Retail Pharmacy
Rite Technologies is a one-stop solution provider in the Healthcare software space with a rich experience of more than a decade. It established its footprint in the Retail Pharmacy in the US, and now plans to strategically expand further geographically and in other dimensions of healthcare. Our motto is to help industry across the globe, however, IP preservation and conflict of interest of our clients take the highest precedence in the entire journey.
Overview & Retail Pharmacy Landscape
The US Retail Pharmacy, particularly the Community pharmacy sector, is a crucial healthcare provider and an important local employer. Despite the dominance of major chain pharmacies, there are 19,397 independent community pharmacies in the US, which is significantly more than any individual chain.
In 2021, the entire economy faced various challenges that affected community pharmacies. One major issue was the acute labour shortage, with over 80 per cent of community pharmacists reporting difficulties in filling positions. Technicians were particularly challenging to find, according to more than 90 per cent of respondents.
As of 2020, community pharmacies employed 215,000 full- and part-time workers, with an average store employing 11.1 employees. Wages for technicians, clerks/cashiers, and staff pharmacists increased, with technicians earning an average of $16.59 per hour, clerks/cashiers earning $12.00 per hour, and staff pharmacists earning $58.20 per hour.
The NCPA Digest highlights the ongoing challenges faced by community pharmacies, including declining prescription drug reimbursements and marketplace changes. In 2020, a typical independent community pharmacy dispensed 57,678 prescriptions (185 per day), representing a $67.1 billion marketplace, with 93 per cent of sales derived from prescription drugs. While average annual sales slightly increased to $3.46 million, gross profits saw a slight decline along with payroll expenses.
Overall, the retail pharmacy landscape in the US is undergoing significant transformations due to consolidation, the rise of online pharmacies, expanded services, price transparency, and advancements in technology. These changes have the potential to impact how consumers access healthcare services and products, as well as reshape the operations of retail pharmacies in the future.
Retail Pharmacy & Rite Technologies
We at Rite Technologies provide services to our customer(s) in Retail Pharmacy product(s) to enhance their overall end-client; (‘Store Pharmacy’s’) productivity, customer experience and increased customer relationship management. With our expertise in the domain, we are able to provide great value to our client(s) ensuring their end clients are ultimate beneficiary.
The end clients (Retail pharmacies) are stores or facilities dispensing prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and other health care-related products, services, screenings and vaccinations. These pharmacies may be located within a grocery or a departmental store. They can be stand-alone buildings or premises too.
At Rite Technologies we have helped our customers to help their end users (Pharmacists/Technicians/Owners) save time with:
✔ Solutioning based on detailed analytics and understanding of Retail Pharmacy business.
✔ Fulfilling orders quicker and automated re-fills for customers.
✔ Protection of security and privacy of Users’ data.
✔ Manage a central repository to record and manage data from different stores and help sync their data.
✔ Implement a Single Repository for a set of pharmacies.
✔ Transfer of records and all information for Rx, Patients, Insurance and Prescriber from store to central repository.
✔ Automate their refill process via various integrations with different IVR systems.
✔ Provide accurate data for labelling and dispensing of drugs with the help of robots of various Makers using robot-specific protocols and HL7 integration.
✔ Provide a secure Data Interface for authorising and sharing crucial patient and Rx-related data with authorised 3rd
✔ Capture records electronically for various legal requirements (varying from state to state) and system-integrated procedures to ensure compliance of all legal regulations for Pharmacies.
✔ Capture and process Co-pay via various payment mechanisms, along with state and federal laws for control drugs, pseudo federal drugs being addressed by specific Identity, signature capture and verification.
✔ Integration with various payment processors and devices certified with PCI ensuring credit, debit, EBT, FSA/HRA and tokenization requirements. Some of the payment processors are HPS, WorldPay / Vantiv, Elavon etc.
✔ Integration with OTC benefit networks to ensure better revenues for pharmacies and the health of their patients.
