Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio Selects Measurement Resources Company to Facilitate Its Strategic Planning Process

Founded in 2010, the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio (CPCO) provides affordable and appropriate pharmacy services, and coordinates access to health care for some of Franklin County’s most vulnerable populations. From providing medication, health screenings, and health and wellness education, to medication counseling and social program referrals, CPCO bridges the gaps that exist in today’s healthcare environment at no cost for the region’s low-income, uninsured, and underinsured residents.

These wrap-around services help improve patient outcomes, especially for patients who are treating multiple conditions that require frequent medical attention and supervision, in addition to regularly taking their medications. Regardless of an individual’s ability to pay, CPCO staff members provide exceptional care, spending an average of more than 20 minutes with each patient every time they visit the pharmacy. CPCO also offers internship opportunities for pharmacy college students seeking hands-on professional experience in a unique, non-profit pharmacy setting.

CPCO launched the organization and its first strategic plan simultaneously. Much of the focus of this plan centered on setting the vision and developing the mission of the organization. Having been with the CPCO from day one, Jennifer L. Seifert, MS, RPh, became its second executive director in 2016. One of her first goals was to hire a facilitator to conduct strategic planning to identify three priority areas to tackle over the following three years.

“It was a great time to bring everyone—especially staff and board members—together,” said Jennifer Seifert, MS, RPh, BCGP, executive director, The Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio. “As a result of this process, we determined that our three primary areas of focus would encompass advancing the organization’s innovative pharmacy practice, revenue diversification, and the development of a hub and spokes model.”

CPCO selected Measurement Resources Company to facilitate this second strategic planning process, which included the participation of all 10 staff members, 12 board members, and two special guests. This planning process took place at the end of 2016.

“We selected Measurement Resources because of Sheri’s focus on data driven analysis. As a healthcare organization in an industry that is very driven by metrics, I wanted to be able to analyze our data in a perspective that allowed us to focus on what’s most important. Sheri and I had great synergy as we prepared for our strategic planning retreat.”

CPCO staff members have made great strides with the first strategic priority of advancing the organization’s innovative pharmacy practice. Since 2017, staff members published five papers in national, peer-reviewed pharmacy journals. In 2018, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and Community Pharmacy Foundation, recognized CPCO with its inaugural Community Pharmacy Innovation in Quality (CPIQ) Award for innovative community pharmacy practice. Award recipients demonstrate improvements in quality of care, medication optimization and patient outcomes.

CPCO also made progress on its second strategic priority, revenue diversification. The organization has expanded its contributions, and has also realized an increase in earned income from 5% in 2017, to 15% in 2019. For 2020, Jennifer anticipates more than 20% of the organization’s bottom line will come from earned income.

The third strategic priority entails developing a hub and spokes model. Because the organization receives a large volume of donated medications from local healthcare partner organizations, CPCO is working toward creating a hub where these medications can be sorted and delivered to additional pharmacy locations.

“Our current location is within the Methodist Church on Livingston Avenue and will serve as the hub for receiving and sorting donated medications,” said Jennifer. “In 2020, our goal is to open a second location so that we can increase the number of individuals we reach, who are in need of access to affordable medications, pharmacy services, and social program assistance.”

“I’m excited to report that we’ve made significant progress in all three of our priority areas,” said Jennifer. “It has really helped to have a strategic plan in place to guide all of our activities.”

As part of CPCO’s next strategic planning process in 2020, a focus will be to expand the role of the non-profit pharmacy. In recent years, high and ever-increasing healthcare costs have escalated to national crisis level, with more and more individuals and families unable to afford care, including medications to manage their health.

“Our business model is a viable solution to address a national crisis in medication access,” said Jennifer. “We will be looking to strategically replicate this model locally, and eventually nationally. When we think about hospitals, many are non-profit organizations. So, it goes to show that similarly, there is both a need and a place for non-profit pharmacies to complete with their for-profit counterparts. We also want to advance our reputation as a place where future generations of pharmacists can learn, while also helping to make a huge impact in the community.”

Measurement Resources Company is dedicated to helping nonprofit, government and social enterprise organizations use strategy, data and insights to move their missions forward. If your organization is interested in learning more about Measurement Resources’ approach to strategic planning, please contact us today to schedule your free phone consultation.