TrueCare Pharmacies (TCRX)
We realized in the mid-to-late 90s that the future of independent pharmacy would be found in the "Interdependent Pharmacy" concept. Our basic philosophy and practice is to function as an “interdependent chain of independent pharmacies” through a cooperative model utilizing a “pseudo-franchise” framework. The reason for our philosophy is very simple - the retail pharmacy industry is intensely competitive. Both independent and chain pharmacies compete on the basis of price, variety of product offerings, attractive surroundings, quality of service and insurance coverage just to name a few. Independent pharmacies face intense competition with national chain drug stores, pharmacy departments of mass merchandisers, supermarkets and discount stores and mail order pharmacies. These competitors have financial and other resources, including national or regional advertising, brand recognition, common information systems, supply chain control, more purchasing power and corporate backing, which are not enjoyed by independent pharmacies. Independent retail pharmacies do not have the leverage, acting alone, to obtain the same pricing accommodations and service levels as larger chains. Enter TrueCare Pharmacy – an “interdependent chain of independent pharmacies”. By uniting independent pharmacies around:
1. a common identity for patient/consumer awareness,
2. control of their own supply chain for maximizing cost of goods savings and other buying opportunities,
3. the best 3rd party network in the industry with some of the highest reimbursement rates and cash data programs, and
4. common information systems to leverage various data programs and operating efficiencies, such as instantaneous 3rd party reconciliation. TrueCare Pharmacy is able to bring the same leverage, economies of scale, and other advantages that the chain store competitors enjoy, while still allowing the independent pharmacy owner to be independent. TrueCare Pharmacy is designed to offer patients of the local independent pharmacy superior products, services, and value while allowing the pharmacists and business owners the ability to maintain their independence as business professionals. At TrueCare Pharmacy, we look forward to caring for your patients by first caring for your business and the profession of interdependent pharmacy.
Texas TrueCare Legislative Council
The Texas TrueCare Legislative Council consists of volunteer members of Texas community pharmacy who act as advocates on legislative and regulatory issues that impact the future of the industry. That includes oversight of the Pharmacy Survival Fund, which ensures education efforts will continue on important issues. Combined with the Texas TrueCare Legislative Team and TrueCare Pharmacy members across the state, the council makes up a proactive grassroots network that enables community pharmacists to react quickly and effectively on both state and federal issues.
The Texas TrueCare Legislative Council is a division of PBA Health.
Pharmacy Survival Fund
The Pharmacy Survival Fund was established in December 2002 when the Texas Health and Human Services Commission was on the brink of implementing a new reimbursement formula that would have had devastating effects for providers in the Vendor Drug Program. TrueCare played an instrumental role in garnering support to legally challenge those rules by establishing the fund to help pay costs of the impending lawsuit. As a result, all pharmacies in Texas benefited. Pharmacies continue to benefit from the work of the Survival Fund as it expands its grassroots efforts to educate legislators, opinion makers and the general public on issues important to independent pharmacy. For example, the fund provided some of the money for a pharmacy coalition advertisement in Texas Monthly in April 2005 that touted issues affecting pharmacy throughout the state. The Survival Fund has also been instrumental in funding the monitoring and formulation of pharmacy positions on many issues concerning the state’s Medicaid program. It has provided marketing, public relations and information for independent pharmacy on issues ranging from mandatory mail order to changes in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Because of those efforts, pharmacy has enjoyed many successes. This success could be short lived if efforts to make our voice heard are silenced.
There are two ways to make this important investment in independent pharmacy:
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a one time payment
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a monthly automatic bank draft
Click here for information on how to have your contribution to the Pharmacy Survival Fund automatically withdrawn from your account on a monthly basis.
Click here for a form to include with your one-time contribution to the Pharmacy Survival Fund.
What is the Pharmacy Survival Fund and Why Is It Important?
The Pharmacy Survival Fund is a education and funding mechanism devoted exclusively to supporting independent pharmacy.
1. Membership consists of pharmacists and others interested in supporting issues important to independent pharmacists and the communities they serve
2. The Pharmacy Survival Fund provides a method for independent pharmacists to ensure that their ideas on issues important to pharmacy are relayed to important decision makers and will help educate lawmakers and opinion makers on pharmacy issues.
3. The TrueCare Legislative Council oversees the Pharmacy Survival Fund and determines how it is spent with the advice and counsel of the TrueCare Legislative Team and those who have donated to the Survival Fund.
Pharmacy Buying Association (PBA)
Begun in 1983, the Kansas City based, Pharmacy Buying Association, Inc. (PBA), was founded to serve primarily retail community pharmacies with distribution services. Today, the organization provides distribution functions such as wholesaler services for branded and generic pharmaceuticals and generic contracting out of our conveniently located offices and state-of-the-art distribution center centrally located in the heart of the United States. In addition, PBA links a diverse network of community pharmacies throughout the Midwest and beyond by providing an efficient conduit for manufacturers to supply product and other services to the community pharmacies that we service. Through this process of providing a centralized, solution-based distribution environment, PBA delivers economies of scale and efficiencies to both retail community pharmacies and our manufacturer-partners.
