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Fueling Independent Pharmacy Advocacy with the 2025 NCPA Digest | Cardinal Health™ Counter Talk™ Podcast · Pharmacy Podcast Network

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  Speaker 3: Hello everyone, and.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Welcome back to a very special episode on the Cardinal
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  Speaker 4: Health counter Talk podcast. I'm your host Jason colorI, and
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  Speaker 4: today we are taking a deep dive into the twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty five NCPA digest. Some of the interesting findings from
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  Speaker 4: this year's digests and how you can utilize this data
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  Speaker 4: to inform policymakers from an advocacy standpoint. Today on the podcast,
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  Speaker 4: we have an all star lineup to unpack all this information.
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  Speaker 4: First up, we have Doug Hoy, Chief Executive Officer of
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  Speaker 4: the National Community Pharmacy Association, who represents the owners of
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  Speaker 4: over eighteen thy nine hundred pharmacy small businesses. Also from NCPA,
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  Speaker 4: we have Lisa Swartz, Senior Director of Professional Affairs, who
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  Speaker 4: has contributed to the NCPA Digest for many years and
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  Speaker 4: is now the project director of the publication. We also
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  Speaker 4: have Michelle Britt, the Cardinal Health Senior Vice President of
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  Speaker 4: Retail Independent Sales, with over twenty five years of experience
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  Speaker 4: with Cardinal Health interacting with customers. Michelle's an incredible resource
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  Speaker 4: to hear what exactly she's seeing and hearing out in
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  Speaker 4: the independent pharmacy market. And finally, Rebecca McGrath's senior Vice
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  Speaker 4: President of Government Relations and Public Policy here at Cardinal Health.
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  Speaker 4: She currently leads federal, state and global government relations for
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  Speaker 4: Cardinal Health and can provide some valuable insights on how
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  Speaker 4: you can make the findings from the twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 4: NCPA Digest Actionable. So everybody, welcome my exteme guests. How
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  Speaker 4: are you guys doing doing well?
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  Speaker 5: Thanks us?
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  Speaker 4: All right, well, welcome to another great podcast. Always excited
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  Speaker 4: to talk to you guys. And it's one of my
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  Speaker 4: favorite times of the year when the NCAPA Digest comes out.
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  Speaker 4: I enjoy reading it probably as much as everybody else,
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  Speaker 4: just to see what those numbers look like, some of
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  Speaker 4: those findings and some of those intricacies within those numbers
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  Speaker 4: where people can utilize that to either build their business
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  Speaker 4: and make some differences within their own pharmacy, and not
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  Speaker 4: only that but affcacy as well, which we'll get into.
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  Speaker 4: So first question, I want to just kind of throw
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  Speaker 4: this out to Doug and Lisa first. On a previous
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  Speaker 4: episode when we talked about it, you shared insights on
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  Speaker 4: the NCPA digest long standing history in the pharmacy industry.
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  Speaker 3: Can you guys give us a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: Of a refresher on the purpose of the report and
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  Speaker 4: kind of the genesis of it.
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  Speaker 3: How did it get started?
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  Speaker 6: Well, I'll start with the genesis of it.
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  Speaker 1: And although I wasn't there at the genesis of it
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  Speaker 1: back in nineteen thirty two, So the Digest has been
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  Speaker 1: around for getting close to one hundred.
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  Speaker 6: Years, not quite, but started out in nineteen thirty two.
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  Speaker 1: It was called the Lily Digest the drug company Lily,
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  Speaker 1: and for sixty years Lily was supported it. Originally it
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  Speaker 1: was as a business tool for pharmacy owners, so back
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  Speaker 1: in the thirties and forties, Lily would actually do a
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  Speaker 1: per store analysis on the pharmacy's business operations and give
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: them some tips on how to improve business operations. Over time,
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  Speaker 1: it has become a benchmark for the industry, for the
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  Speaker 1: over eighteen thousand pharmacy independent pharmacies in the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and in the early nineties, Lily discontinued its support and
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  Speaker 1: NCPA took it over about thirty years ago and again
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  Speaker 1: ever since then, it's been it's kind of the go
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  Speaker 1: to benchmark for our industry, you know, a very disparate industry.
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  Speaker 1: And this compiles not only business data for pharmacies to
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  Speaker 1: use to kind of know where they stand compared to
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  Speaker 1: their colleagues, but also clinical practice how pharmacies are incorporating
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  Speaker 1: clinical services into their pharmacy to grow their business, differentiate
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  Speaker 1: their business, and become even more valuable to healthcare across
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  Speaker 1: the country.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, Lisa, what is your take on actually not only
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  Speaker 4: the beginnings of the NCPA Digest.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, kind of building it in your experience
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  Speaker 3: over the years.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, what do you think it means for NCPA
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  Speaker 4: to have this long standing history with the digest.
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  Speaker 7: It certainly continues to be an important tool for members
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  Speaker 7: to understand where their business is at relative to other
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  Speaker 7: independent pharmacies, help them track where trends are going. It
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  Speaker 7: helps us as an association track what's going on with
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  Speaker 7: our membership, make sure that we're providing sort of education
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  Speaker 7: and services that they need so that when something starts
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  Speaker 7: to look like it's a promising development in pharmacy practice,
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  Speaker 7: that we're there to make sure that if they bring
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  Speaker 7: it into their business, they do it in in a
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  Speaker 7: smart way, in a way that's going to make money
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  Speaker 7: for them, in a way that's going to help them
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  Speaker 7: take better care patients.
