Point-of-care dispensing, also called in-office medication dispensing, allows patients to get the medications they need right from their physicians without having to go to another location. By having medication access via a dispensing system right at the doctor’s office, patients not only receive the drugs they need immediately but also receive information on how to take the medication directly from their doctor.
By learning why medication dispensing is crucial for both patients and doctors, you can decide whether it’s an option that will work for your location. Proficient Rx helps you better understand point-of-care dispensing.
Benefits of Point of Care Dispensing
In-office dispensing programs offer multiple advantages that benefit both patients and your practice. Below are the key features that make doctor dispensing effective.
Improving Patient Outcomes
Physician dispensing lets patients get the medications they need immediately after a diagnosis. Doctors can ensure the patient doesn’t delay in getting treatment while also improving patient compliance. Patient compliance is usually a concern, with many people delaying getting their medications because of time constraints or being unsure of how to appropriately take the drugs.
A dispensing process that allows patients to receive the medications from their doctor guarantees that patients leave the location with the medicine they need. This also impacts patient satisfaction, making them more likely to return for future care.
Streamlining Workflow in Healthcare Practices
Point-of-care medication dispensing helps reduce delays in medication administration for patients while helping to avoid the process of dealing with pharmacies, which takes time and distracts from other care duties. Dispensing services also enhance efficiency. Once your staff learns to use the system, they’re able to provide the dispensing, refilling, and billing duties by simply pushing a few buttons.
By integrating into existing workflows, point-of-care medication dispensing allows you and your staff to spend less time on repetitive tasks and administration. In turn, you can focus more on patient care.
Medication Safety and Accuracy
Point-of-care dispensing helps reduce medication errors. It integrates medication management into the patient’s visit, making it possible for physicians to check that the patient receives the right medication and knows how to take it correctly. You can also check the prescription against the patient’s medical history to avoid issues with dosage, drug interactions, or allergies.
Convenience for Patients
The traditional pharmacy-based distribution model creates a friction-filled patient experience. Your patients have to drive to the pharmacy and wait for their prescriptions. If there are any delays, they may have to make a second trip to the pharmacy or call your office so that it can send clarifying instructions to the pharmacist.
In-office dispensing eliminates the need for a pharmacy visit and allows patients to leave your office with their medication in hand. They can start their medication right away, which is especially important when prescribing drugs such as antibiotics.
Providing a more convenient experience for patients can also boost your practice’s reputation. In turn, you may find it easier to acquire new clients and grow your business.
Enhanced Medication Adherence
Waiting to fill a prescription at a pharmacy can delay critical treatment. Patients who are already hesitant to begin a medication regimen may not pick up their new prescription if they encounter significant delays.
When dispensing medications in the office, you can ensure your patients receive their prescription drugs in a timely manner. Additionally, your team can provide critical education to promote patient safety and adherence.
If your patients understand why taking and completing a medication regimen is important, they are more likely to follow through with your proposed treatment plan.
You can also address other adherence issues, such as concerns about side effects or costs. The more involved you are in the medication dispensing process, the better your ability to deliver high-quality patient care.
Improved Patient-Provider Relationships
Patient trust has a direct impact on medication adherence and your practice’s overall reputation. When you are directly involved in the in-office medication dispensing, you can cultivate better patient-provider relationships and offer a personalized touch to the care journey.
Additionally, in-office dispensing gives your patients a chance to voice their concerns or ask questions about how to use the medication. Use this opportunity to address potential side effects, answer questions, and ensure patients feel confident about the treatment regimen you have created.
Efficient Care Delivery
By integrating medication dispensing into appointments, you can streamline office processes and improve efficiency. Your patients will no longer have to coordinate with a pharmacy, which reduces delays and confusion.
As the provider, you will have direct oversight of the dispensing process and can ensure patients leave with the correct medication.
How Point of Care Dispensing Works
The point-of-care dispensing model involves four key steps.
1. Provider Prescription
The first step in the POC model begins much like the traditional prescription model. The provider will evaluate the needs of the patient and make prescription recommendations based on their findings. This involves identifying the correct dosage and determining whether the patient requires the brand or generic version of a prescription.
Here’s where physicians have an opportunity to make medications more accessible in the POC model.
Since the office will be processing insurance coverage and estimating pricing in-house, providers will have access to accurate cost data for each prescription. Therefore, they can discuss the costs of different medications (i.e., brand vs. generic) and help the patient receive cost-effective options that fit their budget.
While the patient’s needs still take precedence over all else, providers can combat non-adherence by incorporating cost and insurance coverage into the conversation with the patient. This can lead to better outcomes and increased adherence.
2. On-Site Dispensing
After the provider has issued the prescription, the patient will receive the medication while still in the office. Office personnel can go over critical patient safety and dosage information while ensuring the patient receives the correct medication.
The in-house nature of POC dispensing drastically reduces the risk of miscommunications between the physician and the dispensary.
If a concern or question arises, office staff can easily clarify the matter with the provider. This virtually eliminates the risk of communication-related delays and allows patients to begin their medication regimens on the very same day.
3. Payment and Insurance Processing
The in-office dispensing model moves payment and insurance processing in-house as well. Your patient will pay for the medication on-site, and your office will process the insurance claim as needed.
Implementing the infrastructure to process insurance claims will require an upfront investment in technology and staff training. However, it is worthwhile, as processing prescription claims internally will create a supplement revenue stream for your practice.
