Datascan Featured Client: Vanco Pharmacy
Everyone knows the old adage “if you love something set it free, if it comes back it was meant to be.” Who ever thought that could apply to a pharmacy software vendor?! Vanco Pharmacy on Long Island has been in business since the 1970s and has become a staple in its town. The pharmacy industry has evolved by leaps and bounds since the 70s, and independent pharmacy Vanco has gone through an exorbitant amount of change to remain competitive and successful. Although Vanco is one of Datascan’s early clients, back in 2010 Vanco made the change to McKesson Pharmaserv after McKesson offered a package that was supposed to save them money across the board. The change was temporary, as Vanco quickly learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
(D) What made you decide to look at other pharmacy systems and switch to another vendor?
(V) We were having a really difficult time managing our front-end inventory the old school way. We were spending a lot of time walking the aisles, rotating stock, and constantly over ordering. The amount of stale inventory we’d end up with was overwhelming and the costs were becoming astronomical. We knew we needed to computerize the front-end and unfortunately at the time, we were not aware that Datascan offered a robust pharmacy point of sale product. We saw McKesson had POS, and that combined with the savings we hoped to see on the wholesale side, we figured we’d give it a shot. We did not want to have two different pharmacy management software vendors in the pharmacy, so we decided to switch the pharmacy system as well.
(D) What was the conversion process like moving pharmacy systems to McKesson from Datascan?
(V) It was hectic to say the least. It felt like nothing was organized or structured and the training was a nightmare. We had one person in the pharmacy training us on the pharmacy point of sale and pharmacy management system at the same time. As a busy store that was instituting a brand new system we fully expected more preliminary training and additional onsite personnel to assist in the transition. We were just happy to get through the initial conversion without aggravating too many patients.
(D) What did you like better about working with McKesson vs Datascan pharmacy software?
(V) Not a single thing. The only benefit for us at the time was the point of sale system, and of course that it was integrated with their Pharmacy Software. Outside of that, the pharmacy system itself was cumbersome and quite difficult to navigate. It was difficult to train our staff, especially our relief pharmacists. Customer service and support was horrible. You’d sit on hold so long that by the time a tech answered you usually figured out the answer yourself. Requesting changes to the pharmacy software was non-existent, so you had to hope you didn’t need anything special.
(D) What made you decide to move back to Datascan?
(V) After the few long and painful years we spent on Pharmaserv, we were thrilled to find out Datascan had an updated and robust pharmacy point of sale product. We actually terminated our contract with McKesson early because we couldn’t take it anymore. We were sick of overpaying and Mckesson underdelivering, so we jumped at the opportunity to move our store back over to Datascan. This was back in 2014 and we’ve been with Datascan ever since.
(D) What was your conversion back to Datascan’s pharmacy software systems like?
(V) We were understandably nervous since our move to McKesson was not a smooth transition. We spent countless hours combing through data making sure that everything was correct. We worked with Datascan staff to familiarize our pharmacists, technicians, and cashiers on the Datascan pharmacy system and POS, and it was just like riding a bike. We remembered the ease of use and flow of the pharmacy software, and learning the POS was a breeze. The onsite trainers were knowledgeable and made us feel very comfortable throughout the entire process.
(D) What would you say to a pharmacy considering converting away from their existing pharmacy software vendor?
(V) Do it, do it now. Finding a software vendor that knows the ins and outs of independent pharmacy like Datascan does is nearly impossible. You can tell that Datascan has input from pharmacists and the system works for you, regardless of your workflow or the type of pharmacy you run. Aside from the pharmacy software itself, I feel like we get so much for our money. We never pay extra for features like the patient mobile app and medsync. Anytime we have a question we can reach someone in support in less than a minute and they actually know what they’re talking about. We’ve tried another pharmacy system and can undoubtedly say that it’s a night and day difference working with Datascan. Anyone who’s not happy with their vendor and on the fence about switching should absolutely make the move.