✔ Provision for accepting contactless payments with the help of payment links provided via SMS/Email.
✔ Help prepare batches for drugs to be home-delivered to customers for orders placed either online or drugs scheduled for delivery through auto-scheduler for refills.
Our Work
Pharmacy Management System (PMS)
Cloud-based and On-Premises, Individual, Multi Store, Chains
Point-Of-Sale (POS)
On-premise, cloud-based, SMS based, devices. With specific capabilities in healthcare domain having OTC, EBT, FSA/HRA and integration with various payment processors and devices
Integrations
- Vaccine Registries
- IVR: Integration with various third-party IVR systems for refills etc
- Medicine Packaging: for specialized blister/ MOT packaging.
- Robotic Pill Dispensing: integration with various robotic dispensing machines
- Wholesaler/Retailer integration (EDI): integration with top vendors like McKesson, Kinray, Cardinal and more for price catalogue, order and invoicing
- Delivery/ Shipping services: integration with courier and shipping platforms from various providers
- OTC Benefits – Integration
- Standard Approach for Payment Integration
PHARMACY SOFTWARES
Pharmacy Management System
Streamlining Pharmacy Operations with Advanced Pharmacy Management Systems
Introduction
Pharmacies play a vital role in the healthcare system, ensuring the safe and effective distribution of medications to patients. However, managing a pharmacy can be complex and challenging, with various operational tasks, regulatory compliance requirements, and patient safety considerations. Recognizing these challenges, a prominent pharmacy chain in the United States sought the expertise of Rite Technologies to implement an advanced pharmacy management system.
Challenges
The pharmacy chain encountered several hurdles in managing its pharmacy operations, including:
1. Manual and time-consuming processes: The pharmacy heavily relied on manual processes for medication dispensing, inventory management, and prescription processing. This led to inefficiencies, consumed valuable time, and increased the risk of errors.
2. Lack of real-time data and insights: The absence of a comprehensive system deprives the pharmacy of real-time data and insights regarding prescription volumes, medication inventory, and patient information. Consequently, decision-making became challenging without accurate and up-to-date information.
3. Compliance with regulatory requirements: The pharmacy grappled with meeting stringent regulatory requirements, such as prescription tracking, drug utilization review, and record-keeping. Managing these obligations manually proved cumbersome and time-intensive.
4. Patient safety concerns: Ensuring patient safety was a top priority for the pharmacy. They sought a system capable of identifying potential medication interactions, allergies, and dosage errors to minimize risks and protect their patients.
Solution
To overcome these challenges, the pharmacy chain opted to implement our client’s advanced pharmacy management system, which Rite helped to encompass the following key features:
1. Automated prescription processing: The system automated prescription processing tasks, including medication dispensing, label printing, and prescription tracking. This automation reduced manual effort, minimized errors, and streamlined the overall process.
2. Real-time inventory management: The system provided real-time visibility into medication inventory levels, empowering the pharmacy to optimize its inventory management practices. This enhanced control reduced instances of stockouts and overstocks.
3. Comprehensive reporting and analytics: The system generated comprehensive reports and analytics on prescription volumes, medication utilization, patient information, and other crucial metrics. These insights enabled data-driven decision-making, improving operational efficiency and patient care.
4. Drug utilization review (DUR): The system incorporated a DUR module that scrutinized potential medication interactions, allergies, and dosage errors. This functionality ensured that the pharmacy could promptly identify and address any medication-related safety concerns.
5. Regulatory compliance: Built-in features within the system facilitated compliance with regulatory requirements, including prescription tracking, record-keeping, and reporting. This streamlined the pharmacy’s compliance processes, reducing administrative burdens.
Results
The implementation of these advanced features helped our client’s to provide their end customer’s advanced pharmacy management system yielded several positive outcomes for the pharmacy chain, including:
1. Improved operational efficiency: Automation of prescription processing and real-time inventory management reduced the time and effort required for these tasks. This resulted in improved operational efficiency and a decrease in errors.
