Leaders Discuss Benefits of NACDS' "Collaboration" and Interruption Managemnt

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The common theme at today's NACDS Total Store Expo business program was clear: NACDS presents value to retailers and suppliers as they work to address significant and rapid changes.

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Denver, CO - The common theme at today's NACDS' Total Store Expo business program was clear: NACDS prsents value to retailers and suppliers as they work to address significant and rapid challenges.

NACDS Chairman Randy Edeker, chairman, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, Inc., and NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, addressed attendees prior to keynote remarks by television journalist and author Tom Brokaw. Each speaker analyzed emerging trends and inspired action to address the operating environment spanning retail, pharmacy, health and wellness, consumer goods, supply chain and logistics, health information technology and more.

During his speech, Edeker spoke personally about his experience with the association. “Joining the NACDS leadership team is one of the best decisions I’ve made,” Edeker said. “NACDS promotes member companies as the face of neighborhood healthcare and pharmacies, but the organization is much more. NACDS is the center of strong collaboration, the center of strong innovation, and a strong support and source of friendship.”

Edeker said the mission of his company to make peoples’ lives easier, healthier and happier “fits NACDS’ mission incredibly well,” and that “when you think about pharmacy, over-the-counter medications, beauty, cosmetics, snacks, natural products and organics, it’s all at the Total Store Expo."

Edeker went on to describe the state of evolving healthcare delivery models — including efforts to advance pharmacist provider-status legislation; new perspectives on definitions of health and wellness; specialty pharmacy; healthcare quality measures; the role of technology in meeting the needs of patients and consumers; millennial trends; and cyber-security.

He also announced that registration is open for the 2016 NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill, which will be held March 16-17. He urged participation in the event that brings pharmacy advocates to Washington, D.C., to meet with their congressional representatives.

Edeker concluded by summarizing NACDS’ value proposition. “NACDS has never been more important than right now,” he said. “It’s about connections and relationships, and NACDS is the catalyst for that collaboration. It brings healthcare, retail and suppliers together. This is an ideal forum for business planning and discovering new innovations, unrecognized opportunities and undiscovered possibilities.”

Complementing Edeker’s remarks, Anderson emphasized the tremendous significance of “interruptions” in the national landscape and in the industry’s operating environment, saying that “the way NACDS handles them is one of the keys to our strength and success.”

“At prior NACDS meetings, I’ve talked about ‘disruptive innovation’ — when a product or service displaces established competitors by making that product or service more accessible to the general public. But I’ve decided it’s not just disruptions that change the game. It’s also the interruptions,” he explained.

Anderson detailed examples since the beginning of 2015 that demonstrate NACDS’ flexibility to confront events that could present significant challenges or opportunities, including: NACDS’ successful advocacy to block an effort to reduce pharmacy Medicaid reimbursement to help pay for the 21st Century Cures legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives; NACDS’ preparation for all contingencies in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year on the Affordable Care Act; NACDS’ successful advocacy on Medicaid funding issues in New York State, California and in other states; and NACDS’ engagement on highly complex prescription drug abuse and access issues; among many other examples.

He also talked extensively about millennial trends and opportunities as an example of interruptions “that have no boundaries” across business, public policy and politics.

“There is no doubt millennials have already begun to dramatically impact your business; the public policy that affects your business; and the politics that decide the people who affect the policy that impacts your business,” he said.

Anderson closed with an invitation to attendees. “Get out there and look for the interruption that’s worth stopping you in your tracks, an exhibitor with a new product or a business partner with a new idea. Or, take the risk and create the interruption that needs to be created. That, my friends, is what the NACDS Total Store Expo is all about.”

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