Buying cooperative shares study results demonstrating financial gains generated by robust pharmacy business intelligence tool 

 RxCOMPASS reports generated gains of more than 1,800 prescription refills and net revenues of $171,000 at six American Pharmacies (APRx) member pharmacies over a 33-week period, while five other APRx pharmacies realized significant gains in refills and increased revenues by $108,000 in just 16 weeks. Those were the findings of two studies on the efficacy of the business intelligence reporting tool powered by myDataMart from FDS, Inc. that were released by the member-owned buying cooperative at its annual shareholder meeting, which took place in June in San Antonio, Texas.

"The daily and weekly performance reports generated by RxCOMPASS drive value by identifying key operational opportunities like gross profits, prescription revenues and missed refills," said John Cooper, Vice President, Sourcing & Consulting Services, APRx. "In particular, the Refill-on-Time report that is pushed daily to subscribing pharmacies has proven highly effective at increasing refill volume and improving timeliness."

American Pharmacies was established in 2002 to protect the interests of independent community pharmacies and increase members' profitability. In keeping with that commitment, APRx partnered with FDS to provide its member pharmacies with a comprehensive business intelligence tool that provides a deeper look into their pharmacy operations. Powered by FDS's myDataMart, RxCOMPASS identifies key dispensing and operational trends and income-driving clinical opportunities by analyzing dispensing data through the pharmacy management system.

"RxCOMPASS, powered by myDataMart, offers APRx member pharmacies a robust array of dashboards and graphical reports to help them manage patient adherence, Star performance measures, new and lost patients, dispensing analysis and more," said Rich Bukovinsky, Executive Vice President of Business Development for FDS, Inc. "It is compatible with most pharmacy systems and supports population health management efforts, such as vaccination tracking, to ensure pharmacies can leverage every opportunity to improve patient outcomes, strengthen the pharmacy-patient relationship and maximize revenues."

Throughout the 2017 shareholder meeting, one major area of focus was the Refill-on-Time report, which tracks the timeliness of refill activity and allows pharmacies to prioritize patient outreach based on multiple factors, including patients with the largest gap in therapies and the highest gross margin. From within the report, pharmacists can link to a list of patients who did not refill scheduled prescriptions during the previous week.

"Reaching out to just a few of these patients can produce real results that pharmacies can then build upon," said Laird Leavoy, Senior Vice President of Sales & Operations, APRx. "The Refills-on-Time report not only helps improve maintenance medication refills, but has proven to help our stores improve Star ratings through identification, prioritization, and determination of optimal candidates for Med Sync or Auto-Refill."

He points to the results of a 16-week study of five participating APRx pharmacies, which revealed that RxCOMPASS reporting generated benefits including:

• Gains of 2 fills per patient
• Increased revenue-per-script of more than $108 and overall revenues of more than $108,000
• Increased profit-per-patient of more than $29 and overall profit of more than $14,000

Member pharmacies were equally enthusiastic about the benefits of RxCOMPASS. These include Benjamin McNabb, Pharmacist/Owner, Love Oak Pharmacy in Eastland, Texas, who says that the calls made to patients on the Refill-on-Time report out-perform the pharmacy's automated reminder messaging.

"We track the actual prescription numbers, so we can cost-justify the five hours a week spent on the calls," said McNabb. "You want to prioritize calls based on the best patient opportunities. It's also an ideal time to remind patients of other services like Med Sync and immunizations. You can do some meaningful outreach."

Other member pharmacies point to the Daily Performance Report as a key benefit of RxCOMPASS. A snapshot of the pharmacy's previous-day performance, the report summarizes prescription revenues, gross profit, opportunities/low hanging fruit, prescriptions sold at a loss, and claims paid at Usual & Customary (U&C) prices compared to FDS's calculated U&C. A monthly report displays missing and new patients and the pharmacy's Star Ratings Compliance Scorecard for each claim adjudication plan.

"One of my most compliant stores was losing money, so I looked at the performance report and discovered they were using a size on a generic that was not covered. It just took one phone call to say 'hey, use a different size,' and they suddenly became profitable," said Alton Kanak, RPh, Vice-Chair of the APRx Board of Directors and Owner of five APRx pharmacies in Texas.

Adds Vance Oglesbee, RPh, APRx Board Member and Owner of Hometown Pharmacy in Fairfield, Texas, "I'm amazed at how much extra money we've made just by reviewing the things we do every day to check for inaccuracies. I'm quickly becoming a believer."

About FDS, Inc.
Fort Worth-based FDS is a pharmacy-centric healthcare technology company dedicated to helping its customers succeed in today's complex and multi-faceted healthcare ecosystem by leveraging the power of data and developing solutions that change the way healthcare is delivered, today and tomorrow. Its industry knowledge, technical expertise, and scalable, cloud-based platforms are utilized by thousands of customers to solve the many challenges pharmacies face each day, while its tools help improve profitability, streamline pharmacy workflow, and enhance clinical care and operational effectiveness. FDS solutions include automated medication synchronization services; business intelligence analytics and reporting; Star Ratings and Population Health Management; DME claims billing; third party reconciliation services and patient communication portals. For additional information or request a demonstration, please visit our website at: www.fdsrx.com or call us at (877) 602-4179.

About American Pharmacies
Based in Corpus Christi, Texas, American Pharmacies is a multi-state, member-owned buying cooperative for independent pharmacies. Founded in 2002, APRx is a leading political and legal advocate for members in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma. For more information, please visit www.aprx.org.