Latest / Pharmacy Podcast Network / LIVE at RBC 2026 Episode Two | Cardinal Health™ CounterTalk™ Podcast

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LIVE at RBC 2026 Episode Two | Cardinal Health™ CounterTalk™ Podcast · 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.
0:22
Speaker 3: The testimonials appearing in this podcast reflect individual experiences and
0:25
Speaker 3: individual results may vary. Cardinal Health does not claim nor
0:28
Speaker 3: should the listener assume that any individual experience recounted in
0:31
Speaker 3: this podcast is representative of what another consumer may experience.
0:41
Speaker 3: The Cardinal Health Carolina Talk podcast in collaboration with Pharmacy
0:44
Speaker 3: Podcast Network is for independent pharmacists to learn about the
0:47
Speaker 3: state of the industry, innovative services and solutions.
0:49
Speaker 4: And the future of pharmacy.
0:51
Speaker 5: Join me, your host, Jason Calori, for conversations with pharmacists,
0:55
Speaker 5: Cardinal Health leaders, and industry experts sharing best practices, discussing
0:59
Speaker 5: industry trends, and showcasing Cardinal Health products and services. You
1:03
Speaker 5: can subscribe to the Cardinal Health Counter Talk podcast on Spotify,
1:07
Speaker 5: Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
1:10
Speaker 6: This is Samaki Korfias with the Counter Talk podcast coming
1:13
Speaker 6: to you live from beautiful, sunny Orlando, Florida, here at
1:17
Speaker 6: RBC 2026.
1:19
Speaker 2: Today, we're pulling back the curtain on Vantis HQ.
1:23
Speaker 6: We're going to show you exactly how your feedback turns
1:27
Speaker 6: into real features, what happens behind the scenes, and how
1:31
Speaker 6: those updates come full circle right back to you. So
1:34
Speaker 6: joining me today are Chase, Courtney, and Kate from the
1:39
Speaker 6: Vantis HQ team.
1:40
Speaker 4: Welcome, everybody.
1:42
Speaker 7: Hi, nice to be here.
1:43
Speaker 4: Good to have you.
1:45
Speaker 2: Well, let's do a quick round of introductions, let everyone
1:48
Speaker 2: know what you do. Chase, let's start with you.
1:51
Speaker 8: Yeah, so my name is Chase Maples.
1:52
Speaker 4: I'm a UX researcher.
1:53
Speaker 8: I've been working at Cardinal Health for a little, like
1:57
Speaker 8: around four years now. My main responsibilities are making sure
2:02
Speaker 8: that we are learning from customers as much as possible
2:05
Speaker 8: to improve the experience on Vantus HQ.
2:09
Speaker 4: Nice.
2:10
Speaker 5: Courtney?
2:11
Speaker 7: Hi, Courtney Coyle. So I lead our organizational change management
2:14
Speaker 7: and communications team. So main goal there is making sure
2:18
Speaker 7: that our customers are prepared for the transition that they're
2:21
Speaker 7: going through with updating the e-commerce platform by communicating in
2:25
Speaker 7: many different forms and manners and also making sure they're
2:29
Speaker 7: updated on the site as enhancements go live once they
2:32
Speaker 7: have transitioned to Vantage HQ.
2:35
Speaker 2: Wonderful. And then Kate?
2:36
Speaker 9: Hi, I'm Kate Cohen. I lead UX research for Vantis.
2:42
Speaker 9: We operate a mixed methods research and survey program where
2:46
Speaker 9: we really focus on uncovering customer needs and pain points
2:50
Speaker 9: on a rolling basis to make sure that the platform
2:54
Speaker 9: is as customer focused.
2:55
Speaker 6: As it can be.
2:57
Speaker 4: Okay, wonderful.
2:59
Speaker 6: So, Chase, let's start at the very beginning. When a
3:02
Speaker 6: customer shares feedback, whether it's an issue, a suggestion, or
3:07
Speaker 6: just an idea, what actually happens next?
3:11
Speaker 8: Yeah, so generally what happens next is the research team
3:15
Speaker 8: will compile all of that feedback and will synthesize it
3:20
Speaker 8: and then analyze. we'll send the relevant insights to the
3:24
Speaker 8: relevant teams. But I think what's really important is that
3:27
Speaker 8: feedback doesn't just come in like surveys or like that.
3:30
Speaker 8: We have a Vantis HQ badge survey on the main site.
3:34
Speaker 8: We get a lot of feedback from that. But from
3:36
Speaker 8: the research team, we also do a lot of, like
3:40
Speaker 8: we've been doing in-person sessions here with customers on the
3:43
Speaker 8: mobile app. And so we've done ride-alongs with sales in
3:47
Speaker 8: our local area. So With my sales rep, Skyler, I've
3:52
Speaker 8: gone on a few ride-alongs with them to some of
3:54
Speaker 8: our local pharmacies in Sandy, Utah, Salt Lake County area.
3:59
Speaker 8: And so there's a lot of different avenues for customers
4:02
Speaker 8: to give feedback and for us as a research team
4:05
Speaker 8: to collect feedback from customers.
4:08
Speaker 6: Great.
4:09
Speaker 4: Thanks, Chase.
4:10
Speaker 6: And then, Kate, so once you've reviewed all that customer
4:13
Speaker 6: input that's come in, how do you and the product
4:16
Speaker 6: team determine what actually gets prioritized and built and You know,
4:20
Speaker 6: what might have to be tabled for later?
