Increase pharmacy revenue and help your patients prepare for flu season each year by improving your vaccination program. According to the CDC, the 2019-2020 flu season affected around 38 million people, causing over 400,000 hospitalizations, and proved unusually severe in young children and younger adults.
During a year when it’s doubly necessary for people to stay as healthy as possible, your pharmacy can step up to support patient care. Whether you’re just getting started or are looking to scale, here are some tips to help you generate more immunization revenue with a vaccination program.
Getting Started With Your Vaccination Program
If you don’t currently offer immunizations at your pharmacy, now is the time to do so, especially with flu season around the corner. Here’s how to get started.
Do your regulation research
While all 50 states permit pharmacies to provide immunizations, each state has its own laws and limitations. These could include the types of vaccines you can administer, the required age of the patient, and further authorization and reporting requirements.
Get trained and certified
Before you start administering vaccines, your staff will need to be certified by an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) course, usually available from:
- American Pharmacists Association
- Certificate Training Program Host Partners
- State Pharmacy Associations
- Local universities and Schools of Pharmacy
Your staff should also be certified in CPR/First Aid and basic life support (BLS) and take OSHA training for bloodborne pathogens.
Prep your pharmacy
Now that your staff is properly trained, you can start to think about:
- Ordering supplies: Start with a sample standing order to help keep you on track and make sure you have enough medical supplies on hand.
- Storage and handling: Ensure that each vaccine is stored safely at the correct temperature and labeled correctly.
- Establishing a workflow: Talk your staff through your offerings, determine who will be administering them, and have a screening and recording system set up with access to the correct paperwork.
Advertise your new service
Let current patients know that you’ll be offering this new service by posting on your social media accounts, and creating flyers to add to customers’ bags. Consider offering coupons for a discounted flu shot or other seasonal vaccine and make sure the announcement is front and center on indoor and outdoor signage.
Request a free demo to learn more about how the Digital Pharmacist product suite can help you promote your vaccination offerings.
How to Improve Immunization Revenue
Have a program already but aren’t seeing a return on investment? Here are a few ways to maximize pharmacy profits with your immunization offering.
Keep talking about it
Help keep your vaccination program top-of-mind with patients by:
- Adding vaccination service information to your pharmacy voicemail greeting
- Send immunization reminders by email or secure messaging at strategic times of the year, like before the summer holidays and early fall and spring for flu season
- Create a website banner or graphic so the new offering is one of the first things visitors and patients see
Educate patients
Keep patients informed about the need for vaccines with year-round, relevant health content that you post to social media and add to your email newsletters. Share resources about recommended vaccinations for children and those that are especially important to help adults stay healthy at work and home.
Identify eligible patients
Using a digital communication platform with clinical identification capabilities, you can target patients eligible for, or potentially in need of, specific vaccinations. For patients who have already opted for basic immunizations like the flu shot, start promoting the benefits of additional vaccinations for them and their families!
Add travel immunizations
While this may be less of an option at the moment, patients still need to be protected when they travel. The CDC offers a database of required vaccinations by country which you can use as a reference. Having travel vaccines available can also boost revenue by encouraging patients to come to your pharmacy for trip-specific medication or health screenings.
To learn more about how digital communication and engagement tools can help you promote your vaccination program, get in touch today.
