1. 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

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

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

4. 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?

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

6. 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

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

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

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

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

12. Patient Call-in Misplaced Incomplete information Too early

13. Patient drop-off Misplaced Time of drop off –Patient volume

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

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

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

18. Accuracy Time it takes to count pills Wrong prescription

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

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

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

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

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

25. 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

26. Any Questions?