4:22
Speaker 9: Yeah, and that's where we really partner closely with leadership
4:27
Speaker 9: and cross-functional collaborators like Courtney's team, marketing, analytics, digital strategy,
4:34
Speaker 9: and product. And we really focus on prioritizing and bringing
4:39
Speaker 9: forward what we're hearing from customers. so that we can
4:43
Speaker 9: table whatever can't be fixed.
4:45
Speaker 10: Now as a future enhancement.
4:47
Speaker 9: And of course, not every idea moves forward, but we
4:50
Speaker 9: do review all the feedback holistically and try to incorporate
4:53
Speaker 9: as much as we can. And then we build, test,
4:56
Speaker 9: and improve the site and communicate that back to our customers.
5:00
Speaker 4: Wonderful.
5:01
Speaker 2: And that's a perfect segue. Courtney, my next question is
5:03
Speaker 2: for you.
5:04
Speaker 6: It sounds like an incredibly solid review process. So now
5:09
Speaker 6: once a new enhancement's built, it's live, how do you
5:12
Speaker 6: make sure our customers actually know about it and then
5:15
Speaker 6: can easily start using it?
5:17
Speaker 10: Yeah, of course.
5:17
Speaker 7: So this is really important because this is not a
5:20
Speaker 7: customer's weekly grocery order every day. It is, they're running
5:24
Speaker 7: their business. So we want to make sure they are
5:26
Speaker 7: aware that we heard their feedback, we did something about it,
5:29
Speaker 7: and now there's new functionality that they can go and
5:31
Speaker 7: use on the site. So what we do is we
5:34
Speaker 7: prepare a message as well as create a video of
5:36
Speaker 7: all of those new functionality and capabilities that have been
5:40
Speaker 7: enhanced so that a customer can either read the bullet
5:43
Speaker 7: points and see what they need to do, or if
5:45
Speaker 7: they're more visual, they can watch the video of the
5:48
Speaker 7: actual site and understand how to use that platform. So
5:51
Speaker 7: what we do is we send that message. We also
5:54
Speaker 7: have a new from HQ section on the site. It's
5:56
Speaker 7: a landing page that they are driven to that they
5:59
Speaker 7: can go and see all of the updates. Every month
6:02
Speaker 7: that we've pushed out an update and a release, they
6:04
Speaker 7: can go back a few months if they'd like to
6:06
Speaker 7: and see all of those videos in short bullet points
6:09
Speaker 7: to see the updates there.
6:11
Speaker 3: Okay.
6:12
Speaker 4: What about support?
6:13
Speaker 6: How do we make sure customers have what they need for,
6:16
Speaker 6: let's say, older features or if they have questions.
6:18
Speaker 2: After a new release?
6:20
Speaker 10: Yeah, of course.
6:20
Speaker 7: So we partner very closely with our product team. So
6:23
Speaker 7: our product team is essentially building and putting all of
6:26
Speaker 7: this together, and they're the.
6:28
Speaker 10: Experts at that capability.
6:30
Speaker 7: So we go in and we have very detailed help
6:33
Speaker 7: and support articles. We have a whole help and support
6:36
Speaker 7: page that customers can go to, and they can click
6:39
Speaker 7: on any topic they might want to learn more about.
6:41
Speaker 7: Maybe it's the mobile app, Maybe it's the search feature
6:44
Speaker 7: and see a very detailed, more than just five bullet
6:47
Speaker 7: points of exactly how to walk through and use that capability.
6:50
Speaker 4: Okay. I love that.
6:52
Speaker 6: So it's a true full cycle, customer share feedback, the
6:56
Speaker 6: team prioritizes and builds, and then you clearly communicate back.
7:00
Speaker 7: Yep.
7:02
Speaker 3: Okay.
7:03
Speaker 6: So, Kate, I'd love to dig into the proactive side
7:07
Speaker 6: of things. Beyond the feedback badge, how does the team
7:10
Speaker 6: actively gather input through customer research panels? And if customers
7:15
Speaker 6: listening want to get involved, how can they do so?
7:17
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, it's a lot more accessible than people
7:20
Speaker 9: might think. A lot of it really just starts with
7:24
Speaker 9: raising your hand or reaching out. when feedback opportunities do arise.
7:28
Speaker 9: So that can be during a panel or if you're
7:31
Speaker 9: part of a panel or not part of the panel.
7:34
Speaker 9: It could be after a support interaction.
7:37
Speaker 2: You could be recruited by our.
7:39
Speaker 9: Research ops team or, frankly, just give us feedback and
7:44
Speaker 9: connect with us here at RBC. And our research ops
7:48
Speaker 9: team is fantastic. They also make the process super easy
7:52
Speaker 9: for customers to give feedback. They coordinate participation. They make
7:57
Speaker 9: sure the right customers are connected to the right studies
8:00
Speaker 9: based on feedback. whatever topic we're exploring. So if you
8:04
Speaker 9: are a customer and you get an invitation to participate,
8:08
Speaker 9: we would really encourage you to take it. It's a
8:10
Speaker 9: great opportunity to share your perspective, and that input generally
8:14
Speaker 9: helps shape how Vantis continues to evolve.
8:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Thanks, Kate.
8:20
Speaker 6: Now, Courtney, once updates are released, where's the best place
8:24
Speaker 6: on Vantis HQ for customers to go if they want
8:27
Speaker 6: to stay in the know?
8:28
Speaker 10: Yeah, of course.
8:29
Speaker 7: So if customers really want to self-serve, the best place
8:32
Speaker 7: to go is Vantage HQ. So they can go to
8:34
Speaker 7: that new on HQ page. They can go to the
8:37
Speaker 7: help and support pages. They can navigate through the site. Ultimately,
8:41
Speaker 7: that's the best place to find all of the information.
