Jennifer Fix, BS, MBA, RPh
Owner, Medicine Shoppe
Haltom City, TX
Jennifer Fix is the owner and sole pharmacist at the Medicine Shoppe located in Haltom City, Texas. Jennifer graduated from Drake University in 1985 with a BS in Pharmacy followed by an MBA in 1986 and is currently working on her Pharm.D.
At first glance you may be initially tempted to envision this small town pharmacy as a typical mom & pop operation and wonder how they manage to stay in business. However, this operation is more than meets the eye. Since opening her store in 1990 Jennifer charged her staff to provide excellent customer service while also offering progressive pharmacy services. In addition to traditional dispensing, Jennifer’s practice includes cholesterol testing, weight management counseling, immunizations, compounding and most recently through a collaborative practice agreement, strep throat screening.
While her pharmacy was flourishing with new and innovative patient care practices, Jennifer was disappointed with low reimbursement rates by the major pharmacy benefit managers in the area. Historically, medication dispensing is the foundation of a community pharmacy that allows the pharmacist to pursue less profitable but more personally rewarding patient care services. Recently however, Jennifer, like many pharmacists, was finding herself in a quandary; her dispensing related income was dwindling while volume increased. In order to maintain personal relationships while remaining profitable, she had to pursue innovative reimbursement systems. It appeared her only option was to sever her contracts with two large pharmacy benefit managers. But losing those contracts meant potentially losing a large number of her loyal customers. Jennifer had to find a solution.
Central fill pharmacy was the answer to Jennifer’s situation. Her Medicine Shoppe pharmacy was able to maintain a large portion of its customer base even after severing the PBM contracts by utilizing a central fill pharmacy. Without the PBM contracts, Jennifer’s pharmacy cannot be reimbursed for dispensing medications to patients with certain pharmacy benefits. However she can retain the patients by receiving their prescriptions at her pharmacy in Texas and transmitting them by fax to a central fill pharmacy in Kansas. The closed door central fill facility, Right Choice Pharmacy, in Kansas prepares the medication and mails it back to Jennifer in Texas for distributing to the patient. The arrangement is profitable because the central fill pharmacy is reimbursed for dispensing while Jennifer is paid a professional consultation fee when the patient picks up the prescription at her store. This allows Jennifer to have a reduced inventory, receive professional service fees, continue good patient care, and yet not accept the low reimbursement from the PBM. A winning situation for all involved.
Jennifer Fix was the recipient for the 2007 Good Government Pharmacist-of-the Year Award. The award recognizes an individual pharmacist who actively contributes to the community through his or her voluntary involvement in the political process. It is presented to an individual who has raised the profession’s awareness of the political process, improved the pharmacy profession and the political process, as well as improved service and education to patients. The award is sponsored by the APhA Political Action Committee (APhA-PAC).
To learn more about central fill pharmacy arrangements visit www.rightchoicepharmacy.com.
For more information on Medicine Shoppe in Haltom City, Texas, contact Jennifer Fix at fixrx@aol.com (use subject line DELTA Rx Profile F/U) or call 817-838-5544.
What led to the identification of this opportunity?
Practitioners and entrepreneurs must always be aware of conditions around them. An opportunity may arise because of a change in demographics, emergence of a new market segment, process needs, new technology, incongruities, regulatory change, or social change. Jennifer’s opportunities presented from a combination of these factors. Increasing weight of the American population brings the need for weight management strategies. Overcrowded physicians’ offices lead to the need for alternative immunization strategies. The professional movement of pharmacists to care-based services is affecting social change towards acceptance of the pharmacists expanding role. Jennifer was aware of these factors and utilized them to her advantage.
Where is Jennifer’s pharmacy in the framework of the entrepreneurial process?
According to “Towards integration” by Morris et al., “processes are sustainable, meaning that entrepreneurship can be ongoing or continuous at the individual or organizational levels.” Jennifer’s pharmacy is in a variety of stages with each venture. Central fill pharmacy has been integrated into mainstream operations and thus she has harvested that venture. Rapid strep throat testing is being implemented. Thus, we see that entrepreneurship is ongoing.
