Med-Fast Pharmacy located
inside the Shop 'n Save (Bethel
Park, PA) has the distinction
of being the first community pharmacy
in the country to launch the Parata
Automated Product Machine (APM).
The implementation of self-service
technology in pharmacies gives individuals
the option of when they pick up
their prescriptions. The machine offers
safe, secure,
private self-service pickup
for prescriptions 24 hours a day. It also
reduces clutter and confusion at pickup
and ensures more complete, accurate
orders.
"Med-Fast wanted
prescriptions to
be available to customers
24 hours a
day to fit with their
lifestyles," said Gino
Cordisco, RPh, director of store operations.
The company saw the machine at
a July 2007 trade show and, shortly after,
purchased it. The prescription pickup
station was deployed at the Bethel Park
location in March. The site was chosen
because it is a 24-hour grocery store,
and customer surveys indicated that
individuals in the area were in favor of
the APM because they shopped late at
night for groceries, he explained.
Med-Fast Pharmacy has 18 retail
locations, a long-term care pharmacy,
a compounding only pharmacy, and a
Home Health Care division all located
throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Located next to the pharmacy, the
APM sits with one side accessible to
employees behind the counter, and the
other side is available to patients. The
process for filling prescriptions has not
changed with the implementation of the
APM. Pharmacists still fill scripts called in
by patients or physician offices or scripts
dropped off. After the medications are
verified, the bar-coded bags are then
stapled to a plastic handle. The pharmacy
staff scans the prescriptions into
the pharmacy management system and
loads them into the machine, which can
hold up to 450 bags of medication. Bulk
items or refrigerated medications cannot
go into the machine.
In order to ensure
privacy and accuracy,
patients register
at the pharmacy
counter and receive
an exclusive personal
identification
code. Using the special
identification,
a patient creates a
personal identification
number to use
the machine to access their profile. The
patient selects the medication(s) to be
picked up. Before the medications are
dispensed and paid for electronically,
patients must accept or decline counseling
by a pharmacist. If they elect counseling,
the patients pick up a telephone
on the machine and are connected with
a Med-Fast pharmacist. If it is after the
pharmacy closes, on-call pharmacists
have remote capabilities that allow them
to pull a copy of the scanned script and
look at everything they need to counsel
patients, explained Cordisco.
He stressed that patients receiving
new prescriptions are given the option
of counseling when they drop off the
script and again when they pick it up. If
the script is called in by the physician's
office, the pharmacist calls the patient to
offer counseling prior to filling the script
and loading it into the machine.
The feedback from both patients
and pharmacy staff has been positive.
Patients enjoy the convenience, and the
pharmacy department likes having the
machine as an option for prescription
pickup because it frees staff for patients
on new or complex drug regimens or
who want additional help with their
health care needs.
"Med-Fast is leading the future vision
of pharmacy, continually leveraging technology
to meet and exceed customers'
expectations for fast, accurate service,
and access to their pharmacy team,"
said Tom Rhoads, Parata's executive
vice president. "Parata is committed to
helping pharmacies like Med-Fast make
the transformation from fulfillers to providers
with technology solutions that
enhance patient safety and convenience
at key touch points. Parata APM plays an
exciting part in that strategy by changing
the way prescriptions are served to
customers."
Cordisco said plans are in place to
rollout APMs at other Med-Fast pharmacies
after they get approval for pharmacy
renovations and receive positive
feedback from other pharmacy locations
with a need for the technology.
Inside the Issue
