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their prescriptions at any of 3400 Rite-Aid stores. It has processed about 7 million
prescriptions since 1999, and did $18 million in mail-order pharmacy sales in the
fourth quarter of 2004 and more than $25 million through the local pick-up option
in the same quarter. Those are small numbers, but they are growing. . .and can only
grow further as doctors eventually give up those illegible scribbles in favor of more
reliable, less error-prone electronic prescriptions, and as consumers learn to trust
online pharmacies as they trust everything else online.
Lepore was brought in to take a hard look at the company’s operations and strategy.
She isn’t ready to make announcements yet, but she has already learned a lot. She
says, “Since coming here I ghost-phone on the customer care lines from time to
time, and it’s amazing what I hear. There are people calling in who say, ‘It’s a choice
between eating and buying my medication.’ The average person 65 years or older is
on eight prescriptions. We’re concerned about safety, but not everyone cares as
much. They’ll say, ‘I’ll die without it; so I’ll take a risk’.”
The company offers 24/7 phone support, with a pharmacist on call. “I was surprised
how much phone business we do, especially with seniors,” she says. “Many of them
are savvy enough to go online, get to our website. . .and then they just call. Unlike a
lot of online retailers, we don’t hide our phone numbers. Prescriptions are a pretty
personal thing and they want to call someone.”
She adds, “The boomers are more willing to do everything online. I was visiting
some family friends last week and we went on line to check prices [for a medication].
The transparency is not quite at the level of financial services! But you could
compare prices quite easily. . .and fortunately, we were cheaper. This particular medication
was not covered by their insurance, and they promised they would move
their business over.”
Like all pharmacy operations, drugstore.com pharmacy staff spend a lot of time on
the phone checking with doctors about illegible prescriptions; it also maintains an
interaction database for its own clientele – but it could probably be a good partner
for ActiveHealth (PAGE 27). The company is exploring the use of digital signatures so
that technology-savvy physicians could send in prescriptions electronically, but it’s
difficult to figure out where to start, says Lepore: “It’s like herding cats to get everyone
to agree to e-standards.”
She sees a big role for drugstore.com as the industry expands, and certain advantages.
As one of few online pharmacies to receive the Verified Internet Pharmacy
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