As an independent pharmacy owner, you’ve had to navigate many pandemic-driven changes over last few years. As if that wasn’t enough, now, you’re faced a whole new challenge – inflation. Ongoing supply chain issues have caused product demand and costs to rise significantly. In fact, the all-items index rose 7%, which is the highest 12-month increase in the last 40 years.
While inflation is inevitable, it’s important you understand the impact it has on your pharmacy – and what you can do about it. Now, many of your pharmacy’s supplies and services are more expensive. This means it costs more for you operate your pharmacy today than it did before. To ensure your pharmacy remains profitable, you will need to have a plan to minimize the effects of inflation.
Here are 5 ways to navigate inflation for your pharmacy:
1. Planning ahead.
Many computers, printer, scanners, and other essential pharmacy hardware are backordered several months, and in some cases, indefinitely. If you know you will need to replace or add hardware soon, we strongly encourage you to begin the process as soon as possible to avoid operational disruptions.
2. Monitoring your profit margins.
Inflation can quickly chip away at your profit margins. That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on your pharmacy’s sales, margins, and operational expenses. To make accessing this information easy, we have a “Scheduled Reports” function in our Standard and Premium tiers. It allows you to select the reports you want to receive and their frequency. Then, it generates the reports automatically and delivers them right to your inbox.
3. Raising your own prices.
To offset rising operational costs, you may need to increase your own prices. Before doing this, it’s important to do some research first. Avoid making dramatic, across-the-board price increases. Instead, be strategic and gradual, starting with the areas customers are less likely to notice.
4. Finding ways to save money.
Another way you can ensure your pharmacy remains profitable is to identify ways to reduce your expenses. You can begin by looking for ways to reduce your inventory or renegotiating your vendor contracts
If you own multiple pharmacy locations, you can save time and money using Central Verification. It allows you to access all your store’s verification queues under a single account through an online portal.
5. Automating your workflow as much as possible.
While investing in new software/technology may seem counterintuitive to reducing expenses, automating manual processes increases your productivity. There are many aspects of your pharmacy’s daily workflow that can be automated, from your claim submissions and prescription verification processes to your communications with patients.
You may not be able to stop inflation, but you can minimize its impact on your pharmacy. By keeping tabs on your operational costs and profit margins, as well as identifying ways to automate your workflows, you’ll be able to successfully navigate inflation-related challenges at your pharmacy.
To learn more about how BestRx can help you become more efficient, request a free demo.
