History

The store that would become Diplomat Pharmacy of Flint, Michigan originally opened as Ideal pharmacy in 1973 as the fourth store in a small chain owned by Dale Hagerman and several others. Just before Dale’s son Phil graduated from college in 1975, Dale traded his stock in from the small chain to buy the store from Ideal and Diplomat was launched on the tenet of, “Take good care of the patients and the rest will fall into place.”

Phil Hagerman joined the family business in 1975 and in 1991 he became president of the pharmacy. In 2004, Jeff Rowe and Steve Chaffee partnered with Phil to expand the business and today Diplomat is a tightly formed company run by a veteran executive team. Diplomat is recognized by the MPA, and others as a national innovator.

In December 2010, Diplomat moved their corporate headquarters into the former GM Great Lakes Technology Centre in Flint, Michigan. This new facility includes an advanced distribution hub to control their nationwide network, a state of the art specialty pharmacy compounding laboratory to serve the nation, a Patient Assistance Pharmacy to manage and dispense Free Drug Programs for qualifying patients, a new industry training and education center, a high technology software development and data center, and a national patient call center.

Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy’s future lies in continuing to develop and offer unique services to our patients on both local and national levels. We will continue to grow by following our Mission Statement: “We are dedicated to being a customer focused and innovative partner, providing medication management and clinical services in a caring, cost-effective, supportive environment; keeping patients healthier…longer, one patient at a time.”