Independent Pharmacies
March 1, 2021 at 9:27 p.m.
By -
Where have all the Independent Pharmacies gone?
It’s amazing how retirement allows you time to reflect on the changes that took place during your career. When your working each day, there are always “urgent issues” that keep your attention. Reflecting on the big changes that are going on behind the scenes was not on my radar.
My wife and I owned independent pharmacies in this area for 35 years. Owning and operating Pill Box Pharmacies was for me a dream come true.
When Sherry and I graduated from Butler in 1974, one of the “new approaches” to practicing pharmacy was to talk to patients about their prescriptions. Having my own pharmacy allowed us to actually put this idea into practice. Giving time to our patients was the foundation we built into our “business model” and it was effective. Pill Box was not alone; taking time with patients was often the defining difference between having your prescription filled in an independent pharmacy versus one of the chain pharmacies. The time being devoted to patients depended on the owner’s willingness to cover the cost. Independents were in a better position to offer this service than the chains.
All this began to unravel around 2006, when Medicare Part D programs began. Ironically, at the time I personally promoted this program. Naively, I assumed that the fees paid by the Medicare Part D plans would be sufficient to allow pharmacists to continue spending time with patients. It gradually became obvious, after a few years, that I valued spending time with patients much more than the insurance companies did. To add to the difficulties for independents, the Medicare Part D plans began programs of “preferred pharmacies.” At the beginning of each year, many of my long-term customers would bring me letters from their prescription plans asking them to change pharmacies. My mom was asked to change her Rx’s to a mail-order pharmacy!
In reflection from the “vantage point of retirement,” many positives happened during my career in community pharmacy. Pharmacists are now able to administer vaccines. I am thrilled that Sherry and I are able to participate along with the other pharmacists at Pill Box in administering COVID-19 vaccines. However, the heart-breaking part is that the insurance “payer” of prescription services did not value the patient pharmacist interaction.
When Sherry and I opened Pill Box Pharmacy in Warsaw in 1987, we joined four other independent pharmacies already in operation. Sadly, today, Pill Box is the only one remaining. The pharmacist’s role is still the same, providing patients with their medications. But our idea from 1974 is still holds true, which included with those medications; patients still care about information, not in a computer printout, but words and care that come directly from the pharmacist. As all our independent pharmacies disappear from the landscape, this valuable service is harder to find.
Bill Winn, RPh
Winona Lake, via email
Where have all the Independent Pharmacies gone?
It’s amazing how retirement allows you time to reflect on the changes that took place during your career. When your working each day, there are always “urgent issues” that keep your attention. Reflecting on the big changes that are going on behind the scenes was not on my radar.
My wife and I owned independent pharmacies in this area for 35 years. Owning and operating Pill Box Pharmacies was for me a dream come true.
When Sherry and I graduated from Butler in 1974, one of the “new approaches” to practicing pharmacy was to talk to patients about their prescriptions. Having my own pharmacy allowed us to actually put this idea into practice. Giving time to our patients was the foundation we built into our “business model” and it was effective. Pill Box was not alone; taking time with patients was often the defining difference between having your prescription filled in an independent pharmacy versus one of the chain pharmacies. The time being devoted to patients depended on the owner’s willingness to cover the cost. Independents were in a better position to offer this service than the chains.
All this began to unravel around 2006, when Medicare Part D programs began. Ironically, at the time I personally promoted this program. Naively, I assumed that the fees paid by the Medicare Part D plans would be sufficient to allow pharmacists to continue spending time with patients. It gradually became obvious, after a few years, that I valued spending time with patients much more than the insurance companies did. To add to the difficulties for independents, the Medicare Part D plans began programs of “preferred pharmacies.” At the beginning of each year, many of my long-term customers would bring me letters from their prescription plans asking them to change pharmacies. My mom was asked to change her Rx’s to a mail-order pharmacy!
In reflection from the “vantage point of retirement,” many positives happened during my career in community pharmacy. Pharmacists are now able to administer vaccines. I am thrilled that Sherry and I are able to participate along with the other pharmacists at Pill Box in administering COVID-19 vaccines. However, the heart-breaking part is that the insurance “payer” of prescription services did not value the patient pharmacist interaction.
When Sherry and I opened Pill Box Pharmacy in Warsaw in 1987, we joined four other independent pharmacies already in operation. Sadly, today, Pill Box is the only one remaining. The pharmacist’s role is still the same, providing patients with their medications. But our idea from 1974 is still holds true, which included with those medications; patients still care about information, not in a computer printout, but words and care that come directly from the pharmacist. As all our independent pharmacies disappear from the landscape, this valuable service is harder to find.
Bill Winn, RPh
Winona Lake, via email
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