El Rio Health Center (El Rio) was established in 1969 and incorporated as a private, non-profit health center in 1973. El Rio provides community-based primary health care services to all residents of Pima County with a special emphasis on the underserved, and is the largest provider of medical services to the uninsured and Medicaid populations in Pima County. The pharmacy department provides patients with five inhouse pharmacy locations. Our pharmacy practice software system allows patients to visit any El Rio pharmacy location to fill their eligible prescriptions. The pharmacy department provides service to over 72,000 patients, filling approximately 380,000 pre scrip tions per year. In addition, we offer various drug discount and compassionate care programs. <more...>

CT: Tell me about the pharmacy operations.

Germano: We’re primarily here for US Family Health Plan, which is an alternative to TRICARE. We’re the HMO, while TRICARE is the PPO. We service both active duty and retired personnel. We also take other insurance plans such as MassHealth and TRICARE, and we take the employee health prescriptions for St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, which is our parent organization. We fill from 300 to 650 prescriptions a day and we’re only open during the week. I’d like to mention that we were number one in patient satisfaction for all US Family Health Plans this year, including all military plans. <more...>

How a progressive regional chain in the upper Midwest uses telepharmacy to provide service to a community in need.

In a recent ComputerTalk article, telepharmacy was defined as “a pharmaceutical care system in which pharmacists in a central location use telecommunication technology to oversee pharmacy operations and provide patient services, including prescription dispensing and counseling, to a remote pharmacy location.”

Tim Gallagher, vice president of operations for Austin, Minn.-based Astrup Drug, prefers to think of it, though, as perhaps the best strategy for enabling small towns in rural areas that have lost their pharmacies to continue providing local pharmacy services to their residents. <more...>

The University of Kansas Hospital is a 550-bed tertiary and quaternary care hospital located near the Kansas-Missouri state line. Founded in 1906 as the primary teaching hospital for the University of Kansas Medical Center, the current hospital facility opened in 1979 and a sixth floor was added in 2003 to accommodate increasing patient demand. The University of Kansas Cancer Center opened in August 2007 to support additional patient access to cutting edge cancer care. In FY08, the hospital serviced 22,430 inpatients and nearly 300,000 outpatients.

On weekdays, the inpatient pharmacy runs 22 daytime pharmacist shifts, with another six shifts in the evening, including clinical pharmacist shifts. For IV admixture preparation, we have two pharmacists who each spend four hours in the area— the equivalent of having one full-time pharmacist. Covering Critical Risk The initial objective of employing a telepharmacy program was to find a way to increase the presence of the pharmacist at a critical risk point during the preparation process, while making the most efficient use of our clinical pharmacy staff. <more...>

Automation can be expensive, so how can I rationalize it in the present economy? Now, more than ever, may actually be the best time. Let's evaluate.

We have always fought battles with the insurers, chains, credit card companies, discount card issuers, and everyone else that can figure a way to extract dollars out of our pharmacies. We do not expect that to change or get
better. But we have survived. Our profession has always been a battlefield, so the national economy is just another skirmish.<more...>

It’s said that a pessimist sees a glass as half empty, and an optimist views it as half full. As for Tom Cory, RPh, you’ll probably need a bigger glass to keep the water from spilling over the top.

Cory, born and raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, is owner of Standard Pharmacy, located only a few blocks away from where he grew up. He describes himself as “the local guy who made good and came home.”

And if you’re seeking the definition of the prototypical community pharmacist, look no further than Cory. “I know people’s date of births; I know people’s anniversaries. I know what people are going to do this weekend,” he says. “They know what I’m going to be doing. We have a very close relationship with a lot of our patients.”<more...>

The University of Kansas Hospital's use of ScriptPro's Telepharmacy brings added safety to the preparation process for chemotherapy medications.

The University of Kansas Hospital's decision to implement telepharmacy in the chemotherapy preparation room in July 2007 has demonstrated safety improvements.