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  Speaker 3: For sure.
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  Speaker 4: One of my favorite pieces of the NCPA Digest is
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  Speaker 4: actually the very beginning, and it's the Welcome Letter. The
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  Speaker 4: Welcome Letter is one of the first parts of the
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  Speaker 4: digests that you see now this year. It's co written
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  Speaker 4: by Doug Hoy and Brad Cochran of Cardinal Health. And
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  Speaker 4: it kind of gives you a little bit of a
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  Speaker 4: pretense of what you're going to be seeing and hearing
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  Speaker 4: throughout the Digest.
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  Speaker 3: So, Doug, I'll start with you.
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  Speaker 4: From from a Digest standpoint and kind of an overarching,
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  Speaker 4: you know, overarching thematics that you've seen with this year's Digest.
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  Speaker 4: Which data points were particularly interesting interesting to you, which
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: one's jumped out?
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  Speaker 6: Well, I'll get to that. And I just want tease
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  Speaker 6: up a little bit the Digest because it'll.
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  Speaker 1: Be coming out next you know, at the NCPA annual meeting,
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  Speaker 1: you know, perfect.
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  Speaker 6: Just to tease up.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier in my career, I was responsible for the Digest,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and I'm you mentioned reading it at night. I would
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: be outing myself as far as my social life, as
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: far as how many weekends I would spend either as
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a pharmacy student or as a young pharmacist reading the Digest.
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  Speaker 6: For my late night entertainment. Lisa has done a fantastic job.
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  Speaker 1: So I've pretty invested in the Digest and Lisa has
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  Speaker 1: really done a fantastic job with this year's Digest. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't say that as false flattery. I say that
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  Speaker 1: as I'm kind of a hard greater and it's really
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  Speaker 1: good this year. To your question, one of the things
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: that stands out, just pops out is the impact of
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  Speaker 1: GLPS the revenue side of pharmacies. We say in there
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that it's the highest in ten years. It's the highest
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  Speaker 1: ever for pharmacy revenue. It's over five million dollars. Well
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: over five million dollars. That's you know, for all the
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  Speaker 1: PBMs out there, they're taking notes hurridly to say, oh,
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  Speaker 1: pharmacies are making lots of money.
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  Speaker 6: Well.
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  Speaker 1: The other thing that sticks out is that gross profit
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  Speaker 1: is the lowest it's been in the last ten years.
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  Speaker 1: And I did not go back in fact check the
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  Speaker 1: last ninety seven years of digest, but I was the
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  Speaker 1: lowest probably the lowest gross profit probably at eighteen point
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  Speaker 1: two percent, and it fell from nineteen point seven percent
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  Speaker 1: last year eighteen point two percent, So that that is
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  Speaker 1: a massive fall it really it suggests that the increased
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  Speaker 1: revenue from the GLPS was really for the most part
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  Speaker 1: either treading water, like just you know, not making any
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  Speaker 1: profit or actually losing losing money on those increased dollars.
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  Speaker 6: So those are a couple of things.
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  Speaker 1: LTC is up ten percent, So more and more pharmacies
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  Speaker 1: getting involved with LTC at home cost a to spense
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  Speaker 1: of prescription up to fifteen dollars. And the clinical services,
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  Speaker 1: and Lisa may want to dive into a little more specificity,
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  Speaker 1: but they're still coming in solid adherents and immunization still
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  Speaker 1: the vast majority. But Lisa, you may want to talk
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more about some of the trends you
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  Speaker 1: saw on the clinical side.
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  Speaker 7: Yeah, Like point of character testing continues to be something
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  Speaker 7: that's very strong, a lot of interest in offering that
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  Speaker 7: as a clinical service, and then we see that play
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  Speaker 7: out in the demand for the education to learn how
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  Speaker 7: to do the point of care testing, make sure that
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  Speaker 7: your technique is good for taking a specimen and performing
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  Speaker 7: the tests and interpreting it correctly, you know, and and
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  Speaker 7: and hand in hand with that, we've also seen, uh,
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  Speaker 7: just on a little bit different note, a little bit
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  Speaker 7: of a drop off in the number of pharmacies that
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  Speaker 7: reported having a collaborative practice agreement, which is interesting. You know,
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  Speaker 7: maybe some of that was necessary for some of the
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  Speaker 7: services that now states give a pharmacist just the authority
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  Speaker 7: to perform and do, but I think that also reflects
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  Speaker 7: another trend in on the on the on the physician side,
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  Speaker 7: all are physician practices getting scooped up by bigger organizations
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  Speaker 7: and those physicians not having the same sort of autonomy
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  Speaker 7: to decide that they want to go into colluborative practice
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  Speaker 7: with a pharmacist. So like those two things together, I
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  Speaker 7: think are signs that we want to continue to see
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  Speaker 7: modernization of pharmacist practice and make sure that there are
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  Speaker 7: continuing to be more things that a pharmacist is authorized
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  Speaker 7: to do. The things that they're trained to do, they
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  Speaker 7: are also authorized to do.
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  Speaker 4: So one of the things that I found interesting was
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  Speaker 4: the golps that you mentioned, Doug and Lisa Michelle. If
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: you guys want to chime in here, have you guys
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: remembered a I mean, do we want to call it
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: a trend? Is it a trend? Is it a trendy thing,
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  Speaker 4: the whole GLP thing, or I mean it's a significant
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  Speaker 4: part of a pharmacy. Given the numbers in the NCPA digest,
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  Speaker 4: do you remember anything from the recent history that you
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: could point to that was similar in all of a
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: sudden a product like that hitting the market and generating
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  Speaker 4: a lot, a lot of revenue for a given entire year.
