It`s Digest Time Again

Up front
It’s Digest Time Again
For 80 years, starting under
NARD and now with NCPA, our
members have received a valuable
annual overview of independent
community pharmacy operations,
including comprehensive review
of financial data. The key trends
and statistics come from fax
and electronic surveys filled out by hundreds of your
colleagues in pharmacies of all sizes in all areas of the
country. NCPA compiles and analyzes the confidential
information, and the results are double checked for
accuracy by the University of Mississippi.
The 2012 NCPA Digest is once again sponsored
by Cardinal Health. I can’t thank Cardinal enough for
its continuing generous support of this longtime and
useful resource for NCPA members and for all backing
and service Cardinal provides community pharmacy
throughout the year. Cardinal follows in a rich tradition
of partnership between pharmacy and industry begun in
1932 with the Lilly Digest and continued over the last two
decades variously by Searle, Pharmacia, and Pfizer.
Throughout the years, the Digest has remained a
reliable summary of selected financial and demographic
information that illustrates the value independent
community pharmacists provide to their patients by
maximizing medication effectiveness. It is still the most
comprehensive report on independent community
pharmacy available.
The first NCPA members to receive this year’s Digest
are those attending our annual convention this month in
San Diego. All members will receive a copy along with
their November issue of America’s Pharmacist. Detailed
financial information will be available for members only on
the NCPA website.
In today’s pharmacy environment, it is more important
than ever to take an in-depth look at your pharmacy’s
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america’s
Pharmacist | October 2012
financial picture against national pharmacy
averages to come up with a real-world
strategy for the future. The website will outline
an approach to assist you in successfully
integrating the key findings of the 2012 NCPA
Digest, sponsored by Cardinal Health, into an
action plan for your pharmacy.
The average independent filled about 63,000
prescriptions, 76 percent of them generics (a 4
percent increase), the Digest found. Total sales
were about $3.8 million per pharmacy. Medicaid
accounted for 17 percent of the average
independent’s prescriptions, Medicare Part D 32
percent, other third party insurance programs 37
percent, and cash paying patients 12 percent.
Independent pharmacists also continued to
offer a wide array of patient-centric services and
niche products to stay competitive:
• 74 percent provided medication therapy
management services.
• 66 percent compounded.
• 65 percent had durable medical
equipment sections.
• 50 percent had adherence programs.
Once again the Digest underscores that
independent community pharmacists continue
to provide quality patient care services, promote
the appropriate use of generics, and help
patients adhere to their medication regimens.
Best,
B. Douglas Hoey, Pharmacist, MBA
NCPA Chief Executive Officer
www.americaspharmacist.net