Because there is no specific technology available for chemotherapy preparation, the Kansas City–based hospital turned to ScriptPro Inc. In March 2007, the hospital met with the company about using their telepharmacy product in the chemotherapy preparation area, and ScriptPro modified the system to meet the particular needs in the pharmacy department. <more...>

If you’re seeking to identify a “typical” independent community pharmacist, Matt Mallinson, RPh, would probably be as good a candidate as any. He’s the owner of Matt’s Medicine Store, located in Independence, Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. The bulk of the 1,200-square-foot pharmacy’s business is in prescription sales, Mallinson says, with a fairly small front end and OTC section, along with a limited home/assisted living service. <more...>

Telepharmacy, which enables pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical services from a remote location, now helps improve safety in the chemotherapy preparation room. ScriptPro’s Telepharmacy system was recently implemented at the University of Kansas Hospital, the first chemotherapy preparation room supported by this technology. <more...>

Drug distributors often try to bundle pharmacy dispensing technology with distribution contracts. These arrangements, targeted primarily at independent pharmacies, are designed to tie critical business systems to long-term drug purchase commitments. Are these types of contracts good for independent pharmacies?. <more...>

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center presents a case study utilizing ScriptPro's SP Central Workflow System. By Lucy M. Moyer, RPh, and Lori Bertrand, RPh. <more...>

Technology is taking over many routine tasks and giving pharmacists more time to spend on patients. “An investment in the right technology is an absolute necessity in today’s business climate to control costs and operational efficiencies.” <more...>

While any supermarket pharmacy welcomes new business, 400 to 500 prescriptions per day can be a lot to handle. No matter how well staffed the pharmacy is, there’s still the challenge of execution. With so many prescriptions flying around, even the most skilled pharmacy staff can make the occasional mistake or, at the least, face delays in filling them all. <more...>

Aurora Health Care and its pharmacy system have earned a reputation as an early adopter of new technologies and treatment options. Having installed ScriptPro automation in its pharmacies, robots now fill between 40% and 60% of prescriptions at most Aurora pharmacies and have resulted in improvements in patient safety, inventory management, recruitment efforts, and the work environment. <more...>

Drug Chains are exploring the use of cutting-edge technologies to help them keep up with increased demand, and to give their pharmacists more time to spend with patients. CDR asked eight retailers and suppliers to shed light on the role technology will play as community pharmacy moves forward. <more...>

THIS ARTICLE will compare the two major delivery systems for prescription drugs, namely the “pour and count” (P&C) system generally used in the United States and Canada, and the “unit of use” (UOU) system found in Europe and other parts of the world.<more...>

Get set for the next wrinkle in pharmacy services—Telepharmacy. Organizations as large as the Department of Veterans Affairs and as small as two friendly pharmacists are using Telepharmacy to expand their professional reach.<more...>

As the population ages, pharmacists are looking for safe and efficient methods of providing health care, particularly to elderly patients and other residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities. One of the obstacles many face is providing LTC facilities with a high volume of prescriptions while still filling prescriptions and counseling patients in their pharmacies.

For Jack Loveland, R.Ph., the owner of Beacon Pharmacy in New Britain, Connecticut, the solution was using ScriptPro's SP Central Workflow Management System and SP 200 Robotic Dispensing System to automate the prescription-filling process. <more...>

The positive impact of ScriptPro's robotic and workflow technology is measurable. We have tracked a significant and steady decrease in medication errors (now less than ..01%) due to the technology's ability to prevent wrong-patient, wrong-dose, and wrong-drug errors. <more...>

When Jason Cuaderes, director of pharmacy for the Mays and Med-X divisions of USA Drug, decided to automate some of the chain's pharmacies, he was not looking to replace pharmacists and technicians. He wanted them to have more time to spend with patients. <more...>

Robotic prescription dispensing systems are breathing new life into an industry where time is a luxury and space is at a premium. Kelly and Nancy Selby were overwhelmed by the workload at their community pharmacy in Denton, Tex. <more...>

ScriptPro has received the top ranking in the industry for pharmacy automation, according to the WilsonRx Pharmacist Satisfaction Survey.<more...>

Independent community pharmacy is also embracing technology to enhance business. Workflow processes, e-prescribing and e-connectivity, integrated voice response (IVR), automated dispensing systems, pre- and post- editing systems, and point of sale (POS) systems may have sounded like futuristic terms a few years ago, but they are common tools today. <more...>

With an increasing number of prescriptions that must be filled on a daily basis, pharmacists are faced with many concerns, such as inventory management, maintaining an efficient workflow, and preventing medication errors. <more...>

How do you remain a neighborhood institution for more than 75 years ... even when your neighborhood has undergone demographic change? And how do you offer the same quality services in a neighborhood as an independent pharmacy when you are surrounded by several chain pharmacies? Commitment to customer service is one way. Staying abreast of the latest technology is another.<more...>