2. Enhanced patient safety: The system’s DUR module effectively detected and resolved potential medication interactions, allergies, and dosage errors. This contributed to enhanced patient safety and a reduction in medication-related incidents.
3. Informed decision-making: The comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities provided by the system empowered the pharmacy to make data-driven decisions. This optimization of operations and patient care led to improved outcomes.
4. Streamlined regulatory compliance: The system’s built-in features simplified the pharmacy’s compliance processes, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements without adding administrative burden. This allowed the pharmacy to focus on delivering quality care to their patients.
Conclusion
The implementation of these advanced pharmacy management systems successfully streamlined the operations of the pharmacy chain. By automating processes, providing real-time data, and facilitating regulatory compliance, the system improved operational efficiency, patient safety, and decision-making capabilities. Rite Technologies’ technical services and solutions has proven to be an invaluable tool for our client to to provide their end customers managing pharmacy operations effectively in the United States, benefiting both the pharmacy chain and the patients they serve.
Point of Sale
Point of Sale (POS) is crucial for the operational success of retail pharmacies. A real-time Pharmacy POS system efficiently retrieves prescription details from the Pharmacy Management System (PMS) for copay collection and payment collection for over-the-counter (OTC) items. It also captures important compliances such as HIPAA and state/federal consent from patients/customers. The POS handles various payment types, including cash, cheque, coupon, credit, debit, EBT, FSA/HRA, and OTC Benefit processing. Audit and compliance-related information is sent back to the PMS system. The POS solution should support multiple vendors/payment gateways/devices and offer omnichannel mechanisms for payment collection, including cloud, SMS, and email transactions.
Additionally, the POS is integral for inventory management, ensuring optimal inventory levels based on analytics data. Integration with wholesalers maximizes revenues and optimizes costs for pharmacy operations. Implementing an excellent modern POS empowers you/your clients to have complete control over operational efficiencies. Loyalty programs and other initiatives can be implemented to retain patients and increase repeat business while freeing up staff from manual processes.
At Rite Technologies, we specialize in knowledge of POS solutions explicit for thepharmacy industry. Our expertise covers payment integration, cloud migration, vendor integration, and other workflows crucial for the retail pharmacy domain.
Case studies
Cloud based POS solution
Case StudiesRite Technologies built a next gen cloud-based POS system for its customer(s) involved with small retail pharmacy businesses that was struggling to manage its sales operations and inventory. The business owner decided to build and roll out a cloud-based...
INTEGRATION
Vaccine Registry
The COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in 2020 placed an immense burden on the global healthcare system, including the United States. Initially, most vaccines were administered by prescribers, clinics, or hospitals. However, it became evident that achieving widespread immunization across the USA within a short timeframe was not feasible. To address this challenge and ensure efficient vaccination, pharmacies were authorized to administer vaccines, allowing patients to receive proper care while pharmacies contributed and earned additional revenues.
Presently, pharmacies administer various vaccines, including influenza, in addition to COVID-19 vaccines, to ensure positive patient outcomes. To facilitate this process, a centralized vaccine registry was established. This registry provides each healthcare provider and participant with a unified view of patients, preventing duplicate administrations and ensuring the success of repeat shots. Ultimately, the central registry minimizes costs for the healthcare system while maximizing patient outcomes.
At Rite Technologies, we helped our client to implement integration specifications with different state registries and central or third-party systems, enabling pharmacies to achieve compliance with central registry requirements.
Case studies
Vaccine Registry – Integration with Prescribwellness Registry solution
Case Studies Rite Technologies has a strong alliance with Local / Community Retail Pharmacy product(s) example of the integration of a vaccine registry with PrescribeWellness is the vaccination program implemented on behalf of our customer(s) Retail Pharmacy...