A well-organized POC dispensing program can promote financial stability and may yield enough cash flow to support the growth of your practice.
4. Counseling and Instructions
You or your staff can provide instructions and medication counseling in-office. This is one of the most important parts of POC dispensing. Your patients already have an established relationship with your team. They trust you and your staff, which means they may be more receptive to medication counseling.
Additionally, patients can discuss any concerns they may have. This is a valuable opportunity to address misinformation, concerns about side effects, or other underlying issues that may impact adherence to your recommended treatment regimen.
POC dispensing also improves the follow-up process. When patients come back in for their next visit, you will have an opportunity to discuss medication efficacy and any new concerns or side effects that may have emerged since the last visit.
In-office dispensing gives you better oversight of the entire treatment regimen, enabling you to tailor your recommendations based on the unique needs of each patient.
Case Studies: Successful Implementation of POC Dispensing
The successful implementation of dispensing services offers the right level of patient care. Patients who struggle to fill prescriptions because of mobility issues or transportation problems don’t have to delay getting the treatments they need if they can receive them when they come for their doctor’s appointment. The same applies to older patients who may be unable to visit the pharmacy and stand in line.
One study published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice also found bedside dispensing services to be helpful. In particular, they proved to speed up discharge prescriptions for patients who needed to leave the hospital while ensuring they received their medications.
These services involved giving the prescriptions to the nurses to fill at the ward pharmacies instead of to patients and encouraging doctors to write prescriptions as soon as they decided to discharge a patient. These changes streamlined the whole process and ensured that patients had the medications they needed quickly.
The study additionally showed that the dispensing process was able to detect medication errors and provide greater cost savings. Furthermore, drug dispensing increased not only patient convenience but patient safety as well by being able to catch certain errors, especially those involving inappropriate dosages.
Industries That Utilize Point of Care Dispensing
Now that you know the answer to the question, “What is point-of-care dispensing?” take a closer look at the type of healthcare providers who typically offer point-of-care medication dispensing.
Primary Care Practices
Family medicine, direct primary care, and internal medicine practices often use point-of-care dispensing to expedite patient care. These practices frequently treat a focused assortment of chronic conditions. This allows them to build a medication inventory tailored to their patient population, which simplifies prescription management and compliance.
Urgent Care Centers
Urgent care facilities typically serve patients with immediate, short-term health needs. Providing medications onsite allows patients to start treatment right away. Minimizing delays in medication dispensing can reduce the risk of complications when dealing with infections or injuries.
Specialty Practices
Specialty practices may adopt POC dispensing to meet the unique care needs of their patients. For example:
- Dermatology clinics can dispense topical treatments or skin medications on-site
- Orthopedic offices may offer pain management medications or anti-inflammatory drugs
- Allergy clinics can provide immediate access to allergy-related prescriptions
These practices have focused patient populations and can accurately predict what types of medications they will need to keep on hand.
Employer-Based Clinics and Occupational Health Centers
Corporate health clinics, employer clinics, and occupational health facilities often use POC dispensing to support employee wellness and treat acute conditions. These clinics can help employees recover faster and reduce time away from work.
Employees benefit from having timely access to healthcare and medications when dealing with mild to moderate conditions. Businesses will enjoy better productivity and improved employee morale.
Addressing Challenges in Point-of-Care Dispensing
Point-of-care medication dispensing has many regulations in place, and compliance is vital. This is not always easy to achieve, however, especially with the different state regulations you need to adhere to.
Another challenge in point-of-care dispensing is insurance billing, which can become more complex if the proper measures are not in place. In instances wherein patients want to use their insurance to pay for medications, they may only be able to use pharmacies and not physician dispensing services.
Another worry is that, with doctors both prescribing and dispensing medications, there is only one set of eyes monitoring the patient. As a result, medication errors might occur at higher rates.
Addressing these challenges will require several steps to be taken, including the following:
- Educating physicians on the process of billing insurance companies successfully
- Establishing means of ensuring compliance with state and federal regulations
- Ensuring that the dispensing software is connected to Electronic Health Records to avoid prescribing the wrong medications
The process also involves promoting an atmosphere of continuous improvement, carefully noting what needs to change and finding ways of implementing those changes.
Looking to the Future: Emerging Trends
The trends in physician dispensing revolve around better software that integrates with existing services. Finding more streamlined ways of dealing with insurance is another focus. The continued development of point-of-care diagnosing and testing will also make dispensing easier, creating a cohesive system patients can depend on.
Regulations and standards are fluid and will likely change as new technology makes in-office medication dispensing more common. This is especially true for any controlled substances that require more oversight.
By making healthcare practices safer for patients and more streamlined for physicians, point-of-care dispensing is poised to become a transformative influence on the entire system and how it functions.
Simplify Medication Access With Proficient Rx
Point-of-care dispensing bridges the gap between prescription and treatment. It offers your patients immediate access to the medications and guidance they need. By eliminating common barriers such as pharmacy visits and delays, this model improves adherence and supports better health outcomes.
Integrating the dispensing process into your office’s daily workflow requires a compliance-centric dispensing system.
Proficient Rx offers the software you need to promote patient satisfaction and efficiently dispense prepackaged medications at scale. Our seamless technology offers a user-friendly experience designed to minimize the learning curve and encourage patient compliance.
Contact Proficient Rx to learn more about our dispensing software and other in-office dispensing solutions.
