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6 Elements of a Community Pharmacy Disaster Recovery Plan

Posted by Matt Coakley on Mon, Mar 25, 2013 @ 10:46 AM


The Waypoint team was in New Jersey last October and just barely managed to get out of Contingency PlanHurricane Sandy's way.  Because we were just visiting, we had the luxury of leaving, unlike many others, including your fellow independent community pharmacists.  Heroic stories of prescriptions being filled by candle light for patients whose lives depended on their medicine inspired all of us. But what is it that enabled those few pharmacists to hang on, to face down potential disaster?

The one thing they all had was a community pharmacy disaster recovery plan. By thinking ahead and preparing for the worst, independent community pharmacists can not only protect their business's future, but also the lives of their patients and employees.

In our conversations with pharmacists about disaster recovery preparedness, we are made very aware of how fiercely you protect your self-sufficiency. While it is one of the most powerful forces behind your success, when it comes to preparing for business disruptions caused by the likes of Irene, Sandy and heaven knows who will be next, independence can work against you.

Disaster recovery plans typically address two very important issues.  The first is how to keep the business going in the case of a natural disaster, fire, etc. and the second is what happens to the pharmacy if the owner or any key employee gets injured, sick or even dies.  We typically refer to the second part of this as a pharmacy contingency plan.

Being independent does not mean being isolated. Consider these elements of a viable pharmacy disaster recovery plan:
  1. Details and delegations for employees if you become sick or die prematurely
  2. Physical facilities including off-site data storage and back up retail/storage space
  3. Operational capabilities including communication, data and info resources - think about getting things on the cloud
  4. Key personnel cross-trained for responsibility overlap
  5. Alliances with another independent enabling your patients to fill prescriptions elsewhere
  6. Critical medication list enabling you to contact patients who require these drugs in advance of the storm hitting

Having a working pharmacy disaster recovery plan can be the difference in surviving one of the above mentioned scenarios or suffering a catastrophic loss that results in going out of business. 

The next three blogs are going to dive into this topic much deeper.  They are listed below with a brief summary.  Please keep a look out for them in the upcoming weeks.

  1. How to create a contingency plan that addresses the loss of the pharmacy owner or any key employee
  2. A guest blog with Scott Cave of Atlantic Business Continuity Services on how to prepare a disaster recovery plan (visit his blog here)
  3. The benefits of having these documents in place and a plan for all these scenarios

Download the Contingency Planner

Where does this wisdom come from?

The content of this blog is inspired and substantiated by our experience helping independent community pharmacists enjoy financial independence during and after their life in pharmacy. When a pharmacist reaches out to us for information and help, we endeavor to give them as much free value as is possible. In addition to providing educational and strategic planning tools (like The Contingency Plan Builder), we invite qualified pharmacists into our formal discovery process.

The first step of the process is completing The Inspired Goals Workshop. This 90-minute session enables us to deliver a detailed and personal Inspired Independence Blueprint. The blueprint provides a personalized roadmap for achieving your goals and enables you to fully understand the value of joining The Inspired Independence Program.

If you wish to learn more about any aspect of our work, the free value we offer, or to be considered for The Inspired Goals Workshop, visit our web site at www.waypointus.com or call 843.873.4420 and ask for Ben or Matt Coakley.

At Waypoint Pharmacy Advisors, we take care of you!

Topics: community pharmacy owner, community pharmacist, pharmacy contingency plan