Tips for to Selling an Independent Pharmacy in Illinois

 Posted on October 15, 2019 in Pharmacy License Defense

For many people, the American dream is owning your own business. For some pharmacists, that dream involved starting, owning and growing their own independent pharmacies. According to statistics from the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), there were more than 22,000 independent pharmacies operating in the U.S. in 2015. Of those, an estimated 1,000 pharmacies will change ownership each year.

Buying and selling a pharmacy is a different and more complicated process than buying and selling most other businesses. With a pharmacy, you must pay attention to certain things when transferring ownership, such as informing and coordinating with drug suppliers and vendors, ensuring the pharmacy is enrolled as a provider for Medicaid, Medicare, and supplemental plans and various other things. If you are looking to sell your pharmacy, here are a few things you should keep in mind:

• Have a legitimate exit strategy and timeline in place. Too many times pharmacy owners do not have a plan when it comes to the sale of their pharmacy and things do not turn out for the best. If you are thinking of selling your pharmacy, set a date of when you would like to have the sale completed. Then you will have a rough idea of when certain tasks should be completed by. In general, it can take several months or even years to complete a sale.
• You should have your finances in order before you start looking for potential buyers. Whoever is interested in buying your pharmacy will want to look at at least the past three or four years of business record, including audited financial statements, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, corporate tax returns, and prescription sales logs. This allows your prospective buyer to determine whether or not the business is a good investment for themselves.
• Make your pharmacy as attractive as possible to potential buyers. This includes the physical appearance of your pharmacy. Think of home sales; a person selling their home is not going to host an open house until their home looks as good as it possibly can look. Even just a new coat of paint or new flooring can transform a business and make it look more appealing to a buyer.
• Make sure all your contracts and licenses are up to date. You should be sure that your reimbursement contracts with third-party payers are available and up to date so that potential buyers can review them. This includes any local business license, state pharmacy licenses or building permits.

Contact an Illinois Pharmacy Sale Attorney Today

When it comes to selling a pharmacy, there are many things you should keep in mind before and during the process. There are many considerations to remember during a pharmacy sale, especially that selling your pharmacy is not as simple as signing over ownership to another person. At The Law Offices of Joseph J. Bogdan, Inc., we have been helping clients successfully buy and sell pharmacy businesses for more than 16 years. One of our skilled Illinois pharmacy sale lawyers is a licensed pharmacist and has extensive knowledge of both the medical and legal fields. Call our office today at 630-310-1267 to schedule a consultation.

Sources:

http://www.ncpa.co/pdf/digest/2016/2016-ncpa-digest-spon-cardinal.pdf

https://www.mckesson.com/blog/selling-an-independent-pharmacy/

https://www.drugtopics.com/thoughtspot/tips-selling-or-buying-your-pharmacy