APPROVAL GREETS NEW NACDS NET

JANICE ZOELLER

SAN FRANCISCO -- Many supermarket pharmacy directors meeting here for the 7th annual Food Marketing Institute Supermarket Pharmacy Conference said they expect they will join the new pharmacy provider network formed by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. NACDS has said that the Pharmacy Direct Network will operate independently with its own staff and board of directors. "I think it's going to be good for pharmacy. At least we'll have a voice in the process," said Cyrus Miller, director of pharmacy at Schwegmann Giant Super Markets, New Orleans. "It's long overdue. We've been paying to collect data [on third-party claims] and then paying to adjudicate claims."

"It's a good idea," said Allen Karpe, director of pharmacy and health and beauty care at Valu Food, Baltimore, who said he plans to join. "We've got to do something."

Robert Kabik, director of pharmacy operations at Giant Food, Landover, Md., a member company of NACDS, said the chain had not yet decided whether to join the network. However, he noted that a network formed by pharmacists has certain advantages. "They understand we have to make a living," he said.

Several pharmacy directors said that the network's association with NACDS brings a lot of clout to an area where pharmacists have felt increasingly powerless. "NACDS is an organization that has pharmacy's best interests in mind," said Dennis Beauchene, co-director of pharmacy at Shop 'n Save, Scarborough, Maine. "They have the knowhow, the money and the visibility" to make it work, he said.

A supermarket pharmacy director from a Western state said he was curious about what kinds of pharmacist services the network would market to third-party payers. "Pharmacy has a lot to offer," he said.

Dr. Edward F.X. Hughes, director of the Center for Health Services and Policy Research at Northwestern University, Chicago, mentioned the NACDS network as an example of the strategic alliances being formed in a presentation on the future of health care. Such a network, he said, could eventually track therapeutic outcomes."

Many supermarket pharmacy directors acknowledged that getting management support to join

PDN will not be an easy task. Several directors said they thought the charter membership fee of $300 per store was quite steep. "It's a lot to ask from a company," said one director.

There's also some reluctance to pay all that money to a company formed largely by the operators of chain drug stores. Several directors said their decision to join or not will depend on the network's staffing and selection of directors, and how much control NACDS will have.

There's also the question of what effect the formation of a new pharmacist network open to all community pharmacies will have on Super Net, the supermarket pharmacy network formed two years ago by supermarket operators that has recently stepped up its marketing efforts.

"The new network has a lot to offer," said Terry Cater, director of pharmacy at Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif. "Pharmacy is taking a proactive role in going after the true payers and purchasers of the pharmacy health benefit. We're looking at the cost to join vs. the potential for success in competing for managed care contracts. We want to find out more about it, such as who the officers are.

"We categorically support open networks," said Cater, a director of Super Net. "Pharmacy providers need to do everything they can to make sure they have the opportunity to fill prescriptions and participate in managed care networks."

Another founding director of Super Net said he didn't think the formation of another network would hurt Super Net.

"It's not a conflict," agreed Bob Mandernack, vice president of Prescription Claims Management, Westlake, Texas, which is marketing Super Net to plan sponsors. "At least pharmacy people are involved." Jerry Callahan, group manager for Rx at National Super Markets, Hazelwood, Mo., and president of Super Net, said there could be opportunities to work together.

"We've been supporters and members of Super Net and I'm glad to have it," said Bob Coopman, vice president of pharmacy at H-E-B Grocery Co., San Antonio. "We're also glad to see PDN."

"Super Net is a very viable organization for all of us," said Bob Storch, vice president of professional services at Dominick's Finer Foods, Northlake, Ill. He added: "The project with NACDS can help everybody. By pooling our companies together, we can save money."

One supermarket pharmacy director from an Eastern state characterized the decision as to whether to join PDN as "a no-brainer." The network being formed by NACDS is pharmacy's best hope for the future, he said. "Supermarket pharmacies can't afford not to join."