Walgreens Pharmacy Review - The Pros and Cons

Introduction 

The Walgreen Company simply known as Walgreens is a company in America that records the largest chain of pharmaceuticals in the United States after the CVS Health. Walgreens pharmacy specializes in the filling of prescriptions, products of health and wellness altogether with information pertaining to health and photo services. The store is recorded to have operated 8,175 stores in all 50 states, the Columbia district, Puerto Rico and U.S Virgin Islands as of August 31 st of the year 2016. Walgreen has its headquarters in the suburb of Chicago Deerfield, Illinois. The following paper reviews the Walgreens Pharmacy by looking at all of its operations. 

History/Demographics of Walgreen Pharmacy 

Walgreens Pharmacy began in the year 1901 as a drug store on the Bowen Ave corner and Cottage Grove in the city of Chicago owned by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. that was a native of Galesburg. The pharmacy had grown to four stores by the year 1913 on the south side of Chicago and went forth to open a fifth store and four more in the year 1915 and 1916 respectively (Rahn, 2010). The pharmacy had 20 stores in its chain by the year 1919 (Rahn, 2010). The 1920s proved successful time for the Walgreens pharmacy because of the alcohol prohibition because it had and sold prescription whiskey despite alcohol being illegal. The pharmacy introduced the malted milkshake in the year 1922 that led to the establishing of the manufacturing plants of ice cream. It began opening stores the following year in places farther from areas of residence and had 44 stores in the mid-1920s bringing in annual sales of $1,200,000 (Rahn, 2010). Walgreens expanded significantly into Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. 

Walgreens pharmacy had 397 stores with $4,000,000 as annual sales by the year 1930. The expansion was by a part attributed to the sale of alcohol and more so whiskey that the pharmacy usually stocked under the counter. Hardly was the company affected by the crash in the market observed in the month of October in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Walgreens was operating in 30 states owning more than 601 stores in the year 1934 (Gosman, 2013). Charles R. Walgreen, son to Charles Walgreen, Sr., took over the chain after the death of his father and led the store chain until his retirement. 

Charles R. Walgreen had a good run in his tenure but never did he make serious expansions as the ones witnessed in the early times of the century. After the retirement of Charles R. Walgreen, his son, Charles “Cork” R. Walgreen the third took over in the early years of the 1950s and made the store modern by making the switch to barcode scanning (Rahn, 2010). The family of Walgreen was not involved in the senior management of the pharmacy for a short period following the retirement of Walgreen III. Walgreen pharmacy acquired the MediMart chain from the Stop & Shop in the year 1986 (Rahn, 2010). Kevin P. Walgreen was made the vice president in the year 1995 and further to the Senior Vice-President in charge of store operations in the year 2006. 

David was a pharmacist and accountant holding degrees from the University of Arizona (Richardson, 2015). It did not take too long before David quit his role as CEO in an unexpected turn of events and saw McNally Alan replace him with Gregory Wasson taking the position permanently in 2009. 

Health Services Offered 

Live Doctor Consultation 

Walgreen Pharmacy offers the live doctor consultation that takes place virtually with the MDLIVE. The Virtual Doctor with the MDLIVE offers one the chance to have real live consultations with physicians certified by the U.S board as one sits in the comfort of their homes (Walgreens, 2018). Virtual doctors are able to consult and treat common diseases such as sinus and infections of the ear, as well as sore throats and skin problems. The doctors can even proceed to write prescriptions when there is need. 

House Call with a Pager 

Other service that the Pharmacy provides has proved to be very effective is the house call with a pager. However, the service is only limited to consumers or patients in the city of New York or San Francisco (Walgreens, 2018). The pager sends a nurse or doctor to one’s home, office or hotel room in a span of 2 hours after contacting them and is a service that is available every day from 8 AM to 10 PM. 

The doctors as earlier mentioned are certified by the US board and can handle the most urgent and demanding needs of care and treat common conditions or illnesses rather as well as write down prescriptions when the need arises (Golicic et al., 2010). Indeed, the house pagers are effective but they prove problematic to persons that are in urgent need of medical attention. As such, the method cannot be useful in situations of emergencies because it takes two hours for a doctor to get to the patient. 

