Consumers are increasingly turning to their pharmacies for health services, survey says
J.D. Power says the tides are changing in how consumers choose to receive their healthcare.
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Between offering routine health exams, vaccine administration and preventative medical screenings, retail pharmacies are increasingly becoming a one-stop shop for consumers' health and wellness needs.
In fact, more than half (51%) of retail pharmacy customers say they've used health and wellness services at their pharmacy over the last year, according to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Pharmacy Study.
This follows an upward trend over recent years, as 48% in 2020 and 43% in 2019 said they'd used pharmacy health and wellness services during the year.
J.D. Power made these findings based on survey responses from 12,646 pharmacy customers who filled a prescription during the three months prior to the survey period of September 2020 through May 2021.
When customers use a pharmacy's health and wellness services, they tend to spend an average of $5 more than those who do not use these services, according to the survey. Further, they also report higher overall satisfaction and more brand loyalty than consumers who don't utilize the offerings.
In addition to seeking healthcare services at their pharmacy, consumers are more often engaging with their digital channels. The study found that 26% of brick-and-mortar customers and 27% of mail-order customers used their pharmacy's mobile app last year.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The survey's facilitators view these results as a sign that the tides are changing in how consumers choose to receive their healthcare.
"It was not long ago that the major pharmacy chains, healthcare providers, health plans and consumers were all asking themselves whether or not people would ever feel comfortable receiving treatment in a retail setting," James Beem, managing director of healthcare intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a statement.
"While we have been seeing consumer satisfaction with retail health services grow steadily, this year marks a significant turning point in which most customers are now using these services. The fact that this happened during a pandemic should send a clear signal that retail pharmacies are transforming health and wellness services in America."
When it comes to which pharmacies were ranked the highest using a 1,000-point consumer satisfaction index, J.D. Power broke them into four categories: brick-and-mortar chain drug store, brick-and-mortar mass merchandiser, brick-and-mortar supermarket and mail order services.
Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Sam's Club, H-E-B and Humana Pharmacy came out on top in their respective categories.
THE LARGER TREND
Beyond the findings of this survey, it has become evident that retail pharmacies are becoming a bigger player in healthcare delivery, competing head-to-head with primary care providers.
A number of pharmacies, including CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, joined the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program to help the national COVID-19 vaccination effort.
In addition to that, CVS now carries over-the-counter COVID-19 tests. Walmart has been working on remodeling its pharmacies to include health clinics and is opening 22 facilities by the end of 2021. In partnership with VillageMD, Walgreens has plans to open 29 new Village Medical at Walgreens practices in Houston, Austin and El Paso this year.
There's also been interest among other companies to get into the pharmacy game as Amazon opened a digital pharmacy service last year and Uber expanded into prescription delivery earlier this year.
Twitter: @HackettMallory
Email the writer: mhackett@himss.org