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  Speaker 6: No, there's I mean my based on my recollection.
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  Speaker 1: No, nothing ever, I mean, there have definitely been trends
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: in the industry, and uh, you've seen some things that
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: would maybe cause some revenue to pop a little bit
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: like going you know, sort of way back for some SSRIs.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: You know, when Prozac hit in the late eighties, early nineties,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the stat.
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: In drugs, you know, when living was ruling the world, and.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Even you know, Zantac and the H two's, you saw
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of a pop in revenue from those exactly.
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  Speaker 4: I remember when I remember when lipitur went generic and
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: like everybody went wild.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: That was, yeah, that was pretty significant.
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: And you saw that in the numbers as well. But nothing,
• 11:49
  Speaker 6: nothing that I have ever seen like this.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose during the COVID years that we saw some
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: big bumps because of the COVID vaccinations and what at
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: least it was like twenty one and twenty two.
• 12:03
  Speaker 6: Is that, Yes, we saw those bumps, but as.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Far as I've never seen, I've never seen anything like
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: it in my career.
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  Speaker 4: So I actually want to get Michelle's you know, standpoint
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  Speaker 4: on this, especially when it comes to that intro letter
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  Speaker 4: I was talking about, and it does talk a little
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  Speaker 4: bit about independent pharmacies nationwide contracting coming.
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  Speaker 3: Down a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: And Michelle, I just want to get your standpoint on
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: the findings that you that you saw in the digestion.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Is that commensurate with what you're seeing out in the field.
• 12:37
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I would tell you there were so many interesting findings.
• 12:40
  Speaker 8: You know, we can definitely start that with the decline
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  Speaker 8: and the number of independent pharmacies nationwide. That is consistent
• 12:47
  Speaker 8: with other public data showing a contradiction among traditional chain pharmacies.
• 12:54
  Speaker 8: It also reflects the growing attention to pharmacy deserts in
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: recent years. In some areas, independent pharmacies are filling geographic
• 13:03
  Speaker 8: access gaps.
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: To provide quality, reliable care.
• 13:07
  Speaker 8: I know there was a Drug Channel's video called Pharmacy
• 13:11
  Speaker 8: Shakeout y US drug stores are disappearing, and in there
• 13:15
  Speaker 8: they it evalidates that there have been a number of
• 13:18
  Speaker 8: significant store closures across major change So for instance, write
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: Aid closed all stores and Walgreens absorbed many of these.
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  Speaker 5: There's also been a decline over.
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  Speaker 8: The past several years eight to sixteen percent from twenty
• 13:34
  Speaker 8: eighteen to twenty twenty five. And when you really think
• 13:37
  Speaker 8: about some of the factors that are impacting these numbers
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: at the macro level. Really generics, low price products are.
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  Speaker 5: Most of the sales.
• 13:48
  Speaker 8: The chains are not picking this back up on the
• 13:51
  Speaker 8: front end, which is an opportunity for independent pharmacies. So
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: through our recent opening of our Consumer Health Logistics Center,
• 13:59
  Speaker 8: we're expanding our capacity to serve in this area and
• 14:02
  Speaker 8: we offer several solutions to support the front end of
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: our community pharmacies.
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  Speaker 6: Can I add to that, Michelle or Jason, Yeah, go
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  Speaker 6: for it.
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  Speaker 1: That's the ability to add to those front end sales
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: is so important. This year, it's up to ninety five
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: percent of all the sales our prescription and some of
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: that is because glps are so much higher. But what
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: we typically see is that the more financially healthiest story
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: is the higher their front end sales are. And so
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: to have that ability to increase your front end sales
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: because those are non PBM sALS, so you have more
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: control over how you price it, how you market it.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: You don't have the PBM overlords dictating things. You can
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: also use some of your own creativity and ingenuity and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the marketing of it. But I think it's a fantastic
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: point that being able to increase the front and that's
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: easier said than done, and I know, I know that's true,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: but any incremental growth that pharmacies can see on those
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: front end sales can often substantially improve that bottom line.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you just look at the numbers, So
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: the number that stood out to me was the amount
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: of prescriptions was a lot higher than it was last year.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: You're talking about sixty seven thousand and change versus fifty
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: nine thousand in the previous year. Yet overall numbers for
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: pharmacists are down, so the GLPS the PBM is really
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: coming in and kind of stripping that away from everybody,
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: that extra revenue. But I think a point that you
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: had made Doug earlier on and what do you want
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: to get Michelle's standpoint on this as well, is those
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: care gaps, the care gaps that are within each community
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: that a pharmacist can now have the ability to serve
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: has been really crucial in growth and sustaining some pharmacists
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: and keeping people coming through those doors.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Michelle, what have you seen out there?
• 15:58
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I would tell you that the primary care gaps,
• 16:02
  Speaker 8: there's absolutely a role for retail independent pharmacies to continue
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: to fill for these patients. I would say, despite economic
• 16:10
  Speaker 8: challenges impacting operations. The digest shows that ninety percent of
• 16:15
  Speaker 8: independent pharmacy surveyed administered immunizations for the flu, non flud,
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: and non flu diseases. So nearly seventy five percent offered
• 16:24
  Speaker 8: blood pressure monitoring, forty five percent administer point of care testing,
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: and almost the third maintained collaborative agreements with other types
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: of healthcare professionals that really reinforce team based care. Blood
• 16:38
  Speaker 8: pressure monitoring has significantly increased over the past three years.
