by Terry Mactaggart, President and CEO, Summus Hearing
The Current State of Play
There are approximately 100,000 pharmacies in the United States and another 10,000 give or take in Canada. And most are under significant margin pressure. Reimbursement rates aren’t keeping pace with rising drug acquisition costs. Online competition is pressing down. Labor costs and general inflation add additional problems.
Terry Mactaggart
This margin squeeze has led certain chains to shutter stores—several thousand closures across the largest three players over four years—and is forcing them as well as independents to search for new ways to stay viable.
Consolidation further concentrates revenue at vertically integrated giants. The top four represent half of the American market; Two Canadian leaders represent about 30%. As independents and regional chains struggle to compete on volume and negotiated rates, diversifying into non-traditional services becomes critical to survival.
How Pharmacies Can Benefit from the Digital Health Revolution
There is evidence to suggest that retail pharmacies are transforming into community health hubs expanding beyond dispensing to offer clinical care, immunizations, and wellness programs.
Digital tools can dramatically enhance operational efficiency and patient experience. Online prescriptions, telepharmacy consultations, and electronic health record integrations eliminate paper workflows, speed up verification, and optimize inventory management—freeing pharmacists to focus on higher-value clinical tasks.
Patient engagement appears to improve with mobile-first apps offering personalized dashboards, real-time cost comparisons, and in-app support. Armed with AI-driven reminders, adherence tracking, and seamless live-chat access to pharmacists, patients can stay on therapy longer, improving outcomes and loyalty.
Emerging telehealth and remote monitoring platforms also allow pharmacies to extend chronic disease management services. By leveraging wearable data and virtual check-ins, pharmacists can intervene early when metrics drift—positioning the store as a true healthcare hub rather than just a dispensing point.
The Role of Hearing Health Testing and Maintenance
Pharmacies are ideal locations for integrating audiometric services into their digital health offerings. The need is obvious as most of their patients have never tested their hearing. Self-service hearing kiosks use validated pure-tone testing software to generate immediate audiograms, classify hearing loss (conductive vs. sensorineural), and deliver tailored follow-up recommendations—all in as little as ten minutes.
Adding ear and hearing health services taps into a massive unmet need: roughly 70 million North Americans have untreated hearing loss, and demand for wax removal or basic audiometry far outstrips supply in traditional care settings.
By offering private clinical appointments for wax management, hearing screenings, and over-the-counter hearing aids, pharmacies can boost foot traffic, deepen customer relationships, and create a recurring revenue stream.
Experience at Summus in placing our hearing health guidance tech in hundreds of pharmacies is instructive. Thousands of users include youngsters through super seniors; how they break out into classification categories has become quite predictable. About 35% are Sensorineural (and should consider instrumentation), another 20%+ test Conductive (and could benefit from some standard products on the pharmacy shelf) with a like number Mixed (requiring more advance workup), the remainder Normal.
Connecting guidance with further information and a supply chain (for audiological consults, hearing aids and related supplies) is important and can relieve the pharmacy from managing other relationships and stocking additional inventory.
A successful proposition, however, requires not just effective technology but also a playbook that outlines and reinforces the limited role of the pharmacy and the larger responsibilities of the provider. A specific sharing of benefits and costs is also critical to ensure an attractive ROI and successful partnership.
Looking Ahead
We foresee the need to further bundle hearing health with digital adherence programs for chronic disease patients, better integrate remote audiologist support to expand clinical scope and streamline referrals and partner with telehealth platforms to create end-to-end care pathways—from screening to specialist referral.
We also are working up an expansion of our platform that will extend hearing health guidance from a one time check to a continuous encounter taking account of age, work, health, and behavioral preferences. Availability in pharmacy and at home, it can represent a breakthrough by encouraging users to monitor their status and, when necessary, take timely action to preserve or rehabilitate their hearing function.
This convergence of digital health and hearing services not only buffers against margin pressures but also cements the pharmacy’s role as a frontline healthcare destination.
About the Author
Terry Mactaggart, MBA, is the president and CEO of Summus Hearing. He can be contacted at [email protected] or visit https://summushearing.com
