that coincides
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: with the medications that you're on.
• 41:35
  Speaker 7: And I think that is badass. Like I want pharmacies
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: to get more into that.
• 41:39
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: So Lisa has been preaching about those things for years,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: quite honestly. You know her, she has like a I
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: don't know. She's always 15 steps ahead of all of us.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: But that's been a strategy of diversifies for ages now.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: But those tests were expensive. And we fall into the
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: trap of spending with our own wallets, not what the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: patient needs. And so we would see these tests, they
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: would be expensive, quote unquote, and we just would pass
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: on it. We wouldn't even offer it in our pharmacy
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: because we believed that it was never sold. But people now,
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: the culture is shifting where people are taking responsibility of
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: their own healthcare. And that includes paying out of pocket
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: for things that their insurance won't cover, their insurance has
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: no idea how to cover, things that your doctor wouldn't recommend,
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: like testing. I'm not saying do anything your doctor doesn't recommend,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: but like testing and really figuring out how we can
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: be proactive and not reactive in our healthcare. And our
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: whole culture is shifting that way. America is shifting that way.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: And I think that independent pharmacy can really jump on
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: these trends.
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: Testing, gosh, we love testing.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, we test ourselves. Lisa is an avid tester.
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: I am Not so much. I'm falling behind in it,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: to be honest. I get yelled at quite often about it.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: But those kind of things where we really need to
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: stop putting our own limited beliefs on our patients and
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: other people. I mean, if somebody wants it, they'll find
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: a way to buy it. And that's even in the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: poorest communities.
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: And why not capitalize on that being you, the pharmacy community,
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: in that region, if you're a small chain, if you're
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: a micro chain, to start educating your community about allergies
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: and testing and even PGX or something.
• 43:43
  Speaker 7: Just bring that to their attention.
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: Absolutely.
• 43:46
  Speaker 7: And if they know it's available, they could buy it.
• 43:48
  Speaker 7: There's people out there that will buy those tests.
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: Absolutely.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: And I know you've heard me say this time and
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: time again, but These are an excellent way to become
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: the absolute expert in your community. You can use all
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: of these topics to get on local radio, to get
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: on local podcasts, to do blogs, to... Submit an article
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: to your local newspaper. And this becomes free marketing, free advertising.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: But you have something that they want, and that is content.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Your local newspaper, your local talk radio. I'm a talk
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: radio junkie, so that's why I refer to talk radio.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: But even the music stations will have time that they
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: talk that they need content to talk about. You can
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: be their go-to person. This is an excellent topic and
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: excellent way. to make yourself absolutely your goal for 2026
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: should be, I'm going to be the expert pharmacist in
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: our community.
• 44:43
  Speaker 7: If you want to start a podcast, I know somebody
• 44:45
  Speaker 7: that could help you.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: I got a guy.
• 44:47
  Speaker 7: I got a guy.
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: I'm in Boston.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: I got a guy.
• 44:51
  Speaker 7: I got a guy down there in Pittsburgh. All right.
• 44:55
  Speaker 3: So thanks for being here. Thanks for being on the
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: Rewind show. It's always good to see you. I think
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: the next show that we cross paths are is probably
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: going to or will be NCPA in Kansas City.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I will be at NCPA. Before that, though, I'm
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: doing a little pit stop to see the folks out
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: in California IPA. Oh, nice. Which if you've never been
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: to an IPA conference, you are vastly missing out.
• 45:23
  Speaker 7: I would love to attend.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: I don't know if I can squeeze another conference out.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: My wife's not going to give me the hall pass
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: for my 12th conference or something.
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: It's hard to keep up. I get that.
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: I get that.
• 45:35
  Speaker 7: Heather Harrow, it's good to see you.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: You too.
• 45:37
  Speaker 7: Bye-bye.
• 45:38
  Speaker 12: I'm Dan Huseman with Icon Arc Safe, and you're listening
• 45:46
  Speaker 12: to the Pharmacy Podcast.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: Daniel, welcome to the Total Store Expo 2026.
• 45:54
  Speaker 7: It's good to see you.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: We're usually hanging out with a bunch of independent community
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: pharmacy owners or people in long-term care pharmacy. This vibe
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: is very much front-end profit development. We've even seen some testing,
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: but it's a little bit different vibe, but I mean,
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: we're still home. We're still in the micro chain environment,
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: what's happening there. So talk to us about Icon RxSafe
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: being here at NACDS.
• 46:24
  Speaker 12: Yeah, this is a space, as much as independent pharmacy,
• 46:27
  Speaker 12: we hang in the chain space. So at the store level,
• 46:31
  Speaker 12: Icon's really big with some national chains. We've been in
• 46:34
  Speaker 12: the central fill pharmacies for a long time. So a
• 46:37
  Speaker 12: lot of these companies here are partners with us from
• 46:39
  Speaker 12: the central fill location.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: So we enjoy and we like to keep expanding.
• 46:44
  Speaker 12: And it's a conference for me to gain more knowledge
• 46:47
  Speaker 12: in terms of seeing volume that's still at the store
• 46:50
  Speaker 12: level versus the central fill and the demand that we
• 46:53
  Speaker 12: still have for our technology at that individual store location.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: It's really intriguing just to.