• 16:43
  Speaker 8: It's up twenty four percent. You know, so many things
• 16:47
  Speaker 8: to think about.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Doug, you have any insight on this as well.
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, I mean the care gaps.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: We feel like pharmacies being able to provide primary or
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: to fill primary care gaps is a big opportunity. And
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: you know, we talk about when we think about the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: future of pharmacy, we really the strategy we think about
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: is change. We talk about changing the pharmacy payment model,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: which definitely includes getting paid fairly for the dispensing of
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: prescriptions and not a butt, and being recognized and paid
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: for the services that pharmacists do provide and can provide,
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: and as we see a growing number of primary care
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: shortages in the country, we think pharmacists are ideally they're
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: an ideal source to help fill some of those primary
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: care gaps.
• 17:34
  Speaker 6: We have to be.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Paid for it, though, I mean, we are wonderful assault
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: of the Earth type people, but we're not. We're not,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and so we have to be paid for those things.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And we see some trends growing towards payment, but those
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: trends we need them to accelerate. We need I mean,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: it's a bit of an interesting juxtaposition because the PBMs
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: are harming pharmacy, but yet at the same time, we
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: need those prebium parent companies to be paying pharmacists for
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the care that they're providing. So we need acceleration of
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: payments for those services that pharmacists are providing.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: For sure, I do want to talk a little bit
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: about the care that people are doing beyond the walls
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: of the pharmacy. We'll get into that in a second,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: but I do want to ask Lisa quick question because
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: it's about the employee number that I saw, which was
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: a number that stuck out on average independent pharmacies employee
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: twelve point four employees per location, which was an increase.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: From ten point eight from twenty twenty three.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: Lisa, as far from your standpoint when you saw this number,
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: was this a surprising number for you because we've done
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: a lot of different podcasts on pharmacy burnout and with
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: all these added services, do you think this is more
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: of a necessity that people were having to bring more
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: people and employees into their pharmacists.
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: When I saw the fairly significant chain more than a
• 19:00
  Speaker 7: whole number. Reflecting on that, thinking about some of the
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: things that we reported last year about why the number
• 19:09
  Speaker 7: might have been down, we think that maybe some workforce
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: shortage has eased a bit. Pharmacies have been able to
• 19:17
  Speaker 7: fill some positions. You have a whole other class of
• 19:20
  Speaker 7: graduating pharmacists and technicians that are continually being trained. You
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: know some states, well, every state requires some training. Many
• 19:29
  Speaker 7: states require a certification as well, and it just takes
• 19:32
  Speaker 7: a while to get that done. But also, I think
• 19:37
  Speaker 7: for the previous year, we saw or we anticipated, quite
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: a bit of belt tightening anticipating the pharmacies. We need
• 19:45
  Speaker 7: to have some extra cash on hand in the first
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: part of twenty twenty four to make sure that they
• 19:52
  Speaker 7: could hey the dr doubled, you know, finish paying DR
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: from the previous year while they were getting new lower
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: point of sale price concessions for the start of twenty
• 20:04
  Speaker 7: twenty four. So as the year went on, probably some
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: of that cash flow eased and hiring became a little
• 20:11
  Speaker 7: bit easier.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that was one of the numbers that was really
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: stood out to me, especially talking to other pharmacists over
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: the last year, and I just want to get your
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: thoughts on that, so thank you so much for that.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: I want to go back to Michelle.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: When it comes to the independent pharmacists that are helping
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: their customers or their patients beyond the walls of their pharmacy.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: We talked about collaborative practice agreements LTCs in particular have
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: been pretty popular. So Michelle, what have you been seeing
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: out there when it comes to people helping each other
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: or pharmacists helping their patients outside the walls of their
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: own pharmacy.
• 20:45
  Speaker 8: Sure, Jason, I would say a growing number are caring
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: for patients in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, there's residential facilities,
• 20:53
  Speaker 8: correctional facilities, even in their own private homes. Many patients
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: want I want to stay home now, they don't want
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: to be somewhere else getting care. The Digest shows fifty
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: five percent of independent pharmacies provided LTC services to their patients, and,
• 21:09
  Speaker 8: as Doug alluded to earlier, the average number of beds
• 21:13
  Speaker 8: for long term care at home increase ten percent. My
• 21:16
  Speaker 8: team is supporting pharmacies across the country and they're constantly
• 21:20
  Speaker 8: sharing different areas that pharmacists are supporting our customers and
• 21:26
  Speaker 8: doing things outside the box quite frankly, to drive additional
• 21:29
  Speaker 8: revenue streams, which is much needed in the current environment.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Well, that's interesting.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: The LTC part of things has really grown dramatically over
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: the last several years.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: And what do you attribute this to, Doug.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I think it's, like Michelle mentioned, the growing demand that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: patients want to age at home, and I also think
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: from a cost standpoint not I think. I know from
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: a cost standpoint it's less expensive to age at home
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: than to go into a a.
