Mike Umbach, VP Product Development, Focuses on Understanding Clients to Develop the Right Products
Who? What? When? How? Why?- Questions and More Questions. Mike Umbach, MedTurn’s new VP Product Development, is all about asking questions. Not just questions, but the right questions to deliver products that provide high value to clients.

As the Vice President of Product Development, Mike has a client focused philosophy around developing products. As part of this development work, he spends time with the clients to understand their business processes and objectives so that the products developed can take cost out of the process and ultimately deliver more profit for them.

Mike has proven that he just doesn’t talk the talk, he walks the talk. With an extensive background in retailer finance and corporate strategy with companies such as Circuit City and CapGemini along with an educational background from Northwestern University, Mike knows how to turn concept into executed completion. Most recently, as the VP of Product Development for Carolina Services, a sister company of MedTurn, Mike has been instrumental in the design and implementation of a third party pharmacy receivables program called Prism. Working closely with the retailer clients and pharmacy technicians, the Prism product offerings have been extended to include not only enhanced work flow tools, but also business intelligence reporting tools.

So what does Mike have planned for MedTurn’s product offering? Developing and enhancing work flow tools for the pharmacy such as an on-line inventory system to include features such as recording returns through product scanning, electronic 222 forms, and return credit reporting. In addition, there are plans to enhance the on-line corporate reporting package to provide management with business intelligence to more effectively monitor their returns program.

“I look forward to getting to know the MedTurn clients and using my third party pharmacy receivables background to develop products that alleviate administrative burden from your pharmacists, said Mike. We want to design tools that allow your pharmacists to spend more time with your customers and we’ll work hard to make that happen!”

Carolina Services, a CLS/MedTurn sister company, Launches a New Payment & Receivables Management Product, Saving Client Millions
Carolina Services signed a contract with Cardinal Health, one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical wholesalers, to provide a new payment and receivables management service to their 2,500 LeaderNET and 1,000 Medicine Shoppe pharmacies. Launched June 1, this is the first and only solution in the industry that provides insurance payment consolidation with pharmacy direct deposit and full service A/R management. This new product went from idea to launch in just over one year.

To read the case study on how this new solution helped Cardinal Health address a pharmacy challenge and deliver significant results, click here.

If you are interested in learning about this solution, please contact Jennifer Mauldin, MedTurn Executive Vice President and President, Carolina Services, or Mike Umbach, MedTurn Vice-President of Product Development.

Case Study

Challenge
Insurance companies, through Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), send hundreds of thousands of prescription reimbursement checks and associated paper remittance detail to thousands of independent and small chain pharmacies weekly, at a cost of $2 per check/remittance detail. Pharmacies spend significant time opening, accounting for, and depositing these payments. Furthermore, pharmacies report that lost, misplaced, and misdirected checks are a common occurrence.

Solution
Carolina Services’ new product automates the payment and receivables management process. PBMs are now sending one payment and one electronic file of remittance detail for all 3,500 Cardinal stores to Carolina Services. Carolina Services disaggregates the PBM payment and directly deposits, via electronic funds transfer, the appropriate payment amount into each pharmacy’s bank account. Associated deposit information and remittance detail are emailed to each pharmacy one day prior to the deposit being made. With electronic payment and remittance detail, Carolina Services is able to provide the industry’s first cost-effective full service A/R management solution to the independent and small chain pharmacy market…payment and remittance information is provided to PRISM for reconciliation, reporting, and collection of unpaid prescription claims.

Results
This is truly a Win, Win solution for the entire industry. Automating the financial supply chain will save PBMs and pharmacies millions annually in processing and mail costs. Pharmacies further benefit through improved cash flow, elimination of lost payments, and improved collections of their outstanding receivable.

HDMA Facts on Returns
The following statistics were published in the two most recent annual HDMA factbooks. Once the 2005 statistics are published in October we will bring those to you as well. The use of reverse distributors did grow from year to year both in volume and in incidence. Most other measures stayed relatively the same. Of note is the reduced frequency of accepting partials going from 12% down to 8%.

Your Feedback is Needed
MedTurn has been publishing the infoSOURCE for six months now and we would like your feedback concerning the topics and frequency of the newsletter. Click here to participate in a survey.

Attention MedTurn International Clients
In the next few days you will be receiving an email invitation to fill out our online client satisfaction survey.  Please take the opportunity to provide feedback on the service you receive today as well as share you ideas for how we can enhance our service for the future. We value your feedback.

Need Help With a Reverse Logistics Challenge?
If so, contact us and let us work with you to develop a solution that best fits your needs. Contact Jennifer Mauldin or Sharon Joyner-Payne.