According to a recent J.D. Power and Associates survey, customers that have prescription drug coverage are more satisfied with their pharmacy experience than those who don't. Further, having more satisfied customers means higher revenues for brick-and-mortar pharmacies. This, according to the 2009 National Pharmacy Study, which measures customer satisfaction with both traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacies as well as mail-order pharmacies.

The study finds that pharmacy satisfaction among customers with prescription drug coverage averages 818 on a 1,000-point scale, compared to 792 for those who don't. Among mail-order customers 65 years of age or older and with private prescription drug coverage, satisfaction with their pharmacy experience averages 844. In comparison, pharmacy satisfaction among mail-order customers in the same age group with Medicare Part D coverage averages about the same.

The study also finds that customers with higher satisfaction scores are financially beneficial to their pharmacies through increased rates of loyalty and advocacy and higher revenue per visit. Highly satisfied customers (satisfaction scores of 901 or higher) are three times more likely to say they "definitely will" return to their pharmacy and are at least seven times more likely to say they "definitely will" recommend their pharmacy, compared with customers with low satisfaction (scores of 550 or lower).

"Pharmacies have an opportunity to grow their business and better position themselves for the future by improving satisfaction levels among their customers," said Jim Dougherty, executive director of the healthcare practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "For example, a highly satisfied brick-and-mortar customer generates $30 more in pharmacy revenue per visit than a customer with low satisfaction, on average. For a pharmacy with 1,000 customers each month, this translates into an additional $360,000 in revenue annually."

And while pharmacy customers with prescription drug coverage are more satisfied with their pharmacy experience, customers with public-private plans-in which the government provides the majority of the funding but private entities administer the benefits-are just as satisfied as those with wholly private insurance, according to the study.