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: Nursing home and a long term care facility.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: And I also think that what we're seeing is that
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: pharmacists have been able to This is actually where the digest.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: One of the many uses of the Digest is CMS
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: has recognized that pharmacists can provide long term care at
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: home services, and so there are some opportunities for pharmacists
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to get paid more fairly, still not fair enough, but
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: more fairly for some of these at home services they're providing.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: So many pharmacists, especially, I would say, in the last
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: eighteen months, have begun or increased providing these long term
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: care services at home because one that there's been more
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: opportunity there, and two somewhat out of necessity, and three
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and most important of all, it's where patients want care
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: and where patients do better. They thrive more at home
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: than they do in facility, and study have shown that.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: So I think it's we're just at the beginning of
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: this trend. I think it's going to continue to grow.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And we all know that the aging of baby boomers
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: and frankly Gen xers my generation are getting older and older,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: and so more and more people will need these at
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: home services. And again, pharmacists are ideally situated and trained
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to be able to provide many of those services.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: And if I may, another thing that's enabling pharmacists to
• 23:30
  Speaker 7: provide care outside the pharmacy walls, it's merging technology. So
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: for the for the first time this year, we reported
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: out on remote patient monitoring, so this year it's a
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: small number, five percent reporter that they were doing that.
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: But we really see that as something that's a natural
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: fit for pharmacies to supply the devices for patients to
• 23:50
  Speaker 7: do monitoring at home, and then for you know, when
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: when the data is available and there's a yeah, I
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: have some sort of application that's going to analyze it,
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: helping pharmacists understand when intervention is needed, intervention or encouragements,
• 24:04
  Speaker 7: because sometimes the intervention isn't always correction. Sometimes it's encouragement
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: like you're doing the right thing, keep it up. But
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: it wanted to flag that technology issue.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes, for sure, and yeah, to your point, some
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: people like to be encouraged rather than told what to do.
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: So I think that's a that's a that completely makes
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: sense to me when it comes to shifting the conversation
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: now to We talked a little bit about how the
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: digest can help advocacy a little bit. I want to
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: talk to Michelle a little about this because we had
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: a you know, a great RBC out in Denver. We
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: talked about from a stage standpoint about advocacy and why
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: it's so important and the digest showcases independent pharmacies involvement
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: with civic organizations, local governments. Michelle, have you seen community
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: and more professional engagements impact and independent owners business especially recently?
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I would.
• 24:57
  Speaker 8: I would tell you to hear stories from customers every
• 25:00
  Speaker 8: single day. I think strong advocacy support from retail independence.
• 25:04
  Speaker 8: It's driving significant change at the state level. Through the
• 25:08
  Speaker 8: one Voice initiative we launched. As you mentioned, we're providing
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: direct financial support to state pharmacy associations to keep.
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: This momentum going.
• 25:18
  Speaker 8: Connecting with the state pharmacy associations can really help increase
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: the impact of what pharmacists are doing, really by providing
• 25:26
  Speaker 8: them with resources and helping them connect with the lawmakers
• 25:30
  Speaker 8: to ensure that that meaningful change is going through.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, It's something we've been talking about for several years,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: and Doug has been gracious enough to talk about it
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: on stage and give us a nice rundown of what's
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: happening from Capitol Hill and everything else in between. We
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: have Rebecca here that can chime in on that as well. Rebecca,
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: what have you seen out when it comes to pharmacists
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: getting more involved?
• 25:56
  Speaker 9: Yeah, absolutely, well, I think we've seen an incredible progress,
• 25:59
  Speaker 9: as Michelle seide of the last couple of years, and
• 26:01
  Speaker 9: that's because more and more pharmacists are telling their stories
• 26:04
  Speaker 9: and they're out there talking about change but also the
• 26:07
  Speaker 9: future of pharmacy. A couple of minutes ago, the ban
• 26:10
  Speaker 9: al was talking around bringing additional reimbursement in the door
• 26:13
  Speaker 9: and the steps that we've seen in the movement there
• 26:15
  Speaker 9: is really because of the pharmacist's advocacy efforts. So there's
• 26:19
  Speaker 9: a lot of work there to go. I'd see part
• 26:22
  Speaker 9: of our role Cardinal is to help provide tools to pharmacists.
• 26:26
  Speaker 9: The members of Congress and the state legislators really want
• 26:28
  Speaker 9: to hear from the pharmacist directly, so whether it's the
• 26:31
  Speaker 9: digest or talking points or creating opportunities, I think that's
• 26:35
  Speaker 9: a place where Cardinal can bring attention to what pharmacists
• 26:39
  Speaker 9: are experiencing and also really leveraging our access in order
• 26:43
  Speaker 9: to enable pharmacists advocacy going forward.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: How would you recommend and pen of pharmacists leverage these
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five NCPA digest numbers and all these little
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: intricacies that you're finding within those numbers for advocacy.
• 26:58
  Speaker 10: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 26:59
  Speaker 9: Policymakers, data and love facts, and so I think you
• 27:02
  Speaker 9: have an entire book here rate to help make the
• 27:04
  Speaker 9: case about the impact the pharmacists are having. It can
• 27:07
  Speaker 9: have around access to care, but also the threats that
• 27:11
  Speaker 9: pharmacists are feacing. And as you talked about a few
• 27:14
  Speaker 9: minutes ago, we are seeing changes there that policy makers
• 27:17
  Speaker 9: should be aware of, and I think it gives both
• 27:20
  Speaker 9: our real life evidence of why policy solutions are needed now,
• 27:24
  Speaker 9: but also we can't wait, and so I think seeing
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: the data that's in here, bringing that forward and then
• 27:30
  Speaker 9: partnering with the impact they're having in their community is
• 27:33
  Speaker 9: really compelling to legislators that have the ability to make
• 27:36
  Speaker 9: a difference there with policy solutions.
