How Poole’s Pharmacy Improved Profit Margins by Up to 31% Without Sacrificing Patient Care
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Pharmacy: |
Poole’s Pharmacy |
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Location: |
5 locations throughout rural Kentucky |
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Challenge: |
Inconsistent pricing, heavy PBM pressure, administrative burden |
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Solution: |
GoMango Meds custom pricing |
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Results: |
7-31% margin improvement per location in 18 months |
“Every pharmacy needs to be using GoMango for their cash prescription business! It has allowed us to have our own pricing program to compete against the large discount card companies. It’s a solution that you can trust, designed specifically for independent pharmacy, by folks who understand the unique challenges we face as community pharmacy owners.”
—Ron P., Pharmacy Owner/Operator of 5 Pharmacies in Kentucky
For two years, Ron Poole, owner of Poole’s Pharmacy, had been working with an outside company to help create a better pricing solution. Despite the time and effort invested, the solution never materialized. It never reached a point where Ron felt confident it would produce better results than what he’d already been doing: each store managing pricing on their own with a general set of rules to follow.
At the same time, Ron was managing continued margin pressure in his commercial book of business and heavy commercial reimbursement pressure from PBMs continued squeezing profitability. When the opportunity came to talk with GoMango Meds, Ron figured it couldn’t hurt to see if there was any hidden opportunity in his cash pricing. Maybe we would find something. Maybe we wouldn’t. But he believed there was a better solution to be found, so he listened to the GoMango pitch.
Our analysis found that a significant number of cash prescriptions were priced below break-even. With a custom pharmacy pricing strategy, we were able to help Poole’s increase profit margins by 7-31% across five locations (net of our admin fees) in just 18 months.
What Our Analysis Revealed
When Ron sent us his claim files for analysis, the results were eye-opening:
A significant number of cash prescriptions were priced below break-even.
Poole's Pharmacy wasn't just leaving money on the table; they were actively losing money on claims they thought were profitable.
Pricing inconsistencies went deeper than expected.
It wasn't just variation between stores. Pricing varied from drug to drug within the same drug class, identifying optimization opportunities.
The opportunity was significant.
Once we identified where pricing was failing, we could quantify exactly how much margin improvement was possible: 7% to 31% per location, depending on how far each store's legacy pricing had drifted from optimal levels.
Building a Pharmacy Pricing Strategy for Rural Markets
Based on the analysis, we built a custom solution specifically matched to Poole's Pharmacy's claim mix and rural market for each of his stores.
Rather than using generic pricing tiers or one-size-fits-all formulas, we designed a pricing structure that reflected the medications Poole's actually dispensed most frequently. This approach combines real data with pharmacy pricing expertise. While some competitors rely solely on AI-driven pricing models that simply search for the lowest price, we take a cost-based approach to pricing and analyze real-world claims data from pharmacies, then apply AI-assisted advanced modeling techniques to build a cash pricing structure that’s both competitive and sustainable. This ensures pricing recommendations are optimized, consistent, fair over time and for all stores’ local market realities.
With GoMango's monitoring and oversight, Poole's pricing increases over time minimize patient disruption and time at the counter without pricing themselves out of the market. This was critical in rural communities where pushing prices too high could drive patients away entirely. With GoMango Meds, Poole's Pharmacy found the sweet spot: fair prices that patients could accept while delivering the margins Poole's needed to stay healthy across all five locations.
Effortless Implementation, Big Profit Growth
Simple setup.
Ron didn't have to become a pricing expert or dedicate staff time to managing complex systems. We handled the technical setup. All that Poole's had to do was begin submitting claims through the new structure.
Significant margin improvements.
Eighteen months later, Poole's Pharmacy saw margin improvements ranging from 7% to 31% per location. Locations furthest from optimal pricing saw the most dramatic improvements.
Reduced administrative burden.
After having searched for a solution, invested more than a year with another company, Ron found GoMango that provided a turnkey solution for his cash pricing headache that works as he had envisioned it would.
Profitable growth in a declining market.
After two years with another pricing program without meaningful results, Ron finally had the margin improvement he'd been looking for.
What This Means for Your Pharmacy
Key takeaways from Poole's Pharmacy's success:
Data-driven pricing beats guesswork.
Systems-driven solutions leveraging a store's unique pricing history are essential for multi-store owners that can’t be in all locations at once to enforce rules consistently in a dynamic pricing environment.
Custom beats standard.
Pricing built around your actual claim mix will always outperform one-size-fits-all formulas.
Simplicity matters.
The right solution reduces your workload, not adds to it.
Profitability and patient retention aren't mutually exclusive.
Sustainable pricing keeps patients coming back while delivering healthy margins.
The right pricing strategy can transform your cash prescription business from a challenge into a growth opportunity.
Ready to see what's possible for your pharmacy? Our free pricing analysis has helped hundreds of independent pharmacies identify hidden margin opportunities and build sustainable pricing strategies.
