Offering Point-of-Care Testing and Cash-Paid Services

Bruce Kneeland, community pharmacy consultant, discusses point-of-care testing as a form of cash-paid services, in an interview with Pharmacy Times.

Bruce Kneeland: I’m often asked by pharmacists what they can do to offset the drastic reduction in reimbursement from third-party payments, and the first place I go is to find ways to increase your value to the community in cash-paid services. This would include drug-nutrient depletion programs, where you can provide people with quality nutritional supplements that will help in the treatment of their disease. It also includes my favorite growth area, the point-of-care testing. The ability to do strep- or flu-testing, have mothers of children bring their kids in from school and immediately be able to test them for strep-throat. And then to work with their physician to find an appropriate drug therapy is just a golden opportunity and it’s a cash-pay business.

The consumer — the patient will pay the same amount for the test in your pharmacy that they’re likely to pay for the co-pay for the physician’s office, and they don’t need an appointment, they can come in and see you. If you’re not doing point-of-care testing, I’d beg you to look into it and get involved.