Vaccines 

Walgreen Pharmacy provides vaccines for chickenpox series, influenza, Hepatitis A and B series and the Human Papillomavirus series (HPV). Other illnesses that the pharmacy offers vaccines for include Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR), Meningitis Meningococcal, Meningitis B series, Pneumonia, Shingles and Tetanus as well as Diphtheria (Goad et al., 2013). 

Visits of Physicals and Wellness 

Physicals do not have insurance cover although exceptions such as age restrictions may apply. The pharmacy has a hotline for patients to call and make appointments and schedule for these meet ups with relevant persons that will guide them through with the process of physical. Patients that need additional forms completed are charged $15 and so do the patients that need their physicals completed for more than a single program although they will have to pay an additional $15 for each program (Murphy et al., 2012). Consultations on quitting smoking are usually not covered by insurance and as such the prices depend on the length of the visit. The Walgreen pharmacy does well to offer these services at rates that are substantially lower than the ones other pharmaceuticals charge. 

Health Screenings and Testing 

Walgreen does well to offer health screening services and testing. The primary screening services include blood pressure and counseling, screening of cholesterol and counseling, screening of diabetes and health screening that relates to the assessment of health risks. It further provides testing of HIV, counseling and prevention tips on the same (Weidle, 2014). Tuberculosis is also tested by the pharmacy and does well to ensure that the clients undergo serious counseling to ensure they become aware of the means of protecting and keeping themselves safe and out of harm’s way by avoiding to contract such communicable diseases. 

Use of Technology 

Walgreen employs technology to transform the experience of the customer by creating digital experiences all across channels and not just in the store thus allowing the customers to make better decisions, save on money and have a generally better experience. Walgreen has various interactions with the diverse pool of clients with whom it may interact in the store, from the comfort of their homes, via the phone or the computer (Richardson, 2015). Walgreen does well to acknowledge that just like a company that is focused on the customer, it needs to deliver the best experience across numerous channels. Therefore, it strives to create the same experience regardless of the channel the client uses. 

The technology in the company began with the introduction of barcode readers when Charles took over as CEO. Today, Walgreen Pharmacy continues to create killer experiences that do well to resonate with the clientele and more so the customers that are more likely to make use of the technology. One key example is the Refill by Scan. The app gives the customer the chance of refilling a prescription by use of a camera on their smartphones in a span of just 17 seconds (Krebs, 2015). It is a fast and convenient not forgetting easy, way of refilling one’s prescription. Yes, the above can be deemed a leading-edge technology but it can be best compared to the ability of one to make a deposit at any given bank by taking a picture of the check and employing the app of the bank to make the deposit (Krebs et al., 2015). Walgreen understands all too well that it needs to keep improving on innovation because its competitors have the same kind of technology or at least are developing their kind. 

Walgreen started expressing a move towards innovative and technological advancement in the late 1991 when it made improvements in the capabilities of its inventory management when it rolled out the point-of-scale scanning equipment in its chain. The move was followed by the completion of a chain-wide in the year 1994 of the Strategic Inventory Management System (SIMS) that did well to unite all the elements of the purchasing distribution cycle of sales (Aungst, 2014). Walgreen rolled out a second-generation of the Intercom plus System by the 1997 that performed more than 200 functions and one that enabled the customers to order refills of prescription by using the push-button phone. The system proceeded to cut in half the all-time customers that were forced to wait for long periods of hours to receive their prescriptions. 

The technology used by Walgreen is up to date and significantly imperative and pertinent to the means of the customers. However, the technology needs to come about and be simple for the sake of the millions of customers that it serves as a company and pharmaceutical (Doyle-Lindrud, 2014). For instance, it is going to be extremely hard for one to release a video to explain to the customers on how to use the application. However, the refill by scan is crucial and easy as well as intuitive to use because it makes learning a short curve and the result is a higher rate of customer adoption. The company does a great job to input these technological inventions but it is well that they simplify the ones that involve direct usage by the customers. 

Health Policy Issues 

One most resounding health policy that Walgreen Pharmacy has is that it treats persons from the ages of 18 months and above. The policy is well and serves best to all patients because it means that most people can get treatment in the pharmaceutical store as compared to a good number of its counterparts. It is common notions to have pharmacies insist that they only handle patients from the ages of ten (Richardson, 2015). However, Walgreens is different in that it takes care of people from those at a very tender age to the elderly ensuring that each person can obtain healthcare from its corridors. 

