Pharmacy Forum: The NACDS Survey Says…

The public strongly supports in-store accessibility of pharmacy, health and wellness solutions. Opinion research conducted by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) supports the notion that consumers appreciate the stores—grocery, traditional drug and mass—that can help them meet their health and wellness needs. For the past four years, NACDS has commissioned a survey of likely voters who are engaged and aware when it comes to current events. The goal is to replicate the thinking of government and opinion leaders, in a way that guides NACDS’ advocacy for a pro-pharmacy and pro-patient agenda. Public Opinion Strategies conducts this national “opinion elite” survey on behalf of NACDS, and the most recent survey was conducted in July 2015. In addition to helping with government advocacy, the research also can be helpful in describing the increasingly powerful synergies among pharmacies and other services and products related to in-store healthcare delivery, health and wellness. The survey results are consistent with the findings of other surveys—like Gallup’s annual Honesty and Integrity Survey. In the most recent running of that survey in 2014, pharmacists maintained their second-place ranking among diverse professions, not limited to healthcare. In fact, pharmacists have been in the top three for the past 12 years. The NACDS survey takes it to the next level, asking questions about the types of services that respondents have used in a pharmacy in the past 12 months, and their openness to allowing pharmacists to provide new services. In a powerful statement about the pharmacist’s role within the store, nearly five in 10 respondents had spoken to a pharmacist about an over-the-counter medication question, and three in 10 had spoken to a pharmacist about a personal health question. The 2015 survey also shows positive movement in key areas when compared with the results of prior years’ surveys. Based on respondents’ reported use of various pharmacy services—including vaccinations, checking blood pressure, various out-patient tests and more—the percentage of respondents who classify as “new service users” has gone up from 39 percent in 2014 to 46 percent in 2015. In addition, there has been an increase in support for allowing pharmacies to offer a diverse collection of services such as those listed above. When asked about a specific array of services, 71 percent of respondents in 2015 indicated support for pharmacists being able to provide them, compared with 63 percent in 2014. This is consistent with a finding of the research that has been consistently clear since we began the survey in 2012: The more pharmacy services respondents use, the more willing they are to allow pharmacies to offer these newer services. Put simply, the more people know about—and have experience with—pharmacy services, the more they like them. We also tested perceptions through the lens of some of NACDS’ public policy positions; for example, legislation that would designate pharmacists as healthcare providers in Medicare, such that pharmacists can administer state-approved services to medically underserved Medicare beneficiaries. The support for the bill in the NACDS survey is overwhelming—82 percent favor it, on a very nonpartisan basis. It has been fascinating to see the evolution in recent years in the way that diverse retailers are seeking to meet consumers’ pharmacy, health and wellness needs in different ways. At the NACDS Total Store Expo that was held in Denver in August, I heard a lot of attendees talking about the ways their companies and business partners are working together to maximize this holistic approach. As this focus heightens, and as new ideas are born, we can expect that the positive reactions from consumers will encourage continued progress in all aspects of health and wellness. It seems a given that the numbers in surveys like this one by NACDS will continue to move favorably, driven by the consumer-focused work of this amazing highly innovative industry. Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, is president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. He can be reached at [email protected].