8:44
Speaker 7: While we know some people don't like that method and
8:47
Speaker 7: they want to talk to a customer service rep or
8:49
Speaker 7: an IT service center, They can certainly call in and
8:52
Speaker 7: talk to those reps, and we will walk them through
8:55
Speaker 7: all of the different areas and the questions that they
8:57
Speaker 7: have so we can resolve any issue or just educate
9:00
Speaker 7: them better on the site in general so they don't
9:02
Speaker 7: have that question moving forward.
9:04
Speaker 2: Makes sense.
9:05
Speaker 6: And one more question for you, Courtney, I'll let you go.
9:08
Speaker 2: Let's talk about a customer's very first day.
9:11
Speaker 6: When they log into Vantus HQ for that first time,
9:13
Speaker 6: what does the onboarding experience look like, and how does
9:16
Speaker 6: the Welcome to Vantus page help guide them?
9:19
Speaker 10: Yeah, of course.
9:19
Speaker 7: So we want to make sure our customers feel confident
9:22
Speaker 7: on the site. So when they log in day one,
9:24
Speaker 7: they get a Welcome to Vantis HQ banner as well
9:27
Speaker 7: as their message center. That will drive them to the
9:30
Speaker 7: Welcome to Vantis landing page that they can go into.
9:34
Speaker 7: This has helpful videos that they can watch to understand
9:37
Speaker 7: what's the first thing you want to do when you
9:39
Speaker 7: get on a website you're going to search. So how
9:41
Speaker 7: do they search for products? How do they navigate in
9:44
Speaker 7: general FAQs? So what have we heard from customers that
9:48
Speaker 7: are already live today? Where do we see those themes
9:51
Speaker 7: and making sure that we address those on FAQs as
9:54
Speaker 7: well as tips and tricks? So it's a really good
9:56
Speaker 7: spot to go and just get started. Start by watching those. videos,
10:00
Speaker 7: understand the navigation of the site, and then customers can
10:03
Speaker 7: easily move forward from there.
10:06
Speaker 2: All right, wonderful.
10:07
Speaker 6: Well, hey, a huge thanks to the Vantis HQ team
10:10
Speaker 6: for taking us behind the scenes today.
10:12
Speaker 2: And to all of you.
10:13
Speaker 6: Listening, your ideas are literally building this platform. So please
10:17
Speaker 6: keep that feedback flowing. Have an amazing time at the
10:20
Speaker 6: rest of the conference, and we'll catch you on the
10:22
Speaker 6: next episode of Counter Talk.
10:26
Speaker 2: You're listening to Cardinal Health's Live at RBC 2026 Recap Show.
10:31
Speaker 2: Stay tuned for the next interview starting now. Hi again, everyone.
10:35
Speaker 6: This is Samaki Korfias with the CounterTalk podcast coming to
10:38
Speaker 6: you live from sunny Orlando, Florida, here.
10:41
Speaker 2: At RBC 2026.
10:43
Speaker 6: Today, we're exploring why embracing the digital world is no
10:48
Speaker 6: longer optional, but essential for the survival and growth of
10:52
Speaker 6: our independent pharmacies. Here with me, we got Chip, Jesse,
10:57
Speaker 6: and Aaron, some fantastic digital experts from Cardinal Health and Lumistry.
11:01
Speaker 6: And we're going to start with a quick round of introductions. Chip,
11:04
Speaker 6: please tell us a bit about your background.
11:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure.
11:06
Speaker 11: You know, started in pharmacy management software and then, you know, late, mid. Mid-2020s,
11:15
Speaker 11: I started my own company, and that became Val, which
11:20
Speaker 11: was our now Lumistry's IVR and telephony platform and the
11:25
Speaker 11: flagship product there. And then in late 2020, towards the
11:29
Speaker 11: end of the year, I merged that business in with
11:32
Speaker 11: Digital Pharmacist at that time. And then since then, through
11:36
Speaker 11: some other acquisitions. We've rebranded that under Lumistry. And then today,
11:41
Speaker 11: you know, my role, I sit as the chief solution
11:44
Speaker 11: architect for Lumistry, and I get to work with not
11:47
Speaker 11: just our IVR products, but I'm involved in bringing innovation
11:51
Speaker 11: to our other solutions where I wasn't before, and, you know,
11:54
Speaker 11: really working with our product engineering teams, help shape where
11:58
Speaker 11: we go next, finger on the pulse. That's why we're
12:00
Speaker 11: here at the Carlton Show, to make sure we.
12:02
Speaker 4: You know, see what's new, see what's coming down the road.
12:07
Speaker 7: Perfect.
12:07
Speaker 2: Thank you.
12:08
Speaker 4: Jessie?
12:08
Speaker 10: All right. Yeah. Hi, I'm Jessie Tote, and I have
12:11
Speaker 10: been with Cardinal for just over 15 years now and
12:15
Speaker 10: in a variety of different roles, but really focusing on
12:17
Speaker 10: digital solutions for retail pharmacies.
12:22
Speaker 2: And Erin?
12:23
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Erin Gasper. I have been with Cardinal Health
12:26
Speaker 1: since 2012 and supporting digital solutions since 2015.
12:30
Speaker 6: Wonderful.
12:30
Speaker 2: Great to meet you all. Chip, I want to start
12:33
Speaker 2: with you.
12:33
Speaker 6: Just to set the stage for our listeners, can you
12:36
Speaker 6: tell us more about Lumistry and how you help pharmacies
12:39
Speaker 6: connect communication, education.
12:42
Speaker 4: And marketing?
