Vertical Systems Reseller - May 2006
A pharmacy is no longer one person behind the counter, manually filling prescriptions. Pharmacies are increasingly utilizing new technologies to make their businesses run more efficiently, while maintaining the most important element — accuracy. For Senior Care Pharmacy, a Lakewood Fla.-based pharmacy that delivers prescriptions to customers, maintaining prescription accuracy was key. Business began rapidly increasing in early 2004, potentially upping the chance of human error when filling and shipping prescriptions. Evelyn Beach, Senior Care’s pharmacy director, realized that the establishment needed to take a more sophisticated approach to tracking and packing prescription medications.
“The main reason for implementing a new solution was for quality assurance,” says Beach. “We wanted something that would allow us to improve our quality and have double checks in our pharmacy to minimize errors that occur due to human nature. We needed to make sure that the product we pick is the product we’re sending out; something that is very important to all pharmacies.”
Beach enlisted the help of QS/1 Data Systems, a Spartanburg, S.C.-based IT company specializing in pharmacy management software. QS/1 took the reseller approach and worked with hardware vendor Metrologic to design an integrated solution comprised of pharmacy management software and bar code scanners tailored to Senior Care’s needs.
“We were the pharmacy’s IT vendor already, and as Senior Care became busier, they approached us about how they could become more efficient,” says Jim Hancock, sales manager, institutional market, QS/1 Data Systems. “That’s when we started suggesting bar coding and scanning software that would allow them to fill prescriptions in a more structured way, and follow the order all the way through the pharmacy.”
Hancock recommended QS/1’s PrimeCare software, integrated with Metrologic’s MK9535 scanner. According to Hancock, bar codes are how Senior Care identifies drugs and prescriptions in the pharmacy workflow, and the integrated solution increases speed and accuracy. “It’s also a safety thing,” adds Hancock. “We can match the bar code of a prescription number and the system can give a picture of the drug.”
The installation was fairly seamless according to Hancock, largely due to QS/1 integrating its software with the Metrologic scanners off-site prior to the implementation. This approach helped ensure that, upon arrival, the system was essentially plug-and-play. “We programmed the scanners ahead of time so that they would be able to recognize pharmacy bar codes, making them plug-and-play as soon as we got to the customer site,” explains Hancock. “Senior Care didn’t need to do any integration themselves.”
The installation was completed almost two years ago and the new system has been helping Senior Care run more accurately and efficiently ever since. QS/1 initially implemented its software with the wired version of Metrologic’s MK9535 scanner, but when the wireless models became available, Senior Care added them for help in the delivery aspect.
According to Beach, her largest obstacle was the human factor. “Once everyone was trained to use the system, after a month I was hearing ‘boy, this works pretty well’ from the people who resisted the most.” |