Dispensing meds to patients hasn’t always been convenient or easy. However, with the rise in prepackaged medications in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, we now know it can be. Pre-packaged medications offer a wealth of benefits to physicians and patients alike.
The FDA approved medication repackaging in the 1980s so that healthcare providers could dispense medications as needed without taking too much time away from direct care. Healthcare professionals have continued to benefit from this decision — especially now that prepackaged medications have become so prevalent.
Pre-packaged prescription medications enhance patient care in several ways. Learn about how medication dispensing can improve patients’ experiences in real-time, as well as make healthcare providers’ jobs easier.
Streamlined Medication Dispensing Processes
Medication dispensing can be a time-consuming and costly process without solutions and conveniences like prepackaged medications. Pre-packaged medications that have been repackaged for patient and provider convenience simplify the medication dispensing workflow. Providers no longer have to fill or repackage prescription medications themselves — they’re already sorted and repackaged.
Reducing time and effort in medication preparation is important. Patients need direct care and personal connections with their healthcare providers. When providers are spending excessive amounts of time sorting medication orders and providing pharmacy services, it interferes with patient care.
Prepackaged prescriptions increase physician dispensing efficiency and practice productivity by default. With more time and resources available for caregiving tasks, physicians can improve patient outcomes.
Improved Medication Accuracy and Safety
Prepackaged pills are much less likely to result in medication errors due to problems with dosage or labeling. Using prepackaged medicines ensures that physicians are delivering the exact unit dose a patient needs — all while saving time and resources.
Prepackaged medicines enhance patient safety thanks to pre-measured doses. Dosing errors account for much of the medication errors in the field today. With prepackaged prescriptions ready to dispense at a moment’s notice, physicians can avoid these dangerous and even fatal issues.
Medication mix-ups are also a large cause for concern in retail pharmacies, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings. Giving a patient the wrong prescription drug can result in health complications and fatalities. It also reduces trust between providers and patients, which harms the reputations of practices everywhere. With prepackaged pills (and even simpler drugs like OTCs), providers can avoid these mistakes.
Enhanced Medication Adherence
Patient compliance with medication instructions is necessary to achieve positive health outcomes. Prescribing drugs does nothing if patients are unable or unwilling to follow through on the proper administration and dosing.
Prepackaged prescriptions, including inhalers and injectables, offer clear patient instructions and dosage information. This means that patients and caregivers are much more likely to administer prescription drugs and comply with medication instructions in the way that they should.
Boosting patient compliance leads to better treatment outcomes. Every healthcare professional wants the best for their patients, and you can help them achieve these outcomes by offering prepackaged medications.
Personalized Medication Management
Patients are people, not numbers. Unfortunately, when medication dispensing systems are complicated, time-consuming, and low in quality, patients can’t get what they need. Prepackaged medications help providers tailor medication regimens to individual patients’ needs.
Chronic conditions like long-term illnesses and disabilities require extensive drug regimens that can include everything from pillboxes, creams, and injectables to over-the-counter pain relievers and more. Controlled substances add even more complexity to the mix when treating chronic health problems. Prepackaged prescriptions and OTCs simplify medication regimens for chronic conditions, leading to increased patient satisfaction and better health outcomes.
Convenience and Accessibility
Another important benefit of prepackaged medications to consider is medication access. Many patients don’t have direct access to retail pharmacies. As a result, they also lack important pharmacy items. Prepackaged prescriptions deliver the right medication directly to the patient for self-administration or administration by a caregiver, eliminating this pharmacy accessibility problem.
You can also reduce pharmacy visits for prescription refills using this method. Prepackaged prescriptions make instructions clear and easy for patients and caregivers to follow. This results in fewer visits to retail pharmacies and a reduced need for pharmacy services overall.
Patient satisfaction is closely tied to convenience and ease of use. You are the patient’s (or caregiver’s) direct point of care. This means that you should do everything in your power to make medication management accessible for them. And with prepackaged medications, you can do just that.
Reduction in Waste and Expiry
Medication wastage is a major problem in the healthcare sphere today. It refers to the misuse or underuse of prescription drugs as a result of improper packaging, administration, or compliance. Prepackaged pills and OTCs minimize medication wastage using precise, clear packaging and labeling.
Expiration dates tell providers and patients when a medication is no longer safe to administer. Prepackaged prescription drugs help providers and patients manage medication expiry dates more effectively to cut down on waste and misuse.
Since this method reduces medication waste, it also results in cost savings for private practices, Medicare-based organizations, and many other healthcare institutions. Cost savings in turn translate to more resources for direct patient care.
Integration With Healthcare Technology
Technology is the basis of almost all healthcare operations today. Prepackaged medication data can be integrated with EMR systems to ensure that patients are getting what they need for proper health management.
This integration with EMR systems and other healthcare technologies enhances medication tracking and adherence monitoring. It allows your practice to keep track of who is and is not adhering to quality assurance standards.
Technology and prepackaged medications also streamline medication management through this essential integration. Your practice can benefit immensely from an integrated, connected technological approach to medication management.
Time and Cost Savings for Healthcare Providers
Healthcare providers may spend lots of time dispensing and managing medications. Prepackaged pills and OTCs cut down on the time required for medication dispensing, freeing up more resources for patient care and administrative duties.
This also helps lower labor and administrative costs. You may be able to keep a leaner staff and reduce labor expenses. This allows you to focus your resources on patient-centered care, which is what your practice is all about.
Addressing Medication Shortages
Medication scarcity is a big problem for patients today. Medication accessibility problems lead to worse health outcomes. And in some cases, they are even fatal for patients. Prepackaged unit doses allow patients to get what they need as they need it, thus avoiding medication shortages.
Medications like injectables and other long-term prescriptions are important for patients’ health and safety. You can mitigate the impact of supply chain disruptions by offering prepackaged medications to your patients.
Compliance With Regulatory Standards
Quality assurance and packaging regulations are serious standards that your practice must follow. Prepackaged prescriptions ensure compliance with healthcare laws and regulations, which means you can avoid disruptions in patient care.
Prepackaged pills are quality-assured medications that patients and providers alike can trust and rely on. You don’t have to deal with the hassle of quality assurance and legal regulations when you opt for these convenient medications. When your prepackaged prescriptions come with the necessary labeling and dosage information, everyone benefits.
Prepackaged Medication Solutions With Proficient Rx
Your practice can embrace the advantages of prepackaged prescriptions and provide better direct patient care. Use medication packaging conveniences to elevate patient care and medication management year after year. Contact Proficient RX to get started today!
Our web-based direct dispensing platform allows physicians, clinics, and hospitals to keep meticulous track of their orders and inventory, manage patient information, order prescription medication, print labels at the point-of-care, and simplify the process of prescribing and administering multiple OTC, generic, and branded prescription drugs, all in compliance with cGMP and FDA regulations.
It is plug-and-play, requiring no on-site installation or pesky software management, and our support staff are available around the clock to handle complications and troubleshoot issues. The only requirements are your individualized security credentials and an internet connection.