12:43
Speaker 7: Sure.
12:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
12:44
Speaker 11: So, you know, we're a cloud-based technology company, really just
12:50
Speaker 11: trying to drive, to simplify how they operate, you know,
12:53
Speaker 11: how they engage with patients today. You know, we have
12:56
Speaker 11: our Lumistry One portal, which is kind of a holistic,
12:59
Speaker 11: unified experience where we connect key pharmacy workflows, refills, transfers, onboarding,
13:08
Speaker 11: things like scheduling, and even patient education where that's all
13:12
Speaker 11: into a single platform that integrates with their PMS, which
13:15
Speaker 11: is key for today. And then it includes a portal
13:19
Speaker 11: so patients can manage their care in one place. So
13:23
Speaker 11: it supports the paperless and provide resources like videos, digital
13:28
Speaker 11: med guides, versus relaying on those printed leaflets that get
13:33
Speaker 11: tossed in the trash many times as soon as they
13:36
Speaker 11: step foot outside the pharmacy.
13:39
Speaker 4: And then voice, which again was kind.
13:41
Speaker 11: Of the telephony product that I started with Val. You know,
13:44
Speaker 11: that's our IVR and phone solution, which is unique there.
13:49
Speaker 11: And then what that does is, you know, the goal
13:51
Speaker 11: for that is just to reduce... One of the biggest
13:54
Speaker 11: interruptions to the pharmacy team, which are the phone calls
13:57
Speaker 11: that come in. And now, of course, you know, through innovation,
14:01
Speaker 11: we've layered in the AI voice assistant. And that takes
14:04
Speaker 11: it a step further. You know, natural conversations answer additional
14:08
Speaker 11: things that a typical IVR wouldn't do.
14:10
Speaker 4: You know, and then, you know. Then we kind of
14:14
Speaker 4: bring in.
14:15
Speaker 11: The other piece of it is how do we engage
14:17
Speaker 11: their current customers?
14:18
Speaker 4: How do we bring in more revenue, new customers? How
14:22
Speaker 4: do we attract that?
14:23
Speaker 11: We do that through our marketing and our website tools,
14:26
Speaker 11: which focus on the patient journey. Kind of really how
14:30
Speaker 11: do we take them from how does a patient discover
14:32
Speaker 11: the pharmacy and then how do we bring them into action?
14:35
Speaker 11: And it starts with making sure they can be found online, SEO.
14:39
Speaker 11: Now the big thing is AIO, which is where they
14:43
Speaker 11: can You know, everybody's seen that now. It's a traditional search,
14:46
Speaker 11: you know, where even Google gives you that at the
14:48
Speaker 11: top of the page, that little AI assistant. Now people
14:51
Speaker 11: are using ChatGBT instead of Google anymore, just asking those
14:54
Speaker 11: kind of questions.
14:55
Speaker 4: But, you know, so what that does is.
14:59
Speaker 11: We drive awareness, bring that social media, pay to add campaigns,
15:03
Speaker 11: try to make that a nice, easy experience because it
15:05
Speaker 11: isn't today. And then how do we turn those interests
15:09
Speaker 11: that we generate, turn that into action? And then in short,
15:14
Speaker 11: we're really trying to connect those communication, education, marketing into
15:18
Speaker 11: an ecosystem. that really helps pharmacies operate more efficiently, takes
15:23
Speaker 11: that off their plate, keeps them from having to go
15:25
Speaker 11: buy individual point solutions. And again, the goal is just
15:29
Speaker 11: to make it a seamless patient experience.
15:31
Speaker 2: That sounds great. It's just a ton of great offerings,
15:34
Speaker 2: it sounds like.
15:34
Speaker 10: Yes, sir.
15:35
Speaker 2: Wonderful.
15:36
Speaker 6: Well, Aaron, we're really excited about the Cardinal Health Edge solution.
15:40
Speaker 6: So first off, what exactly is EDGE, and how does
15:44
Speaker 6: this partnership with Lumistry really level up our digital offerings?
15:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we have partnered with Lumistry, and we are
15:51
Speaker 1: now offering Cardinal of EDGE, which is an acronym for Experience,
15:55
Speaker 1: Digital Growth, and Engagement.
15:57
Speaker 2: You know Cardinal loves their acronym.
15:58
Speaker 1: We sure do.
15:59
Speaker 4: Okay.
16:00
Speaker 1: So everything that Chip just mentioned is now available through
16:04
Speaker 1: the EDGE solution, so our platform. customers can get that
16:08
Speaker 1: updated platform experience with the website, patient portal, paperless education,
16:13
Speaker 1: and additional marketing add-ons like two-way messaging and promotional campaigns.
16:19
Speaker 2: Okay, wonderful.
16:21
Speaker 6: Now, Jessie, you speak with pharmacy owners every single day.
16:26
Speaker 6: What are the most common misconceptions they have about digital
16:30
Speaker 6: transformation and patient engagement?
16:32
Speaker 10: Yeah, a couple, you know, that first come to mind.
16:37
Speaker 10: One is, you know, they'll tell me, well, our patients
16:39
Speaker 10: are older. They don't want digital experiences. They don't want
16:43
Speaker 10: to deal with all that digital stuff. And really, you know,
16:47
Speaker 10: Even older patients, they're increasingly using our digital healthcare tools
16:51
Speaker 10: and just digital tools in their daily lives. So they're
16:54
Speaker 10: using apps to check on their families on social media.