IVR implementation in Retail Pharmacy
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are a critical channel for businesses to interact with patients through voice or keypad inputs. We understand that the pharmacy business thrives on refills and refills form 90% of their revenues, At Rite Technologies by virtue of working with our client we have the expertise and experience to ensure that correct IVR inbound and outbound workflows are leveraged to ensure patient medication adherence and reminders and increase the business of Pharmacies via refills which contributes to more than 90% of any retail pharmacy. We have integrated with various established IVR providers like ATEB, TeleManager, VoW, SmartRPH etc for our existing clients.
Some key work done:
Integration of THE IVR system with the pharmacy management system
The IVR system should be integrated with the pharmacy management system to enable real-time access to patient prescription information, medication history, and refill status. This integration can enable patients to access their prescription information and request refills through the IVR system, reducing the need for manual intervention by pharmacy staff.
Prescription refill requests
Patients can use the IVR system to request prescription refills by providing their prescription numbers and other required information. The IVR system can confirm the refill request and provide an estimated time for pickup or delivery. The pharmacy management system can automatically process the refill request and notify the patient when the prescription is ready.
Medication-related information
The IVR system can provide medication-related information to patients, including dosages, side effects, drug interactions, and warnings. This information can be based on the patient’s prescription history and medication records, providing personalized information and improving patient safety.
Patient engagement
The IVR system can be used to engage patients and encourage medication adherence. For example, the IVR system can remind patients to take their medications at specific times, provide medication-related educational content, and offer motivational messages to encourage compliance.
Medicine Packaging
Incorrect medication provision or missed dosages can lead to critical conditions and hospitalizations, making it a significant concern. This issue is particularly prevalent among the elderly population who may have difficulty remembering or selecting the correct medication at the right time. Pharmacy medicine packaging plays a crucial role, especially for pharmacies serving long-term care (LTC) facilities or assisted living settings. Unit dose packaging is essential in these environments to prevent medication errors and staff confusion during administration.
Rite Technologies possesses the expertise to comprehend diverse specifications and standards necessary for integrating the Pharmacy Management System (PMS) with packaging interfaces by virtue of working with our client. With that, we were able to enable our client to handle the LTC requirements efficiently.
Case studies
Packaging interface
Case StudiesMedicine packaging in a pharmacy involves the use of unit dose packaging for a long-term care facility. The facility had been experiencing medication errors and confusion among staff regarding medication administration. The pharmacy decided to implement a...
Robotic Pill Dispensing
High-volume pharmacies often face overwhelming demand for prescription medications, resulting in increased potential for errors and delays. Pharmacy staff are often unable to prioritize patient care and counselling as they focus on ensuring accurate dispensing without errors. Robotic pill dispensing systems offer a reliable and efficient solution to manage this significant workload. These advanced machines accurately count, sort, and package medications, significantly reducing the risk of errors and improving overall efficiency. By automating these tasks, pharmacists can devote more time to patient care and counselling. Moreover, robotic pill dispensers greatly contribute to inventory management. Additionally, these systems provide automated proof of Drug Pick Verification (DPV) through image capture, ensuring compliance at initial levels. Only the final stage of pharmacist verification is required.
At Rite Technologies, we understand the specific needs of Pharmacy Management Systems (PMS) and possess expertise in integrating robotic pill dispensing solutions with various vendors. By virtue of working with our client and vendor, we helped them enable seamless workflows for automated DPV verification based on custom specifications and HL7-based protocols.
Case studies
Implementation of Robotic Pill Dispensing System in a Hospital Pharmacy
Case StudiesBackground: A hospital pharmacy was facing challenges in dispensing medication to patients in a timely and accurate manner. The manual process of counting and dispensing pills was time-consuming and prone to errors, leading to delays in medication delivery...
EDI Integration of Retailers with Wholesalers
At Rite Technologies, we understand the challenges and complexities involved in managing a streamlined supply chain. Our comprehensive EDI integration understanding and experience are designed to address these challenges and empower businesses like yours to achieve operational excellence.
