An In-Depth Analysis of Customer Waiting Times in

An In-Depth Analysis of Customer Waiting Times in a Rite Aid Pharmacy and Strategies for Improvement Presented By: Najib Sufi Tiemoko Diarra Walter Ray Jeri Shea

Phase I: DEFINE PROCESS FOR IMPROVEMENT Part of the Plan Phase of the PDCA cycle

House of Quality – Rite Aid Correlation: Strong positive Positive ce Drive-thru tan Strong negative Hours of Operation or Customer Satisf. Scores mp People at Register Customer Attributes e. I Register wait time tiv Rx Waiting time Negative Re la Competitive evaluation (5 is best) 1 2 3 4 5 Fast Service 25 L R W Accurate 30 W R L Consulting (Pharmacist) 10 R W L Organized 15 R W L Location 20 L W R Competitive Evaluation L W 30 min 5 min 4 not avail 12 hrs No 30 min 4 min 3 not avail 12 -24 hrs Yes R - Us L – Longs Drugs Targets 15 min 2 min 3 75% 12 hrs Yes W - Walgreens

Define • • DMAIC House of Quality Rx Waiting Time Register Waiting Time 3 in Line, It’s Time (Register) Busy Life Currently, a goal of 15 minutes wait (on average) • How to measure, analyze, improve?

Phase II: MEASURE Also part of the Plan Phase of the PDCA cycle

Benchmarking • Who are the industry leaders? – Rite Aid – Walgreens – Longs Drugs • What are we doing compared to them? – Customer Satisfaction Surveys • What are our priorities for process improvement? – increase customer satisfaction through decreased customer waiting times in the pharmacy

How did we get our data? • Najib’s knowledge and experience as a Pharmacist • Our individual experiences • Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Phase III: ANALYZE The final part of the Plan Phase of the PDCA cycle

Pt calls Rx in. Dr’s office calls Rx in. Pharmacy No Pt drops off Rx in the Pharmacy. No No Insurance Yes Pharmacy Technician Pharmacist Pharmacy Tech. types the Rx. Counted by robot or pharmacy tech. QA by Pharmacist Rx placed in pickup/consult area. Payment by Pt. Out of stock Too early No

Doctor’s Office • Faxed to wrong pharmacy • Pharmacy faxes to wrong machine at the doctor’s office. • Incomplete information – Dosage strength

Patient Call-in • Misplaced • Incomplete information • Too early

Patient drop-off • Misplaced • Time of drop off – Patient volume

Organized Consulting Accuracy Wrong customer name or spelling # of new Rx Time it takes to count out pills Incorrect Insurance Info Rx form faxed to wrong Rite Aid Wrong Rx Long Wait Time at Pharmacy Playing the blame game Near Hospitals & Dr’s offices Time of the year Community Demographics Location Time of the day Wait lines at Pharmacy

Wait lines at Pharmacy • Time of the day • Time of the year – Flu season

Organized • Wrong customer name/spelling – Common names • Incorrect insurance information – Results in a denial • Prescription faxed to wrong pharmacy.

Accuracy • Time it takes to count pills • Wrong prescription

Phase IV: IMPROVE The Do and Act Phases of the PDCA cycle

How to Improve Waiting Time? ? • Person to person contact – Accuracy – Triage according to urgency

• Prescription Database – Efficiency & Technology based – Available to Rite Aid customers – Specifications required – Patient volume @ drop off = 0

• Cashier availability – Focus on peak hours – Goal = 1 per 3 • Brainstorming – Customer’s voice – Fulfilling customer’s expectation – Visible Timer

Phase V: CONTROL The Check and Act Phases of the PDCA cycle

Control • Customer Surveys – Online, by Phone, In-Store, Informal Meetings, Mail-In Surveys • Employee Feedback – Online, 1 -800 Calls, In-House Meetings • Outside Agencies • Sales Figures

Any Questions?