16:59
Speaker 10: They're using apps to order food. So why are we
17:03
Speaker 10: thinking that they're not going to use those same apps
17:05
Speaker 10: and same tools for their healthcare? So, you know, if
17:08
Speaker 10: you're looking at things such as text messaging, automated reminders,
17:12
Speaker 10: patient portals, apps, any of that are things that they're
17:16
Speaker 10: already comfortable with today. We're not asking them to change behaviors,
17:20
Speaker 10: asking them to change. We're just going to integrate into
17:22
Speaker 10: things they're already using. When it comes to digital healthcare,
17:28
Speaker 10: it doesn't have to be complicated. You know, we can
17:31
Speaker 10: add things. There's refill reminders. There's vaccination notifications, med adherence alerts,
17:38
Speaker 10: really simple scheduling. These are all things that can enhance
17:41
Speaker 10: their daily lives and things that we really want to
17:43
Speaker 10: make sure that they're getting. The other really big misconception
17:47
Speaker 10: is that the digital engagement reduces personal touch, you know,
17:51
Speaker 10: especially in our community pharmacists. You know, that That's their passion.
17:55
Speaker 10: That's where they stand in their community is they have
17:58
Speaker 10: that personal touch. So, you know, digital tools aren't trying
18:02
Speaker 10: to take that away. It's only, again, enhancing that experience.
18:06
Speaker 10: And it's giving them more time, too, for things such
18:09
Speaker 10: as clinical consultations, you know, vaccination conversations, complex patient issues,
18:15
Speaker 10: and taking things like a refill reminder off their plate and,
18:19
Speaker 10: you know, really helping their day-to-day.
18:21
Speaker 4: That's so well said.
18:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, Jessi.
18:25
Speaker 6: And Chip, now time and staff, they're always stretched thin
18:28
Speaker 6: in community pharmacy.
18:30
Speaker 2: What would you say is.
18:31
Speaker 6: The single biggest digital opportunity that you think most pharmacies
18:36
Speaker 6: are just completely overlooking today?
18:41
Speaker 11: Single one might be a hard thing to nail down.
18:48
Speaker 11: There's definitely a missed opportunity for pharmacies in digital right now.
18:53
Speaker 11: It's kind of owning that experience in the end, that
18:56
Speaker 11: patient journey. Right now, they have a lot of digital tools,
19:00
Speaker 11: but many of them are still kind of fragmented where
19:04
Speaker 11: they might have a website, they do some social media,
19:08
Speaker 11: they've dabbled into paying for social ads or paid ads.
19:13
Speaker 11: But often those pieces aren't connected to each other. And
19:16
Speaker 11: it definitely isn't connected to the trend of the pharmacy
19:19
Speaker 11: staying on top of that. What's happening inside the pharmacy?
19:22
Speaker 11: What do they want to promote at that time? And
19:24
Speaker 11: so then patients discover things online. And then as soon
19:27
Speaker 11: as they go to try to take that into action,
19:30
Speaker 11: it kind of breaks down and falls apart there. And
19:32
Speaker 11: so the opportunity is how do we close that gap, right?
19:35
Speaker 11: Between discovery of either, you know, a patient discovers them
19:38
Speaker 11: as a new, you know, as a new pharmacy they
19:41
Speaker 11: want to engage with or a new service they want
19:43
Speaker 11: to do. How do we shorten that time to action
19:46
Speaker 11: or to where.
19:47
Speaker 4: They actually start delivering care?
19:48
Speaker 11: And I think that starts with visibility and making sure
19:51
Speaker 11: pharmacies show up where their patients are already searching. You know, Google,
19:55
Speaker 11: I mentioned ChatGVT earlier, the social media and so forth there.
19:59
Speaker 11: You know, reputation management I think is a big missed
20:02
Speaker 11: opportunity that they're doing today. You know, one of the
20:05
Speaker 11: top things that that, you know, people select a business
20:09
Speaker 11: that they go to is those ratings. I always joke,
20:12
Speaker 11: my wife always says the stars don't lie, right? You know,
20:15
Speaker 11: so it's one of those, you know, having those ratings,
20:19
Speaker 11: getting those reputation management, if there is something going on,
20:22
Speaker 11: responding to those. That's some of the things that our
20:24
Speaker 11: tools will do for pharmacies so they don't have to
20:26
Speaker 11: do that. You know, and then you get into those
20:30
Speaker 11: AI-driven search results.
20:31
Speaker 4: We spoke on that.
20:32
Speaker 11: And so, you know, You know, when it breaks down
20:35
Speaker 11: to it, digital and all these things should just make
20:37
Speaker 11: it easy, right, for a patient to act immediately. And
20:40
Speaker 11: I think Jesse hit on it, too. They're using these tools,
20:43
Speaker 11: these apps and so forth today, you know. So, hey,
20:47
Speaker 11: let them refill a prescription. Let them transfer and, you know,
20:50
Speaker 11: get new business into the store. Book a service because
20:52
Speaker 11: that's becoming more and more important in the— in the
20:55
Speaker 11: pharmacy's day is these clinical services, other opportunities to get
20:59
Speaker 11: outside of the traditional fill and bill, right? And then,
21:01
Speaker 11: you know, or maybe even just ask questions, you know,
21:04
Speaker 11: with HIPAA compliant chat and so forth. That's a big
21:07
Speaker 11: one is how do we take the friction out and
21:10
Speaker 11: then how do we not create an extra workload on
21:13
Speaker 11: the pharmacy team, which is the challenge, you know, right?
