It is essential to streamline operations in a pharmacy chain to ensure efficient resource distribution and minimize potential errors. Time-consuming, monotonous routines conducted manually by people can threaten patient health and a pharmacy’s bottom line. There are technological solutions aimed to eliminate sluggish daily tasks and automate processes so that the staff can focus on more critical objectives. This paper overviews two specific methods: pharmacy management systems and switching to prior electronic authorization (ePA) requests.
Complex programs for the automation of pharmacies and pharmacy chains, as a rule, consist of separate modules. Each of them is responsible for the automation of specific tasks or processes of pharmacies and pharmacy chains. Pharmacy management systems (PMS) is a general platform that provides an opportunity to implement a whole range of various automatizations within a pharmacy chain (McKesson, 2018). The technology automates the accounting of all operations carried out in a pharmacy: from ordering goods to a supplier to issuing checks and delivery to a customer. It brings together the various management elements of a pharmacy and makes the work of all employees much more effortless. Usually, PMS is implemented in a modular system, which allows each user to choose the functionality necessary for convenient business processes. Once installed, PMS improves medical adherence and health outcomes for patients.
The technology possesses numerous benefits focused on both the operational and sales sides. First, it helps to ensure higher quality and safety of care by connecting the right patient with the right drug and avoiding human errors. Furthermore, PMS accumulates big data that can be used when planning treatment for a patient or prevent potential misuse of supplements by tracking the dosage and kinds of drugs a particular person takes. In addition, the technology improves operational efficiency by reducing the workforce and other resources (McKesson, 2018). This ultimately positively influences the revenues of a pharmacy chain.
Prior authorization requests (PA), when being filled out manually, require a tremendous amount of time and resources. In fact, the process of filling in and approving a PA, considering all kinds of information it is supposed to process, can last for several days or even weeks (McKesson, 2019). Most importantly, the human factor makes this mechanical activity a likely cause of error which can harm patients’ health. The introduction of ePA to a pharmacy’s operations across all chains facilitates the connection between the end-user and a physician. This considerably shortens the time needed to get the prescribed medicines.
The process is quite simple and straightforward and does not require human assistance. The pharmacy management system collects all the information from a chain pharmacy’s folders and identifies whether PA is necessary to fill in for each incoming prescription. Further, ePA is sent directly to a physician without waiting for the pharmacist’s confirmation or review (McKesson, 2019). As a result, operational efficiency is greatly improved, especially what concerns the activity’s time intensity. Thus, the technology helps to optimize the workflow and reduce the possibility of pharmacy errors.
Overall, there are different ways to optimize operations and processes and reduce the chance of error in pharmacies. The main principle is to eliminate monotonous routine tasks that can be automated through the implementation of software. This innovative approach helps not only to reduce the intensity of the required resources for the pharmacy chains and increase profits but also improves the quality and safety of care for patients.
References
McKesson. (2018). Making technology work harder for your chain pharmacy. Web.
McKesson. (2019). Navigating prior authorizations at your chain pharmacy. Web.