n for retailers, supermarket pharmacy executives need to tap multiple potential clients to make sure they get their share of this business, said Ken Dickson, director of managed care, Supervalu Pharmacies, Chanhassen, Minn., this month during the Supermarket Pharmacy Conference of the Food Marketing Institute, Washington. For example, in-house human resource departments can provide an entree to health insurance companies, as well as some leverage in dealing with them, he said. Also, business partners who supply products to sell in stores, but whose companies have mandatory mail-order prescription policies, should be approached, Dickson said. "That is absolutely the first place to start. They will work with you as allies to try to rectify that situation."
MIAMI - Automated workflow systems should be the next technology priority for supermarket pharmacies, said Christopher Thomsen, president of the ThomsenGroup, Kansas City, Mo., in a presentation here this month to the Supermarket Pharmacy Conference of the Food Marketing Institute, Washington. While such systems are not new, and large chains have adopted them, it's time for other retailers with pharmacies to put them in, he said. Such workflow systems are software-based and address how the pharmacy processes the prescription from beginning to end, Thomsen said. "Automated workflow is absolutely necessary because it standardizes the entire prescription-dispensing process. That increases efficiency and productivity, but at the end of the day, what it truly affects is dispensing accuracy and patient safety," he told SN after his presentation.