21:15
Speaker 11: Anytime you do that. So I'd say the real opportunity
21:18
Speaker 11: isn't just marketing or communication. It's kind of how do
21:22
Speaker 11: you connect those two operations? How do we make that
21:25
Speaker 11: experience seamless from the first touch with the patient all
21:29
Speaker 11: the way through fulfillment? And then obviously repeating that process. Ideally,
21:34
Speaker 11: you know, with that customer hundreds and thousands of times
21:36
Speaker 11: over the life cycle. And so pharmacies that win in
21:39
Speaker 11: that digital one are going to get that next generation
21:42
Speaker 11: of customer too, which is really important. It's making sure
21:46
Speaker 11: that we're bringing those tools because, you know, Yes, the
21:51
Speaker 11: elderly patients are engaging, but those new generation or next
21:55
Speaker 11: generation of customers, that's expected. You know, it's not just
21:58
Speaker 11: something that they feel is a nice feature. Without that,
22:02
Speaker 11: they're probably going on to the next pharmacy.
22:04
Speaker 4: So I feel like that's probably the biggest thing. Absolutely, Chip.
22:07
Speaker 4: Thank you.
22:08
Speaker 6: Now, Aaron, you and I both know independent pharmacies, they
22:13
Speaker 6: are loved for their personal touch. So how does the
22:16
Speaker 6: Edge platform help them balance modern technology with that personalized
22:21
Speaker 6: community feel?
22:23
Speaker 1: I think the heart of the community pharmacy will always
22:26
Speaker 1: be the staff and the connections that they're able to
22:28
Speaker 1: make with their patients. But the Edge platform really provides
22:32
Speaker 1: tools for their patients and staff to be able to
22:35
Speaker 1: perform tasks really quickly and efficiently and.
22:39
Speaker 2: At a time that's convenient for them.
22:41
Speaker 1: Maybe they're not able to go into the pharmacy, but
22:43
Speaker 1: they can process their refill through their mobile app or
22:47
Speaker 1: set up an appointment scheduled for their vaccine the next
22:51
Speaker 1: day or something like that. The goal is never for
22:54
Speaker 1: technology to replace the pharmacist. It's only there to be
23:01
Speaker 1: an amplifying factor for the care that.
23:03
Speaker 2: They're receiving today.
23:05
Speaker 1: It should never be replacing that pharmacist.
23:07
Speaker 3: That's right.
23:07
Speaker 2: It's not as scary as it seems.
23:09
Speaker 9: Yeah.
23:09
Speaker 11: I mean, I think, right, these tools should free them
23:12
Speaker 11: up so they can actually spend more time with those
23:15
Speaker 11: patients at the counter, not the other way around. So
23:17
Speaker 11: if anything, you know, the goal is to flip that
23:20
Speaker 11: around and give them more time.
23:22
Speaker 4: Couldn't agree more.
23:23
Speaker 6: So, Chip, jumping back to you, digital marketing, it can
23:27
Speaker 6: sometimes feel hard to measure, right? What core metrics should
23:31
Speaker 6: a pharmacy track to know if their digital efforts are
23:34
Speaker 6: actually driving real business growth and that loyalty that they want?
23:38
Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's a hard one, right?
23:40
Speaker 11: And that's one of the reasons a lot of times
23:42
Speaker 11: this has broke down in the past, whether they've went
23:44
Speaker 11: and done it on their own. And, you know, that's
23:46
Speaker 11: a challenge with digital marketing, you know, especially in pharmacy.
23:50
Speaker 11: It can kind of, you know, just feels hard to
23:51
Speaker 11: how do you connect that back to pharmacy. real business outcomes,
23:55
Speaker 11: what did we get out of it. We use things
23:57
Speaker 11: like call tracking, and what's unique there is that there's
24:03
Speaker 11: unique phone numbers per campaign, so then you can track
24:06
Speaker 11: to see those effectiveness, not just call tracking and that
24:09
Speaker 11: I used to get 100 calls, and now I get 120,
24:11
Speaker 11: and so I know it improves things, but being able
24:15
Speaker 11: to tie that directly back to specific ads, see what
24:19
Speaker 11: resonated with patients, customers, those type of things. You know,
24:24
Speaker 11: and again, we're not just tracking just phone calls or
24:26
Speaker 11: referral requests. You know, we want to also look at
24:29
Speaker 11: appointment inquiries and did they come from specific campaigns or
24:33
Speaker 11: what channels are being the most effective when we're running that.
24:36
Speaker 11: And so that we look at, you know, a few
24:39
Speaker 11: core metrics, not just the volume engagement, but the quality
24:43
Speaker 11: of it, you know, and how many new patients are
24:45
Speaker 11: coming in. How many existing patients are staying engaged? We
24:48
Speaker 11: track those things inside our mobile app, inside the web experience.
24:52
Speaker 4: So if people are.
24:53
Speaker 11: Falling off, if they start a schedule appointment and then
24:57
Speaker 11: don't continue through there, hey, why?
25:00
Speaker 4: Was something confusion? You know, what's going on there? How
25:02
Speaker 4: do we make it clear?
25:04
Speaker 11: So we're constantly tracking those ourselves. But then if it's
25:09
Speaker 11: something that a pharmacy is putting out, You know, did
25:12
Speaker 11: it not resonate? Again, was it confusing? Those type of things.
25:15
Speaker 11: And so the real thing is how do we convert
25:18
Speaker 11: those into real prescriptions or visits, that type of thing.
25:22
Speaker 11: And the goal is to move well beyond, hey, we
25:25
Speaker 11: ran some ads and, you know.
25:27
Speaker 4: Let's see how we did. If you build it, they'll
25:30
Speaker 4: come type of thing.
25:31
Speaker 11: And it's, hey, let's go to a real understanding on
25:36
Speaker 11: a return on investment, right?
