Pharmaceutical Repackagers can be an asset to many practices, with less waste and better prices for patients.
Nearly 70 percent of American adults are on at least one prescription drug. Medication is almost ubiquitous in this country, and the production of pharmaceuticals is crucial to the continued well-being of hundreds of millions of people across the world.
Yet there are a lot of logistical problems to tackle in the field of pharmaceuticals, especially in the storage and use of wholesale large quantities of drugs.
How do you prevent large doses from going bad? Or control how much a patient takes? How do you help patients who have a difficult time keeping track of their meds ensure adherence to treatment?
How do you address the patient safety concerns posed by drugs packaged and sold in large quantities, especially when patients only need a handful over the course of multiple weeks?
This is where pharmaceutical repackaging steps in to fill a crucial niche for private practices, urgent care clinics, and hospitals alike.
A pharmaceutical repackaging company specializes in providing access to an individualized product line that affiliated practices and clinics can, in turn, offer to their patients. This means less drug waste, less drug abuse, less drug non-adherence, better prices for patients, better profits for doctors, and improved outcomes all around.
What is Pharmaceutical Repackaging?
Pharmaceutical repackaging is strictly defined by the FDA as the act of taking a pharmaceutical product – usually a prescription drug – from its original packaging and placing it within a different packaging without further manipulating or otherwise altering the drug.
According to the FDA, pharmaceutical packaging is not when a pharmacy takes a pill out of its package to place within a prescription vial for a patient, and it is not when a doctor opens a package of medication to administer to their patient at the point of care and gives them a few to take home.
Furthermore, pharmaceutical repackaging does not involve the manipulation or alteration of a drug in any way. At the end of the day, that means pharmaceutical repackaging companies simply buy pharmaceutical products in large quantities, store them in a sterile environment, and ultimately repackage them in unit-dose quantities, or personalized per-patient packaging.
Why Choose Repackaged Medication?
The FDA notes that repackaged medication has the following advantages:
- It can be beneficial for pediatric or ophthalmic patients.
- It is beneficial for patients who require smaller doses than commercially available.
- Repackaging reduces medication errors.
- Pharmaceutical repackaging reduces the availability of addictive prescription drugs.
- Cuts down on drug waste It allows for a reduction in costs, to both the practice as a business, and to the customer/patient.
Therefore, choosing the right repackaging company to work with is crucial. As a healthcare provider, you need a repackaging partner you can rely on – one who focuses on quality and ensures that every dose is stored and kept in a way that maximizes the efficacy and shelf life of the drug and features a controlled environment that eliminates the possibility of cross-contamination or drug degradation.
Let’s look at a few different ways you can find the right pharmaceutical repackaging partner for your business.
Accreditations and Certifications
Accreditation and continuously updated industry standards are crucial. Most pharmaceutical repackaging facilities must follow stringent guidelines to ensure a quality product.
When looking through viable candidates, ensure that they are fully accredited by their state department of health, the local board of pharmacy, the FDA, the DEA, and the NAPB, and look out for quality control and patient safety assurances, such as DSCSA compliance, cGMP compliance, and a strict climate-controlled environment.
A State-of-the-Art Facility
Automated bottle filling. Automatic capping. Precision labeling. Electronic laser pill counters. Automated environmental controls. A track and trace program. These are just a few prerequisites for a modern pharmaceutical repackaging facility.
A Strong Reputation
Credentials and proper accreditation are one thing, but a good reputation within the industry is just as important. Ensure that your potential partner in pharmaceutical repackaging is known for swift customer support, consistent communication, and assurances of high-quality.
A Reliable Online Platform
Digitalization is crucial, especially in the pharmaceutical era.
Rather than manually handle the paperwork and add to your staff’s workload with additional communications between your practice and the repackaging facility, find a pharmaceutical repackaging company that prioritizes convenience, automation, and computer-controlled precision.
The Right Price
Last but not least, the price matters. Quality is important, but you can’t offer a service you can’t afford to implement, and if it’s unaffordable to the practice, it’s unaffordable to the patient.
Patients currently value convenience and price over quality of care, and while that is no invitation to reduce the quality of care in any shape or form, it does mean that the average healthcare practice must find ways to remain profitable, which can be difficult during times of crisis.
Thankfully, fair pricing helps pharmaceutical repackaging not only become a boon to patient safety and better outcomes, but it helps practices gain access to an additional revenue stream through direct point of care dispensing.
Here at Proficient Rx, we provide our clients with top-of-the-line repackaged branded and generic prescription and over-the-counter medication, as well as select other medical supplies.
We enable smooth service through our web-based dispensing platform, which helps clinics and private practices immediately customize orders, manage inventory, keep track of patient information, print labels at the point of care, and improve patient care through an easy-to-understand plug-and-play direct dispensing management system.
We maintain one of the most stringent regulatory control programs in the industry, and quality is our maxim.
Contact Proficient RX today to talk about Pharmaceutical Repackagers.