Tim Wentworth, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), is changing the way the retail pharmacy chain operates with the aim of becoming a more clinically oriented brand, even though it does not have a clinic. There is.
“We like where we are, but just being a place that can hire a lot of pharmacists is not going to get us to where we need to be. “It's about removing it from the table,” he told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.
The longtime healthcare executive has signaled a dramatic change in the way the company operates, with the aim of reducing vertical divisions within the business. Wentworth, former CEO of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits management company acquired by Cigna (CI) in 2018, previously announced 60 VillageMD closures. The on-site clinic and pharmacy are the result of a $5 billion partnership with Walgreens Co. in 2020 that preceded Wentworth's appointment last year, and similar to rival CVS' (CVS) Minute Clinic, the It was part of a broader strategy to focus on services.
The company said Thursday that its second-quarter sales were down nearly $6 billion from a year earlier due to clinics. Still, Walgreens managed to beat earnings estimates, reporting earnings of $1.20 per share compared to analysts' expectations of $0.82. The company's shares rose nearly 4% in Thursday trading.
Pharmacist's role
Wentworth said in a post-earnings conference that the UK's health agency, the National Health Service, recently announced that pharmacists can diagnose and prescribe medications for seven common health conditions, including shingles, urinary tract infections and sore throats. He mentioned that he had started allowing it. Boots' locations in the UK are part of this new program, giving Wentworth access to first-hand data on how Boots performs and how it can be replicated in the US.
“Given the influence of pharmacists, which has been clearly highlighted during the pandemic, we have a mission to earn pharmacists' status as health care providers,” Wentworth said on a U.S. conference call. “They will be able to receive compensation for providing carefully selected services to patients.” Labor force.
“They are highly trained clinical professionals whose scope of practice goes far beyond dispensing medicines,” he added.
The challenge facing Wentworth is how the company can achieve this goal amid a national pharmacist shortage and headwinds in the consumer sector.
Pharmacists in the United States are licensed by their states, but the degree of medical authority they have varies by state. Walgreens is currently lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would include language that would allow Medicare Part B reimbursement for pharmacists who provide tests and vaccines. A Walgreens spokesperson said after an interview Thursday.
Wentworth acknowledged that the company has faced the same problems as other pharmacies in recent years. That includes having to close more than 100 stores and pausing construction on smaller stores to better manage resources.
Wentworth says his focus since taking over has been to get back to basics. That means facing old problems, such as weak demand for in-store consumer goods as more customers turn to e-commerce and bulk buying due to inflationary pressures.
To that end, he recently announced internally that store managers would be incentivized to take more control of their stores and drive growth. Additionally, we are building a more community-based pharmacy environment, customizing stores based on location rather than the current big-box feel, and combining front retail and backend to “operate at the peak of clinical capability.” It is important to have a pharmacist who can Wentworth said how Walgreens can withstand the downward pressure it has faced in recent years.
“In doing so, we can build trust with patients while simultaneously growing the fundamental clinical aspects of our business,” he said.
Anjali Khemrani He is a senior healthcare reporter for Yahoo Finance, covering all areas of pharmaceuticals, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and healthcare policy and politics.Follow Anjali on all social media platforms @AjKhem.
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