25:37
Speaker 4: What's that ROI? Did it get it?
25:38
Speaker 11: Did we get a different patient behavior? Is it promoting
25:42
Speaker 11: the things in the pharmacy that are going to drive
25:44
Speaker 11: the most profitable revenue, not just revenue. Profitable revenue is
25:48
Speaker 11: important today, right? And then what we do is we
25:53
Speaker 11: then meet with the pharmacy.
25:54
Speaker 4: They get a.
25:56
Speaker 11: Dedicated resource to be able to review that data regularly.
25:59
Speaker 11: So to be sure what's working, what's not working, where
26:02
Speaker 11: do we need to adjust, what new things do they
26:05
Speaker 11: want to promote that they're going to be doing in
26:07
Speaker 11: their pharmacy, especially seasonality.
26:09
Speaker 4: Those type of things there. So I'd say it's... Not
26:13
Speaker 4: just one thing, it's a little bit of everything there.
26:16
Speaker 4: It is.
26:16
Speaker 2: You're constantly looking for ways to improve, it sounds like.
26:19
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
26:20
Speaker 2: Welcoming that feedback.
26:21
Speaker 6: Now, Jesse, for a pharmacy that knows they need to
26:24
Speaker 6: build their digital presence but doesn't know where to start,
26:29
Speaker 6: what are the top three areas that they should address first?
26:32
Speaker 10: Yeah, and this is something we could really help with.
26:35
Speaker 10: We can work with a pharmacy and see where they
26:37
Speaker 10: are today, see where they need to be. But those
26:40
Speaker 10: top three, you know, web presence. You would not imagine
26:44
Speaker 10: how many pharmacies today still do not even have a
26:47
Speaker 10: basic website. And to Chip's point earlier, it's not just
26:51
Speaker 10: the older generations. Younger generations are going online. They're saying
26:54
Speaker 10: pharmacies near me. That's their first line of looking up anything.
26:59
Speaker 10: So that web presence is very, very crucial. And, you know,
27:03
Speaker 10: that can run the gamut of anything. you know, a
27:07
Speaker 10: very simple web page to a complicated website, you know,
27:11
Speaker 10: but just having that really, you know, that web presence
27:14
Speaker 10: is important. The second is optimizing local search. You know,
27:19
Speaker 10: going back to pharmacies near me, making sure that pharmacies
27:22
Speaker 10: are going to the top of that list when people
27:24
Speaker 10: are doing those searches. And, you know, that's something we
27:27
Speaker 10: can help with, making sure that they're not just in
27:29
Speaker 10: a Google search, but they're, you know, they're visible within
27:33
Speaker 10: that search. And the third one is utilizing social media.
27:37
Speaker 10: That is such a crucial factor to business today.
27:43
Speaker 6: In today's world especially.
27:44
Speaker 10: Yes. And people hear social media and they think that
27:48
Speaker 10: people are just dancing in front of their cameras.
27:51
Speaker 2: Doing TikTok challenges.
27:52
Speaker 6: Yes.
27:53
Speaker 4: But there's so.
27:53
Speaker 10: Much more to it. It's making sure your services are
27:56
Speaker 10: out there, making sure people know when you're running a
27:59
Speaker 10: flu clinic or what they can come to your pharmacy for.
28:04
Speaker 10: And you're a member of your community. Everyone knows you're
28:07
Speaker 10: the one's sponsoring the local little league team so you
28:11
Speaker 10: know you also want to feel part of that community
28:13
Speaker 10: on social media yeah.
28:14
Speaker 11: That makes sense it's awareness right and it's how do
28:16
Speaker 11: you use these tools to drive that additional awareness that
28:19
Speaker 11: they otherwise wouldn't wouldn't get exactly exactly.
28:24
Speaker 6: So aaron if a pharmacy only has the budget for
28:28
Speaker 6: just one digital initiative this year what should it be and.
28:31
Speaker 1: Why I think the first step is for a pharmacy
28:35
Speaker 1: to really look at what they're doing in the digital
28:37
Speaker 1: space today already, because as Chip and Jesse have mentioned,
28:42
Speaker 1: patients are coming to expect a level of convenience and
28:47
Speaker 1: accessibility in the digital world, regardless of the business type.
28:51
Speaker 1: So we really encourage pharmacies to take a look at
28:54
Speaker 1: what you're doing and kind of take the next step
28:58
Speaker 1: from where you are. So if you have a website
29:00
Speaker 1: and a mobile app already today, make sure it's branded
29:03
Speaker 1: as your pharmacy, highlighting services that you offer, and the
29:06
Speaker 1: things that set you apart in your community are really
29:10
Speaker 1: important too, because you want to be able to have
29:13
Speaker 1: that differentiation factor within your community. If you already have
29:19
Speaker 1: those websites and everything established, you might want to look
29:22
Speaker 1: at Growing your social media presence, as we've talked about,
29:26
Speaker 1: is very important. Focusing on maybe the digital marketing aspect
29:30
Speaker 1: as well as things like maybe adding two-way messaging to
29:33
Speaker 1: have that additional communication with your patients. And just looking
29:39
Speaker 1: at where you're at and taking it one step further
29:41
Speaker 1: is the best place to start okay and I think
29:45
Speaker 1: where we can help with edge platform is working with
29:48
Speaker 1: you to determine kind of where you're at and looking
29:50
Speaker 1: at all those features and figuring out where your.
29:52
Speaker 6: Next step is great so we'll make sure to send
29:55
Speaker 6: them your way So looking down the road, Chip, what
29:59
Speaker 6: emerging trends or technologies, like AI, like you mentioned previously,
30:03
Speaker 6: should pharmacies pay attention to now so they aren't caught
30:07
Speaker 6: off guard?
