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American Pharmacies is governed by a seven-member board of your peers -- all stockholders who are independent pharmacy owners just like you.
The Board of Directors meets quarterly with President Laird Leavoy and the senior management team to discuss the cooperative's strategic direction, operating expenses and budget. The Board ensures that the APRx team delivers maximum economic value to APRx shareholders while taking assertive action on political, legislative and economic challenges that affect your business model. This is a report on the Board's Sept. 14-15 meeting in Austin.
The American Pharmacies Board of Directors met Sept. 14-15 in Austin with APRx President Laird Leavoy and his executive team to hear reports on a range of APRx activities and discuss several issues. The meeting was the first led by new Board Chairman Joe Ochoa, who took the leadership reins at the Board's June 2022 meeting. Leavoy articulated to the Board the company's strong successes on several fronts and led the executive team in answering a variety of questions.
Highlights of the Meeting
Here are some of the key activities from the September 14-15 meeting:
Presentation of Sales/Operations Leaders
As part of its ongoing commitment to have more in-depth interactions with the entire American Pharmacies' staff, the Board held discussions with Torey Eckhardt, recently promoted to Sales Director; Jeff Jacobs, recently promoted to Director of Pharmacy Operations; and Paxton Barnes, recently elevated to Manager of Member Pricing and Development. The three talked about their expanded roles and responsibilities while answering questions from the Board.
Sales & Business Update
Ryan Gevara, Senior VP of Sales; and Nathan Rawls, VP of National Accounts reported significant gains on the sales front. They said American Pharmacies' has a rapidly growing prospect pipeline for new business in multiple states and they covered some of the significant wins the Sales Team has achieved so far this year. Board members were uniformly pleased with the growth rate in new members for 2022 as well as the 25% increase in total retail volume for the year. American Pharmacies now has members in 37 states.
State-Federal Advocacy Report
Michael Wright, VP of Government Affairs, said the advocacy team is hard at work preparing for upcoming 2023 legislative sessions in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Michigan. He added that he is considering launching legislative efforts in a handful of other key states next year. Wright also talked about the progress seen in recent hearings on PBM issues conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, and he discussed the status of important Congressional Committees and the pharmacy-related bills before them.
Legal Update
General Counsel Miguel Rodriguez reported on the phenomenal results obtained by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation in its lawsuit against Caremark. He also updated the Board on the importance of the federal appellate decision in the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association’s (PCMA, the PBMs' trade lobby) suit against the State of Oklahoma challenging the state's 2019 Patients' Right to Pharmacy Choice Act. This decision will impact questions about ERISA and Medicare Part D preemption across the country.
Marketing & Communications | APEX
Chuck Waters, VP of Marketing, Communications & Data Strategy, said his staff is making significant progress in building out its Salesforce capabilities and integrating the SnapSign document management platform into Salesforce to streamline new member enrollment. He gave the Board several examples of how Brand & Marketing Manager Charlotte Hutchison is excelling in her new role as the primary APRx liaison with GNP. He talked about some of the content under development for APEX 2o23 in San Antonio, as well as efforts to increase conference revenue.
Engagement With AmerisourceBergen Leaders
Showing its continued commitment to high-level engagement with the American Pharmacies Board and staff, our wholesale partner sent three executives to the Board meeting. Kurt Ginter, Group Vice-President for Buying groups and Long-Term Care; Nick Petrucci, VP of Buying Groups; and Mitch Tully, Director of Community Pharmacy Buying Groups. All underscored AmerisourceBergen's strong commitment to its relationship with American Pharmacies and discussed how the two partners can more effectively work together.
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