Expertise of Rite Technologies for EDI integration:
Extensive Expertise
With years of experience in the industry, Rite Technologies has built a reputation for delivering top-notch technology solutions. Our team of experts possesses in-depth knowledge of EDI standards, protocols, and best practices. We have successfully implemented EDI integration for businesses across various sectors, helping them transform their supply chain operations.
Tailored Solutions
We recognize that every business has unique requirements. That’s why our EDI integration services are fully customizable to meet your specific needs. Our dedicated team can work closely with you to understand your workflows, document requirements, and systems architecture. Based on this analysis, we can develop a tailored EDI integration solution that seamlessly integrates with your existing infrastructure.
Seamless Integration
Rite Technologies is committed to delivering a smooth and hassle-free integration process. Our skilled technicians will handle the entire implementation process, ensuring minimal disruption to your daily operations. We will work closely with your IT team to integrate our EDI solutions into your systems, providing comprehensive training and ongoing support to guarantee a seamless transition.
Advanced Technology
Rite Technologies can leverage the latest technological advancements in EDI integration. Our robust and secure platform enables real-time data exchange, facilitating efficient communication between your business and your trading partners. We adhere to industry-leading security standards, ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of your sensitive business information.
Some benefits that our client have been able to provide their end customers by integrating EDI:
- Increased operational efficiency through streamlined supply chain processes
- Improved accuracy and reduced errors in ordering, fulfilment, and invoicing
- Enhanced visibility into inventory data and order status, enabling informed decision-making
- Significant cost savings by reducing manual data entry and paperwork, and optimizing inventory levels
At Rite Technologies we have integrated Catalog/Price (832), Order 850, Order Ack 855 and Invoice 832 for various vendors like Kinray, Cardinal, Mckesson and many others for our client.
Delivery / Shipping in Retail Pharmacy
With the advent of unexpected events like pandemic COVID-19, There were really challenging situations for the Medical fraternity ensuring they are not only protecting their patients but even protecting their own and staff’s health risks. At times patients requiring urgent medications were not able to come to stores and created a risk for adherence and critical condition handling. This situation sprang up a complete digital drive across the globe including the US, for need innovative ways to deliver and collect copays and compliance information from the patients and ensure that Retail Pharmacies are able to protect their patients, and business and innovate their services.
Rite Technologies has immense expertise in integrating with different delivery and shipping services related to retail pharmacies and can help our client to help their end customers to build a complete framework and ecosystem around that with necessary compliances needed.
Order processing
Facilities orders and individual orders.
Transportation logistics
Label generation, and end-to-end tracking with the delivery partner. Including capabilities of the mobile app for delivery drivers/agencies reporting live status back
Communication
Effective communication with customers for various stages and omnichannel opportunities to interact for confirming times, rescheduling etc.
By implementing effective delivery and shipping processes, we can help enhance the end customer experience and build customer loyalty, while also ensuring that medications and other healthcare products are delivered safely and efficiently to those who need them.
OTC Benefits – Integration
At Rite Technologies we understand the intent behind the OTC benefits introduction, considering a vast majority population is obese and old aged triggering frequent hospitalization can do a deep impact on MEDICAID and MEDICARE programmers.
In order to motivate people to be healthy and live better without falling ill or getting into critical conditions OTC Benefit programs have been introduced to ensure rewards/benefits are passed back to customers/patients for their choices of food items.
Our expertise in understanding the motive and workflow in the Pharmacy space sets us apart from the competition and we enabled our client to integrate with different vendors with their PMS and complete certification and go live for the same without breaching their PCI compliance needs.
Standard Approach for Payment Integration
Card present payment integration in a point-of-sale (POS) approach involves integrating a payment gateway or processing system with the POS software or hardware. This enables merchants to accept card payments directly through their POS system, which is especially useful for businesses that operate in a physical store or location.
The integration process typically involves the following steps:
1. Selecting a payment gateway or processor that supports card-present payments and is compatible with the merchant’s POS system.
2. Installing the necessary software or hardware components to connect the payment gateway or processor with the POS system. This may involve using APIs, SDKs, or specialized hardware such as card readers, pin pads, or contactless payment terminals.
