Do you want to improve medical practice revenue in 2024? If so, it may be time to explore in-office medication dispensing. Offering point-of-care dispensing can improve patient satisfaction, create a supplemental revenue stream, and strengthen your bottom line.
Join us as we take a deep dive into how you can improve revenue with physician dispensing, including the benefits it provides and some proven strategies for getting the most out of your dispensing program.
Introduction to Physician Dispensing for Revenue Enhancement
Physician dispensing involves the in-office distribution of prescribed medications by healthcare providers. Instead of sending your patients to a retail pharmacy, your team provides their prescription medication before they leave your office, which can increase medication adherence and streamline patient care. It is also a great way to boost your revenue.
During this process, it’s vital that you familiarize yourself with both federal and state physician dispensing laws. You’ll need to be proactive about licensure and compliance when offering pharmacy services in the office.
Setting up your program is easy when you partner with physician dispensing companies that provide inventory management tools, dispensing systems, and other physician dispensing solutions. In addition, partners like Proficient Rx can lend you valuable expertise, helping you avoid any conflict of interest while promoting patient convenience and compliance.
Understanding the Revenue Benefits of Physician Dispensing
How does physician dispensing improve medical practice revenue? There are three key ways:
Direct Revenue Generation
Providing medications in your doctor’s office will improve medical practice revenue by creating a supplementary income stream. Instead of outsourcing profits from prescription drugs to your local pharmacy, you can capture this additional revenue by filling orders in your physician’s office.
Dispensing medications in-house allows you to generate revenue while still offering competitive pricing compared to retail pharmacies. This additional revenue stream can be particularly impactful for practices treating chronic conditions, where ongoing medication management is a key component of care.
Most importantly, integrating medication sales into your service portfolios allows you to capitalize on a patient’s full treatment cycle — from diagnosis to medication dispensing. In doing so, your practice can boost revenue without the need for substantial additional investments, as you’ll be leveraging the existing patient base and office infrastructure.
Increased Patient Retention and Satisfaction
Implementing a physician dispensing system greatly enhances patient satisfaction by offering the utmost convenience. Patients appreciate the one-stop solution that allows them to receive their medications immediately after a consultation, eliminating the need to visit a pharmacy. This service enhances your patients’ overall experience, making them more likely to return for future care.
Improved patient experiences in turn foster stronger patient-practitioner relationships, leading to higher retention rates and word-of-mouth endorsements for your practice. Satisfied patients are more likely to refer others to the practice, indirectly contributing to revenue growth through increased patient volume. Thus, physician dispensing not only directly impacts revenue through medication sales but also plays a major role in building a loyal patient base.
Streamlined Workflow Efficiency
Physician dispensing streamlines the medication management process, leading to huge gains in efficiency. By managing medication dispensing in-house, your practice can reduce the time spent on external pharmacy communications, prescription clarifications, and follow-ups. This optimization of workflow reduces the administrative burden on staff, allowing for more efficient use of resources and time.
Operational efficiencies gained from streamlined processes translate into cost savings by reducing overheads and minimizing errors. These savings can be redirected toward other areas of the practice, further enhancing profitability. Additionally, streamlined workflows improve the overall efficiency of patient care. This leads to more appointments and services provided within the same time frame, which boosts revenue.
Strategies to Maximize Revenue With Physician Dispensing
Adding in-office dispensing to your mix of services is only the beginning. Once you get your in-house program up and running, it’s time to expand it to optimize revenue. Here are a few additional ways to improve revenue with physician dispensing.
Expansion of Medication Offerings
Expanding the range of medications you offer will help you serve more patients and further bolster revenue. Generally speaking, you should focus on pharmaceuticals that are used to treat chronic conditions
Patients require these medications on a recurring basis. As such, offering them in-office makes follow-up appointments more convenient for them while simultaneously creating a stable revenue stream for your practice.
Additionally, you should consider patient demographics and the conditions you commonly treat. Then, tailor your medication inventory to meet the specific needs of your patient population. Offering a wider variety of medications increases the opportunity for sales and enhances patient convenience by making your practice a one-stop shop for patients.
However, certain types of medications may be a bit more tedious to add to your inventory, particularly those regulated under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). To dispense drugs classified under the CSA, you must first obtain a Drug Enforcement Administration license.
Offering controlled substances can be an effective way to meet the needs of your patients. That said, you should carefully analyze patient needs and demographics before making this decision, as storing controlled substances on-site also opens the door to additional liability for your practice. Make sure that taking on the additional liability is a worthwhile move for you.
Leverage Insurance Reimbursement Opportunities
Insurance reimbursement represents a great opportunity for practices engaging in physician dispensing. By understanding the intricacies of payer reimbursement processes, you can maximize your revenue from insurance companies. This requires staying informed about the latest billing codes, reimbursement rates, and insurance policies.
Navigating the insurance landscape effectively ensures that your practice is reimbursed promptly and at the highest possible rate for the medication dispensed. Properly leveraging these reimbursement opportunities can boost your revenue, offsetting the cost of medication inventory and strengthening your bottom line.
That said, you must provide your team with adequate training to facilitate a smooth transition to in-office dispensing. The move can be particularly burdensome on your medical coding and billing staff, as they will have to familiarize themselves with entirely new sets of codes to file repayment requests with insurers. With Proficient Rx all of your billing services are taken care of with the WC Program.
Additionally, you’ll need to provide clear guidance and support to patients regarding their insurance coverage for medications. Transparency is key; you don’t want patients to have to pay huge out-of-pocket costs for medications, especially if these fees could be avoided or reduced by offering generic alternatives.
Are You Ready to Improve Medical Practice Revenue?
Now that you know how to improve revenue with physician dispensing, it’s time to take decisive action. This means analyzing your patient base, identifying which medications are most in demand and critical to their care journeys, and laying the foundation for in-office dispensing. You’ll also need an experienced partner to help you along the way. Enter Proficient Rx.
Proficient Rx can help you improve revenue with physician dispensing software and expert support. If you’d like to learn more, check out our guide on how in-office dispensing works. You can also contact us directly and obtain personalized support.