The pharmacy industry is saturated with pharmacy management solution options. From solutions designed to operate across multiple locations to software designed to meet the needs of specialty pharmacies, there’s no shortage of options to choose from. With this wide variety in mind, picking the right pharmacy management solution for your pharmacy can seem daunting. How can you determine which solution is the right one for you?
The following questions can help you sort through the many solutions on offer to find the one that will best fit your pharmacy’s specific wants and needs.
Does It Foster Patient-Centric Care?
Patient-centric care is the future of independent pharmacy. In recent years, pharmacists have moved into a broader role when it comes to providing healthcare to their patients, and this trend is projected to continue. This includes things like working with physicians to ensure cohesive care, expanding pharmacy offerings by bringing in specialty services, and even offering more diversified, non-pharmaceutical items at their pharmacies. The right pharmacy management solution should be designed to not only help you perform these patient-centric actions but enable you to do so effectively and efficiently. Not only will this allow you to provide your patients with a high-level of specialized care, but it will also boost both patient loyalty and revenue.
An outdate pharmacy management solution that isn’t patient-centric, however, can make keeping up with the wants and needs of your patients a much more difficult task.
Can It Grow and Change with Your Pharmacy’s Needs?
Putting it simply, a static solution is of no help to your pharmacy in this day and age. As previously touched on, the role of pharmacists and pharmacies has expanded. With this comes a continuous push to meet the expectations of your patients in terms of care, services, and medicines available to them. A robust pharmacy management solution should be adaptable enough to grow with your pharmacy, instead of holding it back. This means you should be able to add new modules and services with ease, things like:
- Drive-thru or curbside pick-up options
- Vaccination scheduling, ordering, and administering to eligible patients
- Specialty care options, like those related to weight-loss, medication adherence, and lab tests
Does the Vendor Nickle-and-Dime You for Add-Ons?
Speaking of new modules and add-ons, a big red flag to watch out for in a pharmacy management solution is the hidden costs these services might incur. Are modules free for you to add as needed, or will your solution’s vendor require a fee per new add-on? Watch out for the wording in contracts regarding what features are available to you. If things like IVR, robots for automate prescription distribution, and patient portals aren’t included in your initial version of your pharmacy management solution, it’s likely you’ll have to pay to add them later.
Does It Make Your Workflow More Efficient?
An efficient workflow is vital to keep your pharmacy organized, improve medication delivery, and enables you to interact more with your patients. With a pharmacy management solution working with your pharmacy, you’ll have more time for one-on-one interactions, while the software and other staff members can handle the other important operational tasks. The right pharmacy management solution should support a workflow that includes:
- An easy-to-follow system that orders tasks by importance and timeliness
- Clear, simple responsibilities for each staff member during their shifts
- Prioritized prescriptions that places immediate items or orders at the front of the queue
- Checks and rechecks to ensure that the right medication is reaching the right patient
Does It Make It Easy to Get Paid for Clinical Work?
Getting reimbursement for clinical work can be a huge revenue opportunity for your pharmacy—if your solution works to identify these opportunities. A robust, modern solution will ensure that available clinical opportunities for your patients appear directly within your existing workflow, making it easy to identify and complete them. Additionally, you should be able to see available earnings before agreeing to an opportunity, preventing you from wasting valuable time on an item with little to no benefit to your pharmacy.
Are You Using the Right Pharmacy Management Solution?
If you’re currently using a system that meets all of these criteria, that’s wonderful! If not, or if you’ve yet to bring a solution into your pharmacy, it might be time to evaluate your available options.
Transaction Data Systems (TDS) is the leading independent pharmacy solution vendor that works with pharmacists to enable them to diversify and improve their profitability through patient-centric care and clinical opportunities. Our diverse and robust features help our customers—independent pharmacists and their staff—navigate the challenges faced by modern pharmacies. All of our signature offerings, Rx30, Computer-Rx, and PrescribeWellness, have all been designed to bridge the gaps in coverage that many other pharmacy solutions can’t cover. As the only complete solution with paid clinical revenue opportunities integrated directly in workflow, TDS proudly champions a patient-centric approach to pharmacy care.
Want to learn more about how TDS can help take your pharmacy into the future? Click here.