3. Configuring the POS system to enable card present payments and setting up any necessary security protocols to comply with industry standards such as PCI DSS and EMV.
4. Testing the integrated system to ensure that card present payments can be processed smoothly and without errors.
Once the integration is complete, merchants can accept card payments directly through their POS system, which can help to simplify the payment process and reduce transaction times. In addition, some POS systems may offer additional features such as automatic inventory updates, sales reporting, and customer relationship management tools that can further streamline business operations.
However, it is important to note that card-present payment integration in a POS approach can be complex and may require specialized expertise or technical support. Merchants should carefully evaluate their options and work with experienced vendors to ensure that their payment processing systems are reliable, secure, and compliant with industry standards
Based on the business and region and %age charges which Store owners and they have to be very diligent in selecting the payment partner and the devices they shortlist.
At Rite Technologies we have expertise and experience in integrating various payment processors like Worldpay – Vantiv, Heartland, Elavon, OpenEdge etc with various devices right from the smallest ones to devices having screens capturing and displaying information by virtue of working with our client.
Also speciality integrations for Card on File (CoF), FSA/HRA, Authorization and other transactions.
Case studies
Payment Integration for Retail Pharmacy
Case StudiesOne of our customers in Pharmacy Management space needed to integrate card present payment integration in a POS system involving a small retail pharmacy that was struggling to keep up with the increasing demand for card payments. The business had...
STANDARDS
At Rite Technologies, it is our constant endeavour to provide you with cutting-edge solutions that streamline your operations, enhance patient care, and ultimately drive your business growth. In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, the adoption and utilization of industry standards play a pivotal role in ensuring efficiency, interoperability, and improved outcomes across various healthcare sectors, including retail pharmacies.
Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)
Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) is a healthcare data exchange standard developed by Health Level Seven International (HL7). FHIR is designed to enable healthcare data exchange in a modern and flexible way, using web-based technologies such as RESTful APIs and JSON data formats. It is quickly gaining popularity as a standard for healthcare data exchange and is being used in a wide range of healthcare applications.
By harnessing the capabilities of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards, Rite technologies empower retail pharmacies to optimize workflows, enhance patient care, and achieve operational excellence.
Rite Technologies has enabled our client to be committed to empowering retail pharmacies with our cutting-edge FHIR-compatible solutions. By leveraging our expertise, the client could unlock the power of interoperability, streamline operations, elevate patient care, and achieve new levels of efficiency
Case studies
FHIR Facade on Existing Retail Pharmacy database
Case StudiesOne example of using a FHIR facade on an existing retail pharmacy database is the case of Fred's Pharmacy, a regional retail pharmacy chain in the United States. Fred's Pharmacy wanted to integrate their pharmacy management system with external healthcare...
eRx Integration NCPDP
eRx integration using NCPDP is a widely used standard for electronic prescription processing in the United States. NCPDP (National Council for Prescription Drug Programs) is an ANSI-accredited standards development organization that creates and maintains standards for electronic transactions related to pharmacy services.
eRx integration using NCPDP involves the electronic transmission of prescription information between prescribers, pharmacies, and payers using a standardized format. The NCPDP SCRIPT (Standardized Controlled Prescription Drug Program) standard defines the format and content of electronic prescriptions, which includes patient information, medication details, dosage instructions, and refill authorization.
To implement eRx integration using NCPDP, pharmacies and other healthcare providers need to use an NCPDP-compliant pharmacy management system. The NCPDP SCRIPT standard provides a set of transaction types and message formats that enable the electronic transmission of prescription-related data between different healthcare systems.
We at Rite Technologies understand the NCPDP SCRIPT format for eRx’s and refills which have prescription information is transmitted to the patient’s preferred pharmacy using the NCPDP SCRIPT standard..
We have an understanding of the requirements for NCPDP SCRIPT standards and some customizations needed to integrate PMS’s to eRx platforms supported in the US.