To fully analyze the potential impact and benefits of implementing a pharmacy fulfillment solution, one must consider not only the short-term and long-term benefits, but the opportunities for ongoing continuous improvement that a robust fulfillment system can offer.
Let’s take a deeper look at the benefits customers could experience after partnering with us on a pharmacy fulfillment solution.
Reduced Carrying Costs
Reduced carrying costs is one of the first benefits that customers may be able to realize after solution implementation. Utilizing a central fill setting allows high-value drugs to be consolidated to a central location which can in turn reduce drug inventory and carrying costs. These are two important drivers when it comes to freeing up working capital. One of the first steps we often take with customers as we develop a fulfillment strategy, is to examine solutions that can consolidate high-value drugs into a central fill setting. As a result, the need to purchase and store these types of medications at multiple locations is greatly reduced. For some customers, implementing this strategy alone positively impacts their bottom line.
We all understand the concept of buying in bulk to receive savings, and it’s no different within the pharmacy setting. Centralizing inventory allows pharmacies to benefit from bulk purchasing which could result in reducing the cost per pill. To best take advantage of bulk purchasing as part of a centralized fulfillment strategy, it’s important to engage with the purchasing team early on, during the solution design phase. If purchasing patterns are incorporated after the launch of the pharmacy fulfillment strategy, it can reduce the impact of the financial benefit and negatively impact operational efficiency when it comes to replenishment of solid dose automation.
Improved Operational Efficiency
When considering a pharmacy fulfillment strategy, it’s important to understand the extent to which dispensing can be shifted out of a retail setting. Centralizing fulfillment and the associated tasks may provide multiple benefits.
Improved pharmacist performance – Shifting dispensing out of retail to a central fill center could result in reducing the distractions that pharmacists face, allowing them to be more focused, and attentive to their tasks. Pharmacists may find they have more time to interact meaningfully with their patients, which could result in improved compliance from patients and expanding retail patient care service offerings.
Reduced personnel costs – Centralizing fulfillment may allow for improved control over personnel costs, another factor in further reducing cost to fill. To help improve performance across the pharmacy footprint when it comes to developing a fulfillment strategy, it is important for pharmacies to thoroughly establish the definition of distinct tasks to ensure that staffing across the pharmacy footprint remains balanced as the solution is implemented.
As an example, instead of a manual fill operator leaving their station to retrieve a product that is running low, a runner works in parallel with the manual fill operator to ensure the station remains stocked, allowing the operator to minimize their movements. This can result in increased efficiency and reduce lost cycles. Queue-based warehouse management systems built with pharmacy in mind aid in this process.
Data-Driven Continuous Process Improvement
A benefit of a pharmacy fulfillment strategy which is sometimes initially overlooked is analytics. Pharmacy fulfillment solutions provide robust fulfillment analytics, particularly around process and workflow, allowing for ongoing data-driven process improvement. Customers that truly embrace the productivity benefits of pharmacy fulfillment are often able to incorporate at least two process improvement projects each year, informed by the operational gains they have already achieved and their commitment to further reduce fill costs.
At iA, we partner with our customers to help them learn from the data provided by our analytics. As an example, iA field engineers worked with system operators at a central fill facility, teaching them about the importance of the overall performance of cycle fulfillment and inviting them into the conversation to help inform enhancements to the process and workflow. This type of ongoing collaboration allows iA staff and our customers to both teach and learn from one another.
To learn more, contact us.