PHARMACY CASE STUDY

Profit Generating Across the Board

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Whiting Pharmacy

Multiply PDS Investment, Making Life Easier, Business More Valuable

Location: New Jersey
Years in business: 5

1

Years with PDS

PDS Training
Attended

Advanced Leadership

PDS Strategies Implemented

Marketing
Diversification
DIR Fee Mitigation

“PDS will help you tackle your day-to-day operational problems, in terms of therapeutic optimization and teaching you where drugs are most profitable. They’ll also help you build a team culture and team spirit. You start to look at your business differently, and you’ll be able to free up more of your time.”

Nirmit Patel
Owner

A shift in Mindset
Nirmit Patel, Owner of Whiting Pharmacy, details his first three years in business as just a pharmacist who opened a pharmacy. With the help of PDS, Nirmit describes his next two years as “a business owner who just happens to be a pharmacist.” Joining PDS completely shifted Nirmit’s mindset. He’s now focused on growth and making his business as profitable as possible. Many business owners, albeit, have a right to complain, yet within the PDS network, problems are turning into solutions.
Growing with CBD
After attending the 2019 PDS Super-Conference, Nirmit was ready to sell CBD to his patients. He saw this as an opportunity to present a healthy alternative and grow his sales. “We picked up so many different ideas from direct marketing to having bag stuffers and doing seminars around the town. We just had to communicate with the individual patients. If someone came in with aches and inflammation, instead of giving them Tylenol or Advil, we started talking about CBD.”

Nirmit had his employees go through training to make sure they were educated and well-versed on such a popular product. He wanted to make sure they were aware of different dosing and methods of taking the product. It paid off, as the pharmacy went from non-existent sales to averaging $12,000 – $15,000.
Mitigating DIR Fees
Ninety-nine percent of Whiting’s clientele is Medicare Part D. He was filling more prescriptions than ever, which meant more revenue, but he also needed to make sure he kept his DIR fees as low as possible.

Since it’s impossible to eliminate them, owner, Nirmit, was laser-focused on making sure he kept as much of his hard-earned dollars as possible.

“We just needed to understand it all. Some PBMs are a flat DIR fee, and some are GER or BER. For us, the most important thing was understanding that, and then
making sure that our team, from technician to cashier to the delivery driver, are aware and understand what the DIR fees are and the importance of keeping them under
control.”

Nirmit’s pharmacy is an Amplicare and FDS customer. They use these platforms to keep their scores within the top five percent. “That’s another thing we are very, very proud of. We’re keeping our scores very high and keeping the DIR fees at the lowest we possibly could,” says Nirmit.

“You can still have positive growth in your business. It really comes down to what you’re willing to do and if you’re willing to learn new tricks. Pharmacy is still a very great business to be in. It’s still a very profitable business as long as you’re willing to make changes.”

“CBD was huge for us. We went from almost nonexistent sales to now we’re averaging about $12,000 to $15,000 in CBD sales. It was a huge jump for us, going from zero to that number.”