30:07
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, of course you're hearing the AI buzzword.
30:10
Speaker 11: You just said it, right? You can't go anywhere, and
30:14
Speaker 11: that's not the thing. But it's how do you do that?
30:18
Speaker 11: How do you use it?
30:18
Speaker 4: Yeah.
30:21
Speaker 11: How can I use it on a daily basis to
30:23
Speaker 11: make things easier? And our customers are asking about it.
30:27
Speaker 11: We're seeing it everywhere. It's not just pharmacy. It's obviously
30:30
Speaker 11: every industry.
30:31
Speaker 4: It is here. It is, and it's not going away.
30:33
Speaker 7: It is not.
30:34
Speaker 11: It's going to get faster for sure. But, you know,
30:38
Speaker 11: when I start kind of really more thinking about what
30:40
Speaker 11: does the pharmacy actually need, it's practical tools. And can
30:45
Speaker 11: AI assist in that? You know, is there opportunities to
30:49
Speaker 11: really save time, reduce interruptions, and improve the patient experience, right?
30:54
Speaker 11: And that's really kind of the lens that we look
30:57
Speaker 11: through it. So what can we do to drive that
31:02
Speaker 11: kind of technology? You know, on that same note, like
31:04
Speaker 11: I said, the technology of evolving patients, faster than ever before.
31:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really is.
31:10
Speaker 11: And I joke about it. This is the worst it'll
31:12
Speaker 11: ever be, too, right? It's only going to get better.
31:15
Speaker 11: And so we are seeing, because of that, a higher
31:19
Speaker 11: expectation around the digital experience and conveniences. You know, patients
31:24
Speaker 11: now in pharmacy expect kind of that same thing ease
31:29
Speaker 11: that they're seeing in other industries the banking and all
31:31
Speaker 11: these other you know your physicians and so forth where
31:34
Speaker 11: it's a mobile first right people that's naturally where you
31:37
Speaker 11: go everywhere you know I used to sit on my
31:39
Speaker 11: laptop and look at everything and you don't ever break
31:42
Speaker 11: that out at home anymore right you're on your phone
31:44
Speaker 11: all the time type of things and so and self-service
31:49
Speaker 11: instant responses we live in that instant world now where
31:52
Speaker 11: everybody expects everything because it's in the palm of your
31:55
Speaker 11: hand going back to it and so You know, those
31:58
Speaker 11: instant access to things. So that way the pharmacies can
32:01
Speaker 11: meet that expectation. But then the problem is how do
32:05
Speaker 11: we do that and deliver those things without adding burden
32:09
Speaker 11: to the staff, you know, is probably the biggest challenge.
32:12
Speaker 11: And so that's where we want to be sure and
32:15
Speaker 11: leverage those type of tools. And underneath of it all,
32:19
Speaker 11: the opportunity is whether you want to call it A
32:21
Speaker 11: or not, it's efficiency.
32:23
Speaker 4: So how do pharmacies become more efficient?
32:26
Speaker 11: How can they offload some of the tasks that maybe
32:29
Speaker 11: don't give them the highest revenue or ROI on their
32:33
Speaker 11: time and allow them to shift into other opportunities? And
32:38
Speaker 11: by redoing that through removing that repetitive work from the
32:41
Speaker 11: pharmacy team so they can focus on, again, kind of
32:44
Speaker 11: those clinical care, those patient relationships, being able to go
32:48
Speaker 11: back to, like Jesse said, spending time at the counter
32:51
Speaker 11: to build that relationship.
32:52
Speaker 4: And that's what keeps them coming back to work.
32:55
Speaker 11: A community pharmacy over others is the pharmacist and their
32:59
Speaker 11: team are the special sauce, right? That's the special sauce.
33:03
Speaker 11: And so how can we allow them to spend that
33:06
Speaker 11: time to make those connections? So for us, it's probably
33:09
Speaker 11: less about one technology trend, more of staying close, what's
33:13
Speaker 11: actually improving those experiences. And then ultimately, let's help pharmacies
33:18
Speaker 11: operate more effectively and efficiently.
33:21
Speaker 4: And in turn, everybody wins.
33:23
Speaker 2: Finding those wins anywhere you can.
33:25
Speaker 4: That's it.
33:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
33:27
Speaker 6: So, Erin, wrapping this up, if someone wants to learn
33:30
Speaker 6: more about EDGE or request a demo, what's the best
33:33
Speaker 6: way to get in touch?
33:35
Speaker 1: We have two main ways for you to get in
33:38
Speaker 1: contact with us. You can visit cardinalhealth.com and search for
33:41
Speaker 1: Cardinal Health EDGE, and that will allow you to complete
33:44
Speaker 1: our interest form. From there, you can.
33:48
Speaker 2: Expect our.
33:49
Speaker 1: Team to reach out to you to schedule a demo
33:51
Speaker 1: with Lumistry to learn more.
33:53
Speaker 3: Perfect.
33:54
Speaker 1: And then you can also email us directly at edge
33:57
Speaker 1: at cardinhealth.com.
33:58
Speaker 4: All right.
33:59
Speaker 6: Well, excellent advice. This was so informing. Thank you all
34:03
Speaker 6: for sharing your insights today. And thank you to everyone
34:06
Speaker 6: tuning in as well. Make sure to check out the
34:08
Speaker 6: Edge packages here at RBC and have a great rest
34:11
Speaker 6: of your conference.
34:12
Speaker 2: Until next time, everyone.