• 46:57
  Speaker 12: Learn what drives that decision for a chain pharmacy to
• 47:02
  Speaker 12: still have store level volume versus the central fill load
• 47:06
  Speaker 12: off of the volume.
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: So how's our micro-chains adopting the long-term care pharmacy at
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: home where, I mean, I think of my own Pittsburgh,
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: I think of Giant Eagle. Giant Eagle was recently acquired
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: by Kroger. I'm thinking, hey, how many Giant Eagle pharmacies
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: have an opportunity to extend services into the home with
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: people who just can't get out anymore? And the baby
• 47:30
  Speaker 3: boomers are hitting the top level of their demographics in 2030.
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of work to do over the
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: next five to 10 years.
• 47:39
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: One, Giant Eagle, great folks. I know a lot of
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: them over there as well.
• 47:43
  Speaker 12: And I think just in general, we're going to see
• 47:45
  Speaker 12: that probably two to three years from now really take
• 47:48
  Speaker 12: a hold. You know, they have a number of locations,
• 47:51
  Speaker 12: all these chains do as well. And the independent space
• 47:54
  Speaker 12: that we deal with, when you have just a couple locations,
• 47:57
  Speaker 12: implementing an LTC at home, long-term home program, It's a
• 48:01
  Speaker 12: lot easier when you have a ton of locations and
• 48:04
  Speaker 12: trying to do the rollout with that. Obviously with Icon
• 48:07
  Speaker 12: Arc Safe, compliance packaging has to be a part of
• 48:09
  Speaker 12: that program. How do you package for multiple locations and
• 48:13
  Speaker 12: provide that service? How do you have the staffing that's
• 48:16
  Speaker 12: in place to be able to adequately provide to.
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: Those customers as well?
• 48:20
  Speaker 12: So I think we're going to see that big time
• 48:23
  Speaker 12: in the next couple years, but right now I think
• 48:25
  Speaker 12: it's still medical billing, I think that's in place. our
• 48:30
  Speaker 12: partners with MedSense as well. I think they're getting more
• 48:33
  Speaker 12: steam as well. But this LTC at home growth, I
• 48:35
  Speaker 12: think we're going to see more in a couple of
• 48:37
  Speaker 12: years than we're seeing like right at this moment.
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: I also hear of a lot of creative moves that
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: our independent community pharmacies are making to couple together with
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: other pharmacies.
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: Now I have three stores.
• 48:50
  Speaker 3: This guy over here has six stores.
• 48:52
  Speaker 7: Somebody over here has four stores.
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: And there's some operational efficiencies that they're putting together, I
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: could see the use of a central fill in those
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: models of being able to say, hey, we're part of
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: a buying group that has X number of stores, to
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: really start thinking, how can we be more creative about
• 49:10
  Speaker 3: creating efficiencies?
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep.
• 49:12
  Speaker 12: I think that's going to come down to, you know,
• 49:14
  Speaker 12: accountability of the product, how do you shift the profits
• 49:19
  Speaker 12: between when you have them store owners. That's a challenge
• 49:21
  Speaker 12: now even with a rapid pack and wanting to implement
• 49:24
  Speaker 12: compliance packaging. You've got, let's call it 10 stores with
• 49:28
  Speaker 12: four owners and we put a machine in one store
• 49:32
  Speaker 12: and whose inventory are we using, how do you allocate
• 49:35
  Speaker 12: the delivery model and the expense that goes to each.
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: Owner, but Absolutely.
• 49:39
  Speaker 12: I think people are going to have to have a
• 49:40
  Speaker 12: more creative approach in the future to get into that. But,
• 49:43
  Speaker 12: you know, the independent space that we come from, it's funny.
• 49:47
  Speaker 12: I was in California last week at a pharmacy talking
• 49:49
  Speaker 12: about another pharmacy in Jonesboro, Arkansas, although we know it's
• 49:52
  Speaker 12: so small and tight-knit. And I think you're going to
• 49:55
  Speaker 12: see those relationships keep, you know, continuing to expand, yeah.
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: Well, we appreciate you being here on the Total Store
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: Expo Rewind Show on Pharmacy Podcast Network. Where are we
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: going to see you next? I know we're headed to
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: Kansas City to NCPA.
• 50:09
  Speaker 12: Yeah, in between there, we're doing a trade show at
• 50:12
  Speaker 12: SPS Health, if you're familiar with that group. And then
• 50:15
  Speaker 12: we'll have NCPA. And then we have a new product
• 50:19
  Speaker 12: for single-med card filling, and that'll be at the Framework show.
• 50:22
  Speaker 6: Oh, nice.
• 50:23
  Speaker 12: Soft riders, and that's a ton of excitement for RxSafe
• 50:26
  Speaker 12: that's on the horizon.
• 50:26
  Speaker 5: That's incredible.
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:28
  Speaker 7: I might see you there, too. I'm not sure. I
• 50:30
  Speaker 7: haven't been confirmed.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Chicago's awesome. So, yeah, it'll be great.
• 50:34
  Speaker 7: All right. Thank you so much, Daniel. It's good to
• 50:36
  Speaker 7: talk to you.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you.