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: How big is economic impact make When you're talking to
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: a lawmaker about what economic impact a pharmacy can make,
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: both just for the healthcare landscape and just the continuum
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: of care.
• 27:51
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it's significant.
• 27:52
  Speaker 9: I think a pharmacist can talk about the role they
• 27:55
  Speaker 9: have in the community as a constituent for their member
• 27:59
  Speaker 9: of Congress or their state legislator, and what will happen
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: if they can't stay in business, where will those patients go?
• 28:05
  Speaker 10: What it means in terms of access to care.
• 28:09
  Speaker 9: I think that that is the way to connect the
• 28:11
  Speaker 9: dots and make it real. So clearly, members are very
• 28:14
  Speaker 9: interested in the overall economic health and viability of their communities.
• 28:18
  Speaker 9: But I think making it clear of what the role
• 28:20
  Speaker 9: of the pharmacist is and showing the data to back
• 28:23
  Speaker 9: it up, it's a really compelling argument.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: Michelle, you had you had mentioned earlier about I think
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: you said pharmacy deserts.
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: Do you think there's an opportunity for pharmacists to speak
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: to a lawmaker on how, you know, opening pharmacists and
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: how these pharmacies, these independent pharmacies within a given district
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: or a given era can help care within that given district.
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I would tell you.
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: There's even a map from USC and CPA Pharmacy Access
• 28:52
  Speaker 8: Initiative that shows where they're currently pharmacy deserts and where
• 28:56
  Speaker 8: patients have to travel to to get access.
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: I think this can be.
• 29:00
  Speaker 8: Matched up to congressional districts, something that can really be
• 29:04
  Speaker 8: impactful when speaking with representatives that serve that area. There's
• 29:09
  Speaker 8: also a report that shows the economic impact that independent
• 29:13
  Speaker 8: pharmacies have in terms of stimulating local economies and generating
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: tax revenue.
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: There's a lot that can be done in those areas
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: as well.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: Yes, all words, politicians love just going to say that.
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: Going back to Lisa and Doug, we understand that digest
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: has a variety of use cases for independent pharmacies, benchmarking performance,
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: identifying you services, and the report can also be used
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: as an advocacy tool. How does NCPA use the report
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: in this way?
• 29:45
  Speaker 7: Specifically, One of the other deliverables that we can produce,
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: because we have this data at our fingertips, is we
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: do it state by state, but a state economic impact
• 29:56
  Speaker 7: sheet that members can use. So I have the Louisiana
• 30:01
  Speaker 7: just because our annual convention is in New Orleans this year,
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: So I've pulled up Louisiana to look at There are
• 30:06
  Speaker 7: four hundred and forty six pharmacies and the independent pharmacies
• 30:10
  Speaker 7: in Louisiana, and that you know, based on the average
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: annual sales number that we have in the Digest, we
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: know that that extrapolates to about two point two billion
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: dollars of revenue just from independent pharmacies operating in that state.
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: You know that revenue employs people, it pays taxes, it
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: also supports the community. We also know from the Digest
• 30:33
  Speaker 7: that sixty one percent of our of our members of
• 30:37
  Speaker 7: independent pharmacies support at least five organizations in the community.
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: So organizations that are going to go without sponsorship for
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: their fundraiser if there's not an independent pharmacy there to
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: chip in a few bucks.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'd add so the state sheets that Lisa
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: just described are every for everyone that comes to our
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: ncpaid legislative fly in in the spring, we arm them
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: with those on one pagers so that when they go
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: to meet with their Member of Congress, they've got that
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: to present to that Member of Congress and say this
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: is the economic impact that independent.
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: Pharmacies are having.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: These quote unquote mom and pop pharmacies are having an
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: enormous financial impact. And because of the they're small businesses,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: they're returning those dollars into the community. They're not going,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: you know, off out of state. They're being returned in
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the community. As far as other use cases, you know,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: we put this information out there so it goes to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: the pharmacy schools. So I could not guarantee that every
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: pharmacy school uses the digest because we know a lot
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: of them, we need more of them to teach more
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: about independent pharmacy.
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: But when they do talk about independent.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Pharmacy, they use it there the Senate Help Committee, the
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: US Committee, the Help Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Pension Committee, they used it to they sign to digest
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: data and hearings related to PBMs, rural health care access,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: drug pricing reform, state legislatures, pharmacy boards CMS, rural health
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: advocacy groups.
• 32:13
  Speaker 6: I mean, there's lots and lots of.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Different places where the digest information is media, whether it
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: be trade media or more more mainstream media that will
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: they'll cite the digest as where they picked up their information.
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: So it gets used over and over and over.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Again, and it's really a key tool for benchmarking. I think,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: you know, you said legislators love data. Rebecca has said
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: they love data, and she's right.
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that point of reference.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: And the Digest provides it for again, just like the
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Senate Health Committee and House E and C Committee and
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: on and on and on.
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: Well good, yeah, going back to Rebecca and you, independent
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: pharmacies are asked all the time, I think annually to
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: participate in the NCPA Financial Benchmarking Survey. When it comes
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: to benchmarks, which helps inform the digest and give it
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: the content it needs. Why is there continued involvement important
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: and how does it influence your team's advocacy efforts beyond
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: the digest?
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: And I'll throw this to Rebecca.
• 33:17
  Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, it's a great tool for my team
• 33:20
  Speaker 9: as well. We're on Capitol Hill every day, we're out
• 33:23
  Speaker 9: in the state, and our desire is to reference the
• 33:27
  Speaker 9: really good material coming from our trade association partners and
• 33:30
  Speaker 9: help again to make the case as to why pharmacies
• 33:33
  Speaker 9: both need relief but also need to think about the
• 33:35
  Speaker 9: future of pharmacy care.
