POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. – The Annual Southern Drug Store Association Meeting was held at the beautiful Coeur d’Alene Resort in northern Idaho on August 18-21. Bill Ladwig, SVP of Lewis Drug, was the host of this year’s event which was attended by CEOs, Pharmacy Executives and CFOs from Hi-School Pharmacy, Sav Mor Drug, Osborn Drug, Fruth Pharmacy, Lewis Drug, Hometown Pharmacy -Michigan, Drug Emporium, Hartig Drug and Auburn Pharmacy. The meeting also included a select group of sponsors who enjoyed the ample opportunities to interact with the leaders of the Regional Chains. This year’s sponsors included McKesson, Cardinal, Capsa, Centor, Pharmacist Mutual Insurance and Anda.

The active exchange of best practices and innovative ideas made this meeting a value to all who attended. Some key topics addressed this year were addressing margin compression, 340B opportunities, new retail margin opportunities, labor concerns, pharmacist recruitment, and driving state policies. Each chain had the chance to showcase new practices and areas of pharmacy or operations that are providing positive impacts for their company. Members left the meeting with some tried and true ideas to put into practice at their own company.

Doug Hoey, CEO of NCPA, attended as an invited guest and provided a brief presentation on current pharmacy issues, and Scott Cross, CFO of Lewis Drug provided a presentation on measuring financial metrics in pharmacy.

In addition to two and a half days of meetings, members, sponsors and guests had an opportunity to play golf on the Coeur d’Lane Course, home of the famous floating green. The non-golfers enjoyed bicycle tours, fishing and spa activities. Each meal was a great chance for sponsors and members to discuss pertinent topics and possible opportunities.

At the Sunday night event, held on the mountain overlooking the lake, host Bill Ladwig passed the famous napkin to next year’s host Charlie Hartig, CEO of Hartig Drug. Many years ago, a tradition was started of the host signing the napkin and then passing it on to the next year’s host. Charlie Hartig was excited to see his father Dick Hartig’s name along with many older chains like Happy Harry’s, Long’s on the napkin. Hartig plans to host SDSA in the Wisconsin area next August. For Sponsorship opportunities or for chains interested in attending, please contact Charlie Hartig at [email protected]