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Patient Education now Available at Point of Purchase

Posted January 25 by Thomas Fowlkes in Business of Business, Media, Public Relations

According to FastCompany.com, Walgreen's will soon launch an educational self-care program for consumers with chronic conditions. Beginning with a focus on Type 2 diabetes, the drug chain will offer specialized health coaching from pharmacists or "Take Care Clinic" nurses in conjunction with patients' primary care providers.

MDi consulted with Dr. Barney B. Beaver, D.O., about this example—and trend—of extending health care into the retail environment. From a healthcare delivery standpoint, Dr. Beaver says this is a win-win. "I do not think there will be any push back from physicians on this issue as they cannot recruit any additional help given the extremely poor reimbursement they receive for such a time intensive disease management need," said Dr. Beaver. "The growth of diabetes has already exceeded the ability of current primary care physicians to care for them all. The education alone is a daunting task that could consume entire practices and their physician extenders."

Walgreen's bedside manner isn't, of course, just an altruistic outreach, but a prime example of turning a need into a communication opportunity and, finally, into a means for getting more loyalty and spend per customer per visit. The company has always been about profit per customer visit—it's actually their defining strategy for success. Jim Collins mentions Walgreens' knack for profit per customer at length in his case study featured in Good to Great. And in the words of Cork Walgreen, "Look, it just wasn't that complicated! Be the best, most convenient drugstores, with high profit per customer visit."

The lesson from Mr. Walgreen to the rest of us? Relevance and authenticity are key now more than ever. Maybe those nurses will soon offer marketing clinics.