Improving patient care is always a priority for pharmacy staff, especially as they grapple with ongoing staffing challenges and a shortage of primary care providers. They want their patients to have quality experiences, even amidst these issues. At the same time, pharmacies must consider whether to embrace pharmacy technology as a potential solution to address personnel shortages, while weighing potential disruption and the learning curve associated with implementing a central fil system.
With so much already on their plate, it can be easy to understand the hesitation of already overworked pharmacists when faced with yet another change. Instead of viewing central fill as a challenge to be overcome, it is important to consider the advantages it can offer, including improved medication adherence by patients.
Central fulfillment solutions can help to improve the medication adherence of patients in several ways, freeing up valuable time for pharmacists by automating functions including counting pills and filling vials. Reducing the amount of tedious manual tasks for pharmacists allows them to focus more on patients in many ways.
Central fulfilment can be an important component in improving patient medication adherence.
- Reduced backlog due to staffing issues means more prescriptions filled on time, eliminating delays in patients receiving and beginning to take medications.
- Pharmacists could have more time to provide counseling and education to patients.
- Pharmacy staff can better prepare for and execute patient medication therapy management appointments.
- Spending more time with each patient means pharmacists can gain a greater understanding of the patients’ medication regimen, address questions, and help them to improve adherence.
- More patient care services can be provided at the pharmacy level, filling a much-needed gap during a shortage of primary care providers and providing more of a one-stop-shop for healthcare needs.
- In some cases, medications can be sent from a centralized fulfillment center directly to a patient’s home, increasing convenience and hopefully, adherence.
- Centralized fulfillment solutions can be equipped with packaging options including blister packs and multi-dose systems, designed to increase medication adherence.
Rather than being seen as another challenge to be overcome, or a threat to job security, pharmacy automation solutions can provide benefits to both pharmacy staff and those they serve, allowing pharmacists more time to counsel and care for patients, ideally resulting in greater medication adherence and a positive impact on the health of those in the community.
Want to learn more about the value of centralized fulfillment? Download the full white paper here.