Independent pharmacy is changing and pharmacy management systems are revolutionizing the way pharmacists fill and manage prescriptions. From enhancing patient safety to streamlining workflow, your pharmacy management software is a powerful tool that’s there to help. The best retail pharmacy systems on the market offer fully customizable workflow solutions designed to help manage the flow of prescriptions day to day in an independent pharmacy. Datascan’s pharmacy software has a fully customizable workflow system that can be tailored towards the needs of any community pharmacy using the system. Let’s take a look at some of the most common workflow problems and how you can help solve them using your pharmacy management software.
Bottlenecks
A bottleneck refers to a specific stage of the workflow process that faces significant slowdowns or limitations, often resulting in backups and delays. Bottlenecks are one of the most common problems facing independent pharmacies. Bottlenecks in your pharmacy’s workflow can cause longer wait times for patients, causing frustration among patients and staff. Pharmacy software can help avoid bottlenecks by introducing a workflow system in your pharmacy. The best pharmacy software systems have multiple workflow settings that help you organize prescription filling into steps and tasks for each pharmacy staff member. Using a pharmacy management software workflow will help staff better manage prescriptions that need to be dispensed and verified, moving things along quickly and efficiently.
Data Entry Errors
Accurate and efficient data entry is one of the most important steps in filling a prescription. Data entry errors can occur, especially in a busy pharmacy, so your pharmacy must take all steps toward ensuring accuracy. There are many safety checks and optional workflow settings an independent pharmacy can use to help reduce data entry errors.
The best pharmacy software can help by:
- Adding pre-edit checks that scan prescriptions at data entry for appropriate doses and ranges of therapy
- Confirming that prescription written dates are entered correctly
- Checking to see if DAW codes are set properly
Even after you’ve completed data entry in your pharmacy system, you can use additional features like a pre-verification that enables your pharmacist to verify prescription data before technicians dispense medication. All of this can help ensure prescriptions are entered correctly and do not need to then be reversed and rebilled.
Dispensing Errors
Dispensing errors are common but avoidable problems for independent pharmacies. While meticulous dispensing is critical to ensure patients receive the correct medication, even the most careful pharmacists can make mistakes. The best pharmacy systems include options and settings to help avoid accidental dispensing errors. Utilizing a workflow that includes a specific dispense step is a great way to help make sure the correct medications are going out. A dispense step provides a visual verification including pill images, prescription images, and the ability to barcode scan NDC numbers from stock inventory bottles. Barcode scanning of stock NDC bottles can also be a part of pharmacist verification, which is an additional safety check before prescriptions are given out to patients.
Managing Rejected Claims
In an independent pharmacy, especially a busy independent pharmacy, it can be difficult to keep track of rejected claims. Depending on the specific workflow of the pharmacy and the capabilities of the pharmacy management software, rejected prescriptions may be sent to a specific workflow queue to fix and manage at a later time. Some pharmacy systems are unable to organize rejected claims and this can make it difficult for staff to locate and fix these pending prescription claims. In the best pharmacy software, staff can work through an organized workflow queue dedicated to rejected claims to resolve issues and get patients’ prescriptions filled.
Disorganized Staff
One of the most common frustrations and complaints from independent pharmacy owners is that their staff is disorganized and so the prescription fill process becomes chaotic. Using your pharmacy software is the best way to help manage and organize your staff while simultaneously streamlining your prescription fill process. Datascan includes customizable workflow solutions built into the pharmacy system that allow you to assign staff to specific workflow steps such as data entry, dispensing, and verification. Staff can be assigned to specific steps in the workflow, ultimately helping them fill and dispense quickly and efficiently. Using the system options in Datascan’s pharmacy management system also helps to avoid data entry and dispensing errors while keeping pharmacy staff on task.
Final Thoughts
Modern pharmacy software systems are designed to help you build efficiency and streamline day-to-day tasks. The best pharmacy software on the market is going to help pharmacy owners overcome many common workflow problems by allowing them to implement and organize workflow, build in safety checks, and help prescriptions make their way out the door and to your patients.
Kevin Minassian is the President of Datascan Software. Under his leadership, the company rapidly expanded to provide pharmacy management software on a national level. Over the last 15+ years, he has ensured that Datascan has continuously evolved to offer innovative solutions for independent pharmacies while still offering world-class customer support. He is passionate about helping independent pharmacies to remain competitive, achieve success, and offer the very best service to their communities.
