Which Pharmacies Deliver the Best Customer Satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction with pharmacies has remained steady over the past year despite continued changes in the health care industry, according to market research company J.D. Power and Associates’ 2015 U.S. Pharmacy Study.

The research rates and ranks brick-and-mortar pharmacies — chain drugstores, mass merchandisers and supermarkets –and mail-order pharmacies on a 1,000-point scale.

Overall customer satisfaction increased for pharmacies in supermarkets (851 out of 1,000, up 8 points from last year) and chain drugstores (842, up 2 points). Satisfaction decreased for mass-merchandiser pharmacies (822, down 8 points) and mail-order pharmacies (820, down 2 points).

Rick Johnson, director of the health care practice at J.D. Power, says in a news release:

“The health care industry has undergone tremendous changes in recent years, and more changes are coming, so stable customer satisfaction with pharmacies is very positive.

Pharmacies serve as a benchmark for other entities in the health care ecosystem, as they continue to have the highest levels of customer satisfaction in the health care industry, demonstrating that focusing on customer satisfaction is good for both patients and businesses.”

Customer satisfaction ratings for brick-and-mortar pharmacies are based on five factors:

• Prescription ordering
• Store
• Cost competitiveness
• Nonpharmacist staff
• Pharmacist

Ratings for mail-order pharmacies are based on four factors:

• Cost competitiveness
• Prescription delivery
• Prescription ordering process
• Customer service experience

All pharmacies that scored above average for their category are as follows:

Brick and mortar — chain drugstore:

• Good Neighbor Pharmacy
• Health Mart
• Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy

Brick and mortar — mass merchandiser:

• Target
• Sam’s Club
• Meijer
• Kmart
• Costco
• Shopko

Brick and mortar — supermarkets:

• Wegmans
• Publix
• HEB
• Kroger

Mail order:

• Humana Pharmacy
• Kaiser Permanente Mail Pharmacy
• Express Scripts
• Walmart Pharmacy Mail Services

To view the rest of the rankings, click on the J.D. Power link above.

To learn about how you can save at the pharmacy, check out “10 Tips to Safely Save on Prescriptions.”

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