• 33:37
  Speaker 10: So we reference the digest.
• 33:38
  Speaker 9: My team is armed with it, and I think the
• 33:41
  Speaker 9: involvement of the side of independent pharmacies to tell their
• 33:45
  Speaker 9: stories and to participate in the process is critical. That's
• 33:48
  Speaker 9: why there's been so much progress and continue to partner
• 33:51
  Speaker 9: going forward.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Douc, what about you?
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: How important is for how important is for independent pharmacies
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: to participate in the benchmarking survey?
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: I mean it's you're going to guess my answer before
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: I say it, because it's super important really, but it
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: really is, because you know, all these things that we're
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: talking about, if we didn't have the data to be
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: able to report like the government committees that I just mentioned,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: the media committees that I just.
• 34:21
  Speaker 6: Mentioned, and the business uses.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Like how do you know if your average above average,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: below average? I mean it's it'd be kind of like
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: taking a trip without without a map, without Google Maps
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: or whatever map you're using. This gives you a map
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: to help you understand where you are and where you
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: want to go. So it's super important to participation, and
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: we know it's a commitment, like try to make it
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: as easy as possible, and Lisa's worked hard. We work
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: with the University of Mississippi. Ole miss is a you know,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: an excellent partner and has been for years. So the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: data goes to them, so it's not like, you know,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: staffers here at NCPA are looking at your data.
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: We're not.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I've never seen one survey and all the time I've
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: been here, it always goes to the university, so there's anonymity.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: But it's really important and we really appreciate all of
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the pharmacies that take It's not a ton of time,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: but it's a little bit of time to fill out
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the surveys and just encourage you know, folks, the surveys
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: are going to be coming out.
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: What next Spring, Lisa May June, ye.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: May June, and so just really thanks in advance for
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: people to fill those out and encourage everyone to fill
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: them out.
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's a no brainer.
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: You're giving your industry the AMMO needs to, you know,
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: take that to Capitol Hill and just give more, more
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: significant data, more solid data that you can give, and
• 35:50
  Speaker 4: the more the better.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: So I encourage everyone to fill.
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: Out those data sheets when you get them, when they
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: when they release. Michelle Rebecka, giving the findings presented in
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty five, how do you envision Cardinal Health will
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: continue supporting independent pharmacies across the country. Does did any
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: of the findings you saw maybe shift.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: It a little bit?
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Is it what you thought it would be, or were
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: there opportunities that arose in some of the findings you saw.
• 36:17
  Speaker 8: Yeah, I would say it to that where I expected
• 36:20
  Speaker 8: based on the feedback from my team and what we
• 36:22
  Speaker 8: hear from customers every day. But again I would also
• 36:25
  Speaker 8: just tell you that at Cardinal Health, we remain centered
• 36:27
  Speaker 8: on supporting the future of independent pharmacy, and we are
• 36:31
  Speaker 8: absolutely prioritizing and investing in consultative support and solutions to
• 36:36
  Speaker 8: help independent pharmacies identifying new opportunities and navigate the way forward.
• 36:42
  Speaker 8: So our team works directly with pharmacies in the field
• 36:45
  Speaker 8: to offer consultative support. We continue to provide multiple layers
• 36:50
  Speaker 8: of consultation on inventory management, reimbursement, reconciliation, and over the
• 36:56
  Speaker 8: counter services. This remains a top priority for US. Our
• 37:00
  Speaker 8: leader at PSAO offered by our Managed Care team then
• 37:04
  Speaker 8: rated the top PSAO for the year for consecutive years
• 37:09
  Speaker 8: in a row. We continue to explore new ways to
• 37:12
  Speaker 8: connect independent pharmacies to opportunities and really help them make
• 37:16
  Speaker 8: more informed decisions on what plans we'll offer the best
• 37:20
  Speaker 8: outcomes for their patients and for their business. I would
• 37:24
  Speaker 8: tell you we are absolutely committed to the long term
• 37:28
  Speaker 8: success of community pharmacy.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Rebecca.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: From an advocacy standpoint, where do you see yourselves going forward?
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Based on the findings for twenty twenty five, Yeah, I.
• 37:38
  Speaker 9: Think it reaffirmed we're focused on the right things. We're
• 37:41
  Speaker 9: so good providing tools to the pharmacists to advocate. We're
• 37:45
  Speaker 9: advocating ourselves for the future of pharmacy and increased reimbursement,
• 37:49
  Speaker 9: and we're going to continue to do that.
• 37:50
  Speaker 10: We just announced the One Voice initiative. We want to
• 37:53
  Speaker 10: make sure.
• 37:54
  Speaker 9: That the funding is getting direct to the Pharmacy Association
• 37:56
  Speaker 9: to provide those opportunities. We're going to keep barnering with
• 37:59
  Speaker 9: nc bringing attention to the story as a pharmacist, and
• 38:03
  Speaker 9: there has been a.
• 38:04
  Speaker 10: Lot of progress, but there's more work to go.
• 38:06
  Speaker 9: So I think it just we double down on our
• 38:08
  Speaker 9: support and continue to prioritize it going forward.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: Doug, I'm going to tee up the last question for
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: you to close it out here.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: Not too much pressure, don't worry body.
