NCPA to launch site for independent pharmacy buyers and sellers

A new website sponsored by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), www.PharmacyMatching.com, will bring together independent pharmacy owners preparing to sell their pharmacies, pharmacy owners who desire additional stores, and entrepreneurs seeking to become pharmacy owners.

"Now more than ever, the future of community pharmacy depends on the successful transition of ownership to independent owners," said NCPA President Joseph H. Harmison, PD.

Harmison cited recent comments by CVS Caremark CEO Tom Ryan on the company's plans to purchase 200 independent pharmacies a year to increase market share.While CVS acknowledged that Ryan made a comment to that effect at a June 2010 Sanford Bernstein conference, this is not news. For the past several years, CVS has performed approximately 200 file buys of independent pharmacies annually and reported the number of file buys performed as part of its announcement of quarterly financial results.

"CVS isn't trying to save community pharmacies, but rather to eliminate competition," Harmison said. "The company that controls the reimbursement for independents and can subject them to harassing audits at will now wants 200 of them each year to stop serving their communities. Meanwhile there are a number of aspiring entrepreneurs looking to own pharmacies, and NCPA wants to be the source for bringing buyers and sellers together to continue our tradition of patient service."

The website will offer listing opportunities for potential pharmacy buyers and sellers, with listing discounts and preference given to NCPA members. The site also will help pharmacy owners list job openings and help recent graduates find placement in independent pharmacies.

PharmacyMatching.com

is the latest offering of NCPA Ownership Academy, which helps pharmacists navigate the entrepreneurial process from buying to selling a pharmacy.

The Ownership Academy also includes the Pharmacy Ownership Workshop for new owners, the new Jumpstart Your Pharmacy Workshop for existing owners, and the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition, the first national competition of its kind, in which pharmacy students create business plans for independent community pharmacies for judging by a panel of distinguished pharmacy professionals.

For more information and to register to participate, visit www.PharmacyMatching.com.