Onward and upward: more thoughts about NACDS Total Store Expo

Total Store Expo Quiz ResultsThe NACDS Total Store Expo last week in Boston was an outstanding event for people in the industry to get together, do business, share ideas, and learn a lot.  For those of us here at Rx EDGE, it also was a great platform to introduce our latest “Value of Pharmacy” insights.  We challenged our booth visitors (as well as other attendees throughout the show floor) to test their knowledge about the pharmacy channel by taking our in-person quiz.  It was a lot of fun for us to share some interesting facts with attendees who in some cases got downright competitive about it!

But aside from the fun, I think our intrepid quiz-takers really did learn a lot.  Most were quite surprised, for example, that 275 million Americans visit a pharmacy every week.  Many weren’t aware that fully two-thirds of pharmacists in the U.S. are trained to administer vaccines and that 85% of prescriptions are dispensed in brick-and-mortar retail pharmacies.   Taken together, all the facts we shared through the quiz add up to one key learning:  The pharmacy industry is building a tremendous amount of momentum to address people’s healthcare needs – today, tomorrow, and in the foreseeable future.

My colleagues and I also had the chance to attend the “Trends, Issues, and Outlook” presentation from IMS Health which gave us a good overview of the forces that are shaping the pharmaceutical and pharmacy market.  The IMS presentation is always insightful and this year provided some positive outlooks for our industry as we all continue to navigate the ever changing healthcare landscape.  One of the most important insights from IMS surrounded the integral role the pharmacy has in managing health decisions and helping avoid rising costs.  Pharmacies and their staff have unique knowledge and understanding of medicines, have direct contact with the patients and are linked to other stakeholders in the patients’ healthcare, which places the pharmacy at the center of patient journey. Another highlight of the Total Store Expo was keynote speaker Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve System.  Dr. Bernanke has a link to the pharmacy world that most people don’t know about – he is the son and grandson of pharmacistsDr. Bernanke’s comments about our economic future echoed those made by IMS and the prospect for brighter days ahead.

No “post-event fizzle” here!

Sometimes people leave a trade show or conference filled with excitement and the best intentions to start putting their new learnings into practice – only to see the post-event enthusiasm fizzle out when they get back to the office and the usual daily pressures.   But we plan to avoid that “post-event syndrome”!  As a result of the Total Store Expo, we are more energized than ever about the future of our industry.  Look for us to keep pushing forward with continued excellent results, ever-evolving industry insights, enhanced tools, and new products.