• 38:17
  Speaker 4: How can independent pharmacies access additional resources from NCPA to
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: inform their business strategies, the advocacy efforts or basically anything
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: that may be somebody found within the NCPA digests, how
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: can they utilize that make it actionable? And maybe this
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: is something that Lisa could chime in on too.
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah, great question.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, because at the proverbial end of the day,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: this information is nice and interesting, but it's got to
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: be used. And you know, Rebecca and Michelle just described
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: a number of ways it can be used and.
• 38:54
  Speaker 6: Some other ways.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: So you take this information, someone reads it and now
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: they want to take action on it, you know, from
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: a lobbying standpoint, advocacy standpoint, you know, applying.
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: Those data points.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: But other ways that people can take action on it
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: would be UH to learn more, to learn more about it.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: And so like the n c PA annual meeting, the
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: fly in Multiple Locations conference, Michelle mentioned RBC and n
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: c P a UH is UH does the education for RBC,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: So we're you know, honored to be able to do that.
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: But all of those things, it's.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Not that the digest is wrapped into every one of
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: those programs, but the digestics often comes up in those programs,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: so that's another way to extend it. There's we have
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: something called the Core Program c O r E and
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: that's really a leadership, marketing and business operations program to
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: help pharmacy owners because we you know, it's not an
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: old joke. It's or it is an old joke, it's
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: not really a joke. Pharmacists. We're not taught business operations
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: in far parancy school and that's more true today than ever.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: So when a P and L is put in front
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: of us, or a balance sheet, you know, we don't
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: always know how to manage that. And the Core Program,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: that's one of the things that it does, and I'd
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: also mentioned the webinar. We have periodic webinars, so for
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: we recently, in fact, last week, I just listened to it,
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: and again I thought, our team did a nice job
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: of the tax implications of the White House's big, beautiful bill.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: And so we had, you know, Ollie and Scottie sykes
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: On and our legislative team gave a brief overview, and
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: then the accountants went through the tax implications, which I
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: knew some of them, but I definitely.
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: Didn't know all of them. I think anyone listening to.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: That that webinar probably could save themselves ten thousand dollars
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: plus with something and that bill that's.
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: Going to impact them.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: So there's a number of different resources out there for
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: pharmacies to take the nucleus of the digest information and
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: to expand and expound upon it to help them help them,
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: you know, manage their business better and hopefully, you know,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: put more dollars in their pocket.
• 41:23
  Speaker 3: What about you, Lisa, any any insight you have to ad.
• 41:28
  Speaker 7: Listening to Doug, I'm just reminded that I have the
• 41:31
  Speaker 7: privilege of working for an organization where the CEO is
• 41:34
  Speaker 7: not out of touch, you know, what's going on has
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: listed like everything that I was like, oh, I could
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: mention that, I could mention that, and he got everything.
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: I think, just at the end of it.
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: NCPA is a membership organization, and like Michelle mentioned to
• 41:51
  Speaker 7: some the consultative service that you all offer, reach out
• 41:56
  Speaker 7: and ask if it's not something that's easy to find
• 42:00
  Speaker 7: on a website or in a portal, you know, staff,
• 42:04
  Speaker 7: we're here to make sure that independent pharmacies succeed, and
• 42:07
  Speaker 7: we want to make you we want to help you succeed.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jason, just to I mean, like Lisa said,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I couldn't say that better as far as that's what
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: that's the only reason we exist is to help independent
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: pharmacies and NCPA. I want to thank Cardinal for their
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: support of the Digest. You guys have been great partners
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: and supported it for over over a decade. I don't
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: I should know the exact number of years, but I
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: know it's been well over a decade that you guys
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: have been strong supporters of the Digest and you know,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: we you know, we couldn't do the document without your
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: your support, So we really appreciate that because it provides
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: a resource, you know. Yeah, it's a resource for NCPA,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: but really it's a resource for independent community pharmacies to
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: help them be more successful.
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: So thank you for that support.
• 42:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's one of my favorite reads each and
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: every year. I think the numbers in it are so
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: valuable to not only help in penpharmaist but just the
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: healthcare industry in general. I think there's a lot of
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: little things that everyone can learn. And Doug a quick reminder,
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: when does the NCPA Digest twenty twenty five, Actually.
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: When does it drop? When it's going to be able
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: to be shared out?
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, unveiling will be at the NCPA Annual meeting, which
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: is in mid October, Okay, for the eighteenth through the
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: twenty first in New Orleans. Okay, it's unveiling and.
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: Sunday the nineteenth when the trade show opens.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: And if you really want to know the exact date,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: you should ask Lisa Schwartz.
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: All right, well, Mark co I wanted to make sure
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: we threw that out there before before we forgot I
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: know we mentioned it earlier.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: Wanted to reiterate it.
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: And with all that said, I want to say thanks
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: to Michelle, Rebecca, Lisa and Doug for providing all their
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: expertise and insights to the findings in the twenty twenty
• 43:51
  Speaker 4: five n SPA digests soon to come.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: I hope all of you listening learned a.
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: Bit more about the digest sponsored by Cardinal Health and
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: how it truly provides a snapshot of independent pharmacy as
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: a whole and how you can use it to better
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: your business and your position as a true advocate for
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: all independent pharmacy businesses across the country. So thanks for
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: listening to today's episode of the Cardinal Health counter Talk podcast.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: As a reminder, if this is your first time listening,
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: make sure you subscribe and download the Cardinal Health counter
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: Talk podcast wherever you get your podcasts. See you on
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: the next episode, and to everyone out there listening, take
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: care