Technology Plays Central Role in Pharmacy Today

An article in Chain Drug Review reinforces the prevalent thought that technology will play an ever increasing role in pharmacy. According to this editorial, technology is a key factor as pharmacy transitions from a dispensing based to an outcomes-based profession. ScriptPro CEO Mike Coughlin contributes his thoughts and expertise to the report. ScriptPro’s Coughlin says robotics continue to be warranted by the need to free up staff to take better care of customers and pay attention to the many tasks that pharmacies must perform each day that cannot be automated.

There are now more robot options to choose from, he notes, so machines can be better matched to pharmacies based on size, capacity and cost. ScriptPro offers six sizes of robotic dispensing systems and has financial models to help customers pick the best fit for a store.

“The ROI models are starting to factor in the long-term life of a robotic investment as compared with the typical lifespan of technology.”

Technology can be a Game Changer in Rx

Reprinted with permission from Chain Drug Review, August 10, 2015

NEW YORK — As pharmacy transitions from a dispensing based to an outcomes-based profession, technology can continue to play a central role, say suppliers. “Pharmacies can best adopt this shift in focus by removing their in-store pharmacists completely from the prescription production process,” says Doyle Jensen, executive vice president of global business development at Innovation. “By filling patient refills at central fills and digitizing the processing of local prescriptions, pharmacies can redeploy their pharmacists and permanently station them out in front of the pharmacy for direct patient interaction.”

Mike Coughlin, president, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of ScriptPro, says robotics continue to be warranted by the need to free up staff to take better care of customers and pay attention to the many tasks that pharmacies must perform each day that cannot be automated. There are now more robot options to choose from, he notes, so machines can be better matched to pharmacies based on size, capacity and cost. ScriptPro offers six sizes of robotic dispensing systems and has financial models to help customers pick the best fit for a store.

“The ROI models are starting to factor in the long-term life of a robotic investment as compared with the typical lifespan of technology,” Coughlin says. “If a machine is assumed to have only a three- to five-year useful life, the ROI is much lower than if it has a 10-year or longer life. The difference in the return on investment is quite dramatic. ScriptPro machines have been operating continuously in pharmacies for 18 years now, and we foresee no end to their useful life. This is far different from the life of a typical technology investment or, for that matter, even the life you expect to get out of a new car.”

Garry Zage, president of Kirby Lester, says that with three out of five of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Star Ratings tied to adherence, pharmacy’s focus needs to be on quality care. Pharmacies can strike the right balance between operations and patient care with “a creative use of technology,” whereby systems provide an avenue to increase operational efficiency while enhancing dispensing metrics and inventory control. The upshot will be a time savings allowing for more patient care. “This is a great opportunity for the profession to move forward into a role that never existed before,” Zage says. Depending on its script count, a pharmacy can use basic counting products or robotics, he adds. Kirby Lester technology, he notes, is focused on three areas: inventory control, labor costs and accurate dispensing.

ScriptPro’s Coughlin says there is concern about where labor costs are headed, particularly in markets where the push is on for minimum wage hikes.

“Minimum wage pressures will affect wage rates across the board, not just the cost of people working at the minimum wage level.”

There is also an understanding that sooner or later the economy will return to having general cost increases, which will affect the cost of technology investments, he says.

“Pharmacy operators are starting to factor in the strategic advantage of implementing robotics now at a fixed cost so they can control a major element of their operating costs for the long term.”

Innovation’s Jensen says setting a goal of direct pharmacist interaction for 100% of prescriptions will put pharmacies on the right path for delivering patient facing care and improving adherence.“By using technology — both central-fill and in-store, high-availability automation — to empower pharmacist redeployment, they can better recognize and reinforce adherence, and add value by consulting on patients’ disease states.”

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