According to Richardson (2015), Walgreen issues prevention and wellness services that include vaccines, health screening and testing and physicals. It further offers proper care and treatment and monitoring and management of crucial patients. The above is a policy that makes the company gain masses because it becomes flexible for the clients to feel at ease as long as they are in reach of any Walgreens store. 

Initiative of Disability Inclusion 

The Walgreens senior vice president in charge of the supply chain and logistics Randy Lewis initiated a program in the year 2002 that would endeavour to provide an opportunity to the disabled to work in congruence with the non-disabled workers. In this regard, the company opened up two distribution centers that had 40% of the staff being made up of disabled persons (Gosman et al., 2013). The model was critically successful that other companies such as Best Buy and Clarks either exam it or put it into consideration. The policy has seen and has ensured that a part of the staff of the pharmacy comprises of disabled persons that is a health policy aimed at instilling courage to the disabled community. 

Inputs/Processes/Outcomes 

One of the most significant things within the Walgreen store ecosystem is the aspect of there being many different opportunities for one to employ their skills on towards challenging the status quo and having things done differently. The primary project that the CEO Gates developed is the centralization of the filling of prescriptions in a bid to free the store-level pharmacists to have more time to spend with the patients (MMR, 2016). Indeed, the function has been revised but the system continues to centralize other functions in the pharmacy to achieve the same goal. The objective remains the same even though the means vary and that is to make Walgreen pharmacies run as effectively as possible so as to have a high satisfaction degree of the customers. 

The input towards these processing of having functions centralized is the dedication of the pharmacists and the managing directors in improving the systems to fit the description of the objective. The current infrastructure is being leveraged to see to it that the pharmacists partake in more of the care services involving the patients (MMR, 2016). The stores are capable of flexing up and down depending on the needs of their given population of patients that it tries to serve across all states. 

The outcomes of the aforementioned processes may primarily be the boom in clientele seeing that immunizations for influenza have rapidly grown over the recent past few years. The result has been an additional health benefits to the care system of the country and the overall profit and expansion capability of the pharmacy. 

Financial Structure/Reimbursements 

According to Holsted (2012), Walgreens stands in a very strong financial position because it is able to increase revenue consistently and control the costs that leave it with a substantial sheet of balance. The company has opened 2749 locations in the past ten years even though openings were significantly slow in the year 2011. The management has shifted its guns from the rapid expansion to trimming of costs, renovating stores, expanding services and most likely preparing for the Express Scripts losses of business and the increased competition from the order mails and pharmacies (Richardson, 2015). The slowed down growth of stores should result in the increased margins because of the aging of these stores. The short term will see Walgreens experience reduced sales because it will no longer fill the 88 million prescriptions on an annual basis for the Express Scripts. 

The productivity and initiatives of cost-saving of Walgreen that were launched in the later parts of the previous decade have paid off in a substantial amount. Walgreens recorded a net increase in its earnings by 29.8%. The increase was majorly due to three primary factors and those were a higher gross margin, a gain on the sale of the PBM business that was $273 million after the tax and a lower effective rate on tax (Holsted et al., 2012). The total front end growth in sales increased by 8.5% in the year 2011 against the 6.8% in the year 2010 (Holsted et al., 2012). It is well to insist that the growth came about because of the increasing number of the existing stores and acquisitions and openings of new ones. Increased costs of the corporate and the operational expenses of Duane Reade were an offset of the lower costs and savings emanating from the initiative of Rewiring for Growth that made successful reductions in expenses and the store payroll in the form of percentage sales. 

The current Walgreen ratio sits below liquidity and the median of the industry but just above 1 insisting that the pharmacy can pay back all its liabilities of the short-term if they were due immediately. However, Holsted et al. (2012), report judging from their study that the debt to equity ratio of Walgreen is evidently lower than its median of the industry insisting that the Company lacks aggression in employing the debt to fuel their growth. The above could produce savings in the interest of expense but the company needs to assume the required rate of shareholders into its borrowing account in the strategy to borrow and most likely increase the income and more so because of the low rates of interest seen to come from the policy of expansion of money. 

