Welcome To The Renaissance
This past spring at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Annual Meeting, I spoke of a "health and wellness renaissance," with business innovations focusing on patients and consumers. This "rebirth" relates to a rising tide across the country — a revived commitment to maintaining healthy lifestyles and self-directed healthcare.
Retailers — especially those with pharmacies — and their business partners are bringing health and wellness innovation strategies into the entire store. These innovations include products that refresh the body, mind and soul; services that empower, improve and save lives; and leveraging the power of technology — all while remaining focused on customers and giving these customers choices.
Many retail companies already have launched, or are launching, store brand health and wellness product lines to provide additional choices to their customers. In doing so, these companies are showcasing value and reinforcing their brands as health and wellness providers to customers.
Collectively with national brands, store brands provide strength that enables both the national and store brands to thrive in a category. Both types of brands provide high-quality products that can create customer loyalty.
NACDS is proud of its diverse membership, comprising retailers, suppliers and manufacturers. Collectively, there is an opportunity for increased collaboration. For example, the annual NACDS Marketplace Conference brings together retail buyers and sellers in a setting that encourages them to meet one another and work together to bring new and innovative products to market. Through strategic meetings and programs, the conference provides retailers and suppliers with opportunities to do business that can lead to successful outcomes for consumers.
Similarly, national and store brand products can work in tandem to enhance an overall category. And in the case of helping patients stay healthy, a store brand product line that complements a national brand can further drive the success of the category and instill loyalty in customers.
Many times, customers also are patients. They can maximize their prescription regimen by taking advantage of products throughout the store that enhance their health and manage side effects, while also utilizing the pharmacy and its services. Pharmacies are the face of neighborhood healthcare. The skills and expertise of pharmacists put them in a unique position to counsel patients on how to take their medications properly, as well as how to select appropriate over-the-counter medicines.
NACDS members are committed to demonstrating to payors and patients the value of medication adherence — or taking medications in the right ways. Pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services can help patients understand why following their medication regimen can help them stay healthy and at the same time decrease healthcare costs.
The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) estimates that prescription non-adherence costs the country approximately $290 billion a year in related healthcare costs, which is about 13 percent of all healthcare expenditures. Health and wellness retail innovations can further complement efforts to achieve medication adherence and help patients maintain their health.
The renaissance of health and wellness innovation in the retail setting is an important opportunity for the industry at large. NACDS continues its commitment to making the benefits of medication adherence public and encourage opportunities for collaboration that benefit "whole patient"— throughout the store and including the pharmacy — with an eye toward improved health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.
Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, is president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), Alexandria, Va.
National and store brand products can work in tandem to enhance an overall category. And in the case of helping patients stay healthy, a store brand product line that complements a national brand can further drive the success of the category and instill loyalty in customers. customers.