Pharmacy Wins Popular Vote

Another year, another thumbs-up for the VA Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy (CMOP). This is the fourth year in a row the service has received the highest customer satisfaction score in the J.D. Power independent survey of U.S. public and private mail-order pharmacies. The VA scored 871 out of 1,000 possible points—the highest score among participating mail-order pharmacies.

More than 13,500 pharmacy customers who filled a new prescription or refilled a prescription during the 3 months before the study period responded to the 2013 U.S. Pharmacy Study survey, rating cost competitiveness, delivery, ordering process, and customer service.

The VA takes part in the annual survey as a way to check itself against industry leaders and to ensure VA health care meets the highest standards. “The fact that we are rated higher than our private-sector counterparts is due in part to our unique partnership with our patients and medical centers,” explained VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel in a press release. “In addition to the convenience of mail-order service, veterans also have a pharmacist available to meet with them face to face.”

In February 2014, 5 months after the J.D. Power survey results were announced, Kenneth Siehr, director of the CMOP program, had an idea to use technology to help make the pharmacy even more efficient—allowing veterans to track the status of their mail-order prescriptions via the MyHealtheVet web portal. That idea won him the 2013 Securing Americans Value Efficiency (SAVE) award from President Obama.