In addition, the company enjoys an interest coverage that marks a ratio suitable enough and capable to meet its debt expenses with ratios above 1.5 indicating reasonable confidence in the ability to pay the interests. Walgreens enjoys lower days of sales and goes to stand out in the face of competition which is something that proves the company is taking few days to gather the customer’s money. 

Conclusion 

Walgreens pharmacy specializes in the filling of prescriptions, products of health and wellness, health information and photo services. Walgreens Pharmacy began in the year 1901 as a drug store on the Bowen Ave corner and Cottage Grove in the city of Chicago owned by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr. that was a native of Galesburg. The years of Charles R Walgreen were relatively prosperous but were not characterized by massive expansion as observed in the early part of the century. After the retirement of Charles R. Walgreen, his son, Charles “Cork” R Walgreen the third took over in the early years of the 1950s and made the store modern by making the switch to barcode scanning. 

The pharmacy offers various health services such as live doctor consultation, house call with a pager, vaccines, screening and testing and physicals and wellness visits. Walgreen employs technology to transform the experience of the customer by creating digital experiences all across channels and not just in the store thus allowing the customers to make better decisions, save on money and have a generally better experience. The technology used by Walgreen is up to date and significantly imperative and pertinent to the means of the customers. 

One of the most significant things within the Walgreen store ecosystem is the aspect of there being many different opportunities for one to employ their skills on towards challenging the status quo and having things done differently. Walgreens stands in a very strong financial position because it is able to increase revenue consistently and control the costs that leave it with a solid balance sheet. The company has opened 2749 locations in the past ten years. The productivity and initiatives of cost-saving of Walgreen that were launched in the later parts of the previous decade have paid off in a substantial amount. 

References  

Aungst, T. D. (2014). Integrating mHealth and mobile technology education into the pharmacy curriculum. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 78(1), 19. 

Doyle-Lindrud, S. (2014). Mobile health technology and the use of health-related mobile applications. Clinical journal of oncology nursing, 18(6). 

Goad, J. A., Taitel, M. S., Fensterheim, L. E., & Cannon, A. E. (2013). Vaccinations administered during off-clinic hours at a national community pharmacy: implications for increasing patient access and convenience. The Annals of Family Medicine, 11(5), 429-436. 

Golicic, S., Boerstler, C., & Ellram, L. (2010). 'Greening'the Transportation in Your Supply Chain. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51(2), 47. 

Gosman, M. L., & Ammons, J. L. (2013, July). RITE AID CORPORATION. In Allied Academies International Conference. International Academy for Case Studies. Proceedings (Vol. 20, No. 2, p. 3). Jordan Whitney Enterprises, Inc. 

Holsted, N., Jones, J., & Levin, B. (2012). Walgreen Co. Economics-files.pomona.edu. Retrieved 25 April 2018, from http://economics-files.pomona.edu/jlikens/SeniorSeminars/Likens2012/reports/Walgreens.pdf 

Krebs, P., & Duncan, D. T. (2015). Health app use among US mobile phone owners: a national survey. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 3(4). 

MMR. (2016). Rick Gates, vice president of pharmacy operations, Walgreens. MMR, 2, 1-4. Retrieved from https://www.massmarketretailers.com/rick-gates-vice-president-pharmacy-operations-walgreens/ 

Murphy, P. A., Frazee, S. G., Cantlin, J. P., Cohen, E., Rosan, J. R., & Harshburger, D. E. (2012). Pharmacy provision of influenza vaccinations in medically underserved communities. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 52(1), 67-70. 

Rahn, N., & Addante, S. (2010). U.S. Patent No. 7,685,006. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

Richardson, A. J. (2015). CVS/Caremark: The Costs and Strategy of a Tobacco‐Free Pharmacy. Accounting Perspectives, 14(1), 71-85. 

Walgreens. (2018). Our Services | Healthcare Clinic | Walgreens. Walgreens. Retrieved 25 April 2018, from https://www.walgreens.com/topic/pharmacy/healthcare-clinic/our-services.jsp 

Weidle, P. J., Lecher, S., Botts, L. W., Jones, L., Spach, D. H., Alvarez, J., & Thomas, V. (2014). HIV testing in community pharmacies and retail clinics: a model to expand access to screening for HIV infection. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 54(5), 486-492.