About Apothecary by Design

Apothecary by Design is an independent pharmacy in Portland, Maine fusing traditional retail and specialty pharmacy services into one business model. Offering a diverse range of integrated pharmacy services that include retail prescription services, disease management, pharmaceutical compounding and nutritional health and wellbeing, Apothecary by Design is changing the future of healthcare. Their mission is to help people get and stay healthy, and they seek to achieve their goal by coordinating care between health care providers, patients, and pharmacists; advocating on patients’ behalf; and integrating conventional and alternative pharmacy services.

Founded in November 2008, Apothecary by Design has experienced tremendous growth. Catherine Cloudman, one of the founding partners of Apothecary by Design, believes their success stems from continually empowering patients to be active participants in their health care. “We’re out to change the face of pharmacy,” she says. “In a lot of ways, pharmacy has moved in the direction of more ‘big box’ retail, and large store environments where a lot of the product offerings aren’t centered around getting someone healthy and keeping them there.” At Apothecary by Design, “we really focus both in terms of the clinical services and high quality products we offer,” Cloudman says. “We also concentrate on our expertise and service, so people can come here and know they’re talking to people dedicated to improving their health. They can feel confident in the recommendations they’re receiving.”

Apothecary by Design Partners with H. D. Smith

Reflecting on the decision to partner with H. D. Smith, Cloudman recalls, “When we were opening up this business and sitting around the kitchen table at Mark’s house, we had Bill Griffin (H. D. Smith Division Sales Manager) and Fred Fasulo (H. D. Smith Sales Representative) sitting at the table with us. That speaks to the nature of the relationship that we’ve had from the beginning.”

Mark McAuliffe, another founding partner of Apothecary by Design, fondly remembers the early stages of partnership with H. D. Smith, as well.  “When we first met with Fred and Bill, they immediately said, ‘Here’s what we can offer you.’  There wasn’t a lot of red tape.  I felt we were talking with people who could make decisions within a reasonable level and accommodate what we needed,” states McAuliffe.  “The fact that H. D. Smith has a distribution center in New Hampshire was a critical asset in terms of getting deliveries quickly and having support.  Throw in the prior relationships we’d made with Bill and Fred, and choosing H. D. Smith was a pretty easy decision to make.”

A major factor in the wholesaler selection process included finding an organization to partner with that had the ability and platform to grow as Apothecary by Design grew.  For that reason, Cloudman feels confident that she and her business partners made the right choice with H. D. Smith. “The nature and dynamic of the relationship with one of the mega wholesalers as we were starting up would not have been the same as it has been with H. D. Smith,” she says.  “We understood the importance of that very clearly.”

H. D. Smith Advocates for Customers

In addition to H. D. Smith’s quick response to inventory demands, Apothecary by Design has been pleased by the active role H. D. Smith plays in influencing healthcare policy on behalf of its customers.  H. D. Smith’s Government Affairs Department and Apothecary by Design, along with other pharmacies in Maine, recently worked together on a bill that allows pharmacies to get paid faster and more efficiently.  The bill also contains a willing provider clause that allows pharmacies to participate in any network as long as they consent to the third party’s terms.  In March 2010, the group’s initiatives were successful and Maine LD 1498, titled “An Act to Adopt a Drug Benefit Equity Law,” was signed by the Governor and enacted into law.

Furthermore, throughout the process of integrating new pharmacy software, McAuliffe has been impressed by Rich Riemer’s (H. D. Smith IT Support Specialist) proactive approach to helping Apothecary by Design implement the updated software.  McAuliffe says, “Rich has been easy to get on the phone and connect with our pharmacy software provider to work out any issues we’re experiencing.  Rich has taken it upon himself to bear that burden so I do not have to. I appreciate that kind of support.”

Growing Together into the Future

Apothecary by Design plans to continue expanding to meet the healthcare needs of its community.  “Our plan from the beginning was to have a pharmacy that grows significantly, and we feel like H. D. Smith is a partner we can grow with.  We have a partner who, embraces and contributes new ideas to grow our business, and we feel confident we are helping each other,” says McAuliffe.

The partners at Apothecary by Design truly believe in the integrated nature of their business model and the positive effect that taking advantage of both conventional and alternative solutions has on successfully servicing patients.  As Apothecary by Design continues to grow and develop its business model, Cloudman says, “we’re interested in partnering with people at H. D. Smith to have strategic level conversations and to solve problems that are of a more macro level in nature.  H. D. Smith has been very receptive to those conversations from us.  We’re better when we partner together at that strategic level than when we try to solve all our problems at a micro level.”

H. D. Smith is committed to collaborating with Apothecary by Design to develop customized business solutions to support the pharmacy’s growth strategy.  McAuliffe adds, “Just like we don’t want our patients to feel like they’re just a number, we don’t feel that way with H. D. Smith.  We feel we have a partnership and H. D. Smith has been great in working with us on our unique model for pharmacy care.”