Since March 2020, the world has been under the thumb of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it first struck, many thought it would be over by the fall. All the measures that people and businesses were putting in place were only temporary. Life as normal would be able to resume once the temperatures started dropping.
But that didn’t happen. As of November 2020, the pandemic is ongoing, and cases are at their highest.
We need to face it — we’re in this for the long haul. A vaccine will be developed, but it’s not here yet. Pharmacies are beginning to shift from short-term thinking to long-term planning. They have options on how to keep their businesses thriving while also helping patients in their communities live fuller lives. And, believe it or not, three ways you can help both your business and your community are tied to one practice: medication synchronization.
Investing in and implementing a med sync program can have a huge impact on the health of your pharmacy and your patients. Here are three ways that med sync can pandemic-proof your pharmacy:
Boost Revenue & Patient Outcomes with Added Prescription Fills
One of the most immediate benefits of medication synchronization is fewer trips to the pharmacy for your patients. When they can get all their medications for the month at the same time, it limits their potential exposure to coronavirus. And while reduced trips to the pharmacy might impact your front-end pharmacy sales, there’s a bright side. That impact will likely be made up by the increased prescription fills you get from the med sync program.
Another bonus of those added prescription fills? Improved medication adherence. And with improved medication adherence comes better star ratings for your pharmacy.
Enhance & Expand Your Prescription Delivery Program
Many of your patients are homebound already due to age or disability. With the pandemic, even more are staying home for the foreseeable future. This means less foot traffic into your pharmacy and also potentially decreased medication adherence in your patients.
With med sync, you can expand and accelerate your delivery program. This will help the patients who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes while also keeping your revenue streams moving and reliable. Med sync allows your prescription delivery program to operate more efficiently, delivering an entire month’s worth of prescriptions to your delivery customers at once rather than numerous individual prescriptions on different days. Syncing your delivery patients’ meds will allow you to reach more people in the same amount of time.
Improve Pharmacy Workflow for More Time with Your Patients
For many patients, a doctor’s office is simply not the place to be right now. Offering clinical care at your pharmacy could be a lifesaver for both your community and your business, but you can only do it if you make time for it. In a recent FDS webinar, pharmacist Mark McCurdy, RPh of Mark’s Pharmacy said, “Don’t try to fit clinical care into your dispensing schedule. Fit dispensing into your clinical care schedule.”
Medication synchronization can help you make more time for clinical care in your pharmacy. When you add that level of predictability to your dispensing, it’s easier to establish clinical care hours and schedule the bulk of your dispensing time around them.
Medication synchronization can be a game-changer for independent pharmacies. In the middle of a nationwide crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be a lifesaver.
To read more about the benefits of implementing a med sync software solution in your pharmacy, read our case study entitled, “Getting Off the Technology Sideline.” It details how the Advanced Care Provider Network in Michigan used FDS ENGAGE’s med sync solution to free up hours every day for their Director of Clinical Care and improve workflow in their pharmacies.
Also, watch our webinar on this same topic hosted by Kristina Kent and featuring special guests Austin and Erika Brown from Advanced Care Provider Network!
