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A Special Report:
Find Out What Pharmacists And Customers Are Telling You.

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Regardless of ethnicity, age or any other factor, don’t keep them guessing.

“One of the most important things that we do is tell the customer how long it is going to be and try to keep them updated. They just want some communication. If you say it’s going to take 10 minutes and it ends up being, like, 30 minutes because you hit some snag with their insurance, tell them you are going to need that extra 15 minutes. Most of my patients seem to appreciate that.”

Certainly, one of the most critical measures of pharmacy customer satisfaction stems from the pharmacy’s ability to fill prescriptions on time. Overall, 46 percent of pharmacy customers were highly satisfied with their pharmacy’s on-time performance, according to the 2006 Pharmacy Satisfaction Digest.

However, this number varies from channel to channel, with independent pharmacy customers seemingly the most satisfied (63 percent) and mail order customers the most dissatisfied (39 percent). Also, supermarket customers are more likely to be highly satisfied with their pharmacy’s on-time performance (49 percent) compared with traditional chain drug store customers (43 percent)—a strong indication that at least a certain amount of customer satisfaction is based upon perception. For example, with the full food store to shop, a 15-minute or 30-minute wait for a prescription may not seem quite as pronounced in the supermarket as it might in the drug store.

Several pharmacists agreed that patient satisfaction with a pharmacy’s on-time performance had more to do with the customer’s perception of what “on time” means, versus actually
filling a prescription within some preconceived span of time. It can be as subtle as the difference between “ready when expected” and “ready when promised,” but given the many complications facing the average pharmacy staff in terms of filling the average script—from insurance snafus to long phone waits for physicians, prior authorizations, etc.—it can be an important distinction when it comes to the customer’s perception of what “on time” really means. More often than not, all that separates the customer’s perception from reality is a little bit of information.

“I tell my customers whenever my tech is making a call for them,” one pharmacist explained. “I’ll say ‘Trish just spent 20 minutes on the phone with your insurance company, but she has it all straightened out now and it will be just a little bit longer.’”

Everyone understands the hassle of dealing with insurance companies, so this perception that the pharmacy staff is doing all they can to help iron out insurance problems goes a long way in contributing to overall patient satisfaction, ranking “very important” among 58 percent of customers and “important” among another 31 percent.

“What really works in my store is to just ask them when they want to pick up their prescription,” offered another pharmacist on the panel. “Even though they may only have one script to fill, they might not mind coming back later or even tomorrow or the next day. Why do we assume they want to wait around at all?”

Of course, communication only works if you are speaking the customer’s language—literally. Some chains have made it a priority to hire bilingual pharmacy staff—usually technicians, but pharmacists, too, where they are available—in Spanish-speaking communities. Roughly 1 in 5 Walgreens stores has a bilingual pharmacist, and the chain also has a special in-store translation service for pharmacy customers that communicates in 14 different languages. It prints prescription labels in 14 languages, as well.