Anil Chauhan, owner of MX Pharmacy in Preston, explains how the Teva 360 Business Planning tool helped him meet the challenges of today's competitive pharmacy environment

Many contractors will sympathise with the challenges Anil Chauhan was facing six months ago. As the owner of MX Pharmacy in Preston, he was finding it difficult to keep tabs on all his sources of income – generics, brands and services.

Even more difficult was determining whether these generated enough revenue to justify the workload involved. When faced with this uncertainty, Anil stuck to the tried-and-tested strategy of getting as many prescriptions as possible through the door.

"There was a tendency to chase prescriptions, which takes up a lot of time and energy", he tells C+D.

At this point, Teva suggested its 360 Business Planning Tool may be able to help. Contractors can use the tool to gauge the net profit they have made from the different elements of their business by plugging in key figures such as prescription volume and service activity.

Anil admits he was sceptical at first. "Initially I thought it was a very simple programme and I thought it wasn't going to serve much of a purpose", he says. But when he discovered the more complex functions of the tool, he started to see how it could benefit his business.

For him, the most useful feature was being able to see how changing the focus of his business could affect his bottom line. You can alter the amount of prescriptions you expect to do in future, for example, and the tool will show you how this would impact on your profits.

"The staff are more engaged because we explained to them where the income was coming from. They find it more satisfying that it [the pharmacy] is more service-orientated, so the atmosphere is enjoyable and people are keen"

By playing with the numbers, Anil was surprised to find that chasing a high volume of prescriptions wasn't necessarily worth the income it generated. "There's still a mindset where you think you have to be chasing prescriptions and the margins on generics, but really it’s an exercise that takes up a lot of time,' he explains. "We really ought to concentrate on things that generate better margins."

Anil saw that services could offer a better return on his time, as well as a patient benefit. He explained his findings from the tool to the staff. Soon, he started offering new services and enrolled staff onto smoking cessation courses.

Anil saw the atmosphere of the pharmacy change as a result. "We have a much more motivated environment," he says. "The staff are more engaged because we explained to them where the income was coming from. They find it more satisfying that it [the pharmacy] is more service-orientated, so the atmosphere is enjoyable and people are keen."

Anil hopes this fresh enthusiasm will translate to higher profits. Although it is still too early to say for sure – it will take three to six months to feel the full financial impact of the changes – he says he is already "starting to see the fruits of the tool".

He now feels sure his business is going in the right direction, which is vital at a time when pharmacy funding is tight. "We're a 100-hour pharmacy so our costs are high and we need to see where our income is coming from and know what we're doing is going to make sense in six months' time", he says.

Anil's top uses for Teva's 360 Business Planning Tool

Gaining a full picture of the business

"The tool allows you to take snapshots of where you are. So if you put in your figures for six months, you can see what is happening over a period of time."

Receiving instant feedback

"When you put in your income and expenditure into the tool, it gives you instant feedback in terms of net profit – that's something I couldn't do myself."

Establishing a point of comparison

"The tool gives you the figures for a typical pharmacy so you can see how you compare."

Uncovering the most profitable revenue streams

"You are able to alter the parameters so you can see what would happen if you increase your prescription volume, for example, and what effect that would have on your profit. You quickly get an idea of your bottom line and that was particularly useful."

What is the Teva 360 Business Planning Tool?

The Teva 360 Business Planning tool is part of the Teva Pharmacy Support programme – a portfolio of services designed to support TevaOne scheme customers and Community Pharmacy. Teva UK Ltd is offering a 1-months free trial* of the 360 Business Planning tool (Terms and conditions apply). To sign up for this free trial...

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