iCareRx Pharmacy and
Gammel's Clinic Pharmacy
Eric Shoffner is the owner, pharmacist and preceptor for iCareRx Pharmacyand Gammel’s Clinic Pharmacy, both located in Arkansas. Eric spoke to SureCost about his challenges before using SureCost and how his pharmacies have changed since.
THE CHALLENGE
Searching. Calling. Guessing.
Eric and his team were spending too much time searching their wholesaler’s catalog every day. If their primary vendor didn't have a product in stock, searching secondary websites or calling their 800 numbers added more time and stress. Eric alone would log on to at least 10 different vendor websites a day.
And then I started playing the guessing game to figure out who might have the right product. First, set up a login, then create a shortcut to that website, then look for the actual product and realize they call it something different than what you might be searching for. You could use the NDC, but not every system uses the same NDC you are searching for. Some of them wanted the first five letters of the name, and if you misspelled it, left out a letter, whatever, then you miss it again. We just didn't have the staff, the time or the energy to do this anymore.
Eric was also losing time managing relationships and contracts with as many as 30 secondary wholesalers. The incoming secondary-vendor call volume increased exponentially, since “when you ordered from them once, they took it as an open invitation to invite you back to their house tomorrow.” Ordering a single item from one vendor could add an additional five calls per month.
Manually receiving items took even more time. The team had to scan every item individually, add it to inventory, double-check for missed scans and update on-hand inventory for each drug. Receiving as many as 100 items, each taking several minutes, meant significant hours lost across both locations.
Eric needed a way to centralize purchasing and reduce manual work.
THE SOLUTION
SureCost is a unified pharmacy purchasing and inventory platform that centralizes ordering, simplifies product sourcing and provides visibility across all vendors. It integrates with major wholesalers and pharmacy systems, allowing pharmacies to manage purchasing, compliance and receiving in one place.
Instead of searching multiple vendor websites, Eric and his team now use SureCost to quickly find products, compare options and place orders from a single dashboard.
With his purchasing centralized in SureCost, when iCareRx and Gammel's receive items, purchasing data is received accurately and securely:
"Then with one button, I can just say, 'yes, we received the order,' and it updates my dispensing system. SureCost integrates with all my wholesalers and my pharmacy dispensing and management system, and the two systems talk to each other — which is very convenient!"
Even with five orders from five different vendors, each using a different delivery provider, SureCost uploads the orders with just a few clicks. “I spent more time explaining how that worked than implementing it,” says Eric.
SureCost’s dashboard metrics give Eric real-time visibility into his compliance performance, helping him make purchasing decisions that support contract requirements. “I’ve got all my purchasing records right on one dashboard because everything we purchase goes through SureCost.” He also uses these metrics instead of relying on, and waiting for, vendor compliance reports.
With all his orders and purchasing information consolidated in SureCost, Eric doesn’t worry about third-party audits. “If I’m ever questioned, I can prove that it was a product I bought, I have it here, there’s the paperwork for it and here’s my dashboard showing where we did it. I’ve never had this kind of power from an inventory system, ever.”
THE RESULTS
SureCost delivered measurable improvements across purchasing, sourcing and operational efficiency. Eric consistently finds the right products for his patients while securing the best available pricing. He’s even developed a reputation in his community for sourcing hard-to-find products.
Eric estimates saving at least 4 to 4.5 employee hours a day, including time saved on receiving. "That load—getting all those phone calls, going to those websites, hoping somebody calls back that actually has something—it all came off of me instantly, and my team didn't have to do those things, either."
SureCost also strengthened primary vendor compliance. Because SureCost tracks compliance ratios and shows the potential impact of each purchase, Eric can shop an expanded portfolio without compromising his relationship with his primary wholesaler.
The impact extends beyond his own stores. "I've done presentations to a consortium of 10 pharmacies from all over the country. I've had multiple people come to my store and look at the way we process everything, from our receiving to our ordering. In 2025, we had SureCost listed as our number one success solution added to our pharmacies.”
I have been able to pull rabbits out of hats. I pulled up something recently on SureCost and checked all the vendors out there. In the whole country, there were maybe 10 products of this item available. I ordered it, had it the next day and the people came to pick it up and said, 'Man, we don't know where or how you got this item, but we must have called 50 places!' Ultimately, the winner was the patient.
