Tag Archives: in-office dispensing

4 Ways Urgent Care Benefit From In-Office Dispensing

June 30, 2020Blogin-office dispensingproficient

There are many ways that in-office direct dispensing can benefit urgent care facilities; here’s what to know.

Urgent care facilities provide a critical service for Americans. Service at urgent care clinics is expedient, qualitative, and fulfills a need for quick medical care when a concern can’t wait for an appointment. While the urgent care facility does not replace the primary care clinic, or the services of a family doctor, urgent care clinics provide patients with yet another alternative to choose from, allowing them to further diversify how they engage their own healthcare issues.

The wider array of choices in medicine also signifies how the healthcare industry is moving more towards courting the customer – physicians and executives understand, more than ever, the importance of marketing their skills and providing a positive customer experience.

In-Office Medication Dispensing

Just as urgent care is growing, it’s important for practices to differentiate themselves from the competition. One way to do this is to incorporate a practice that acts as a natural extension of urgent care itself: point-of-care in-office medication dispensing. Point-of-care or in-office dispensing is a practice through which physicians and healthcare professionals can sell repackaged medication – from over-the-counter meds to brand and generic prescription drugs – directly to the patients they’re writing scripts for.

It was once common practice for a doctor to provide patients with the medication they need to get better, until that task was given to the pharmacist. In other countries, in-office dispensing is nothing new – but in the US, it’s a growing practice with great potential for physicians looking for an additional revenue source while further increasing the quality of their healthcare services.

Convenience and Competence

Surveys indicate that while patients rate the quality of their physician’s services quite highly, there is room for improvement in areas of customer care. Patients today want to be patients as well as consumers, and they seek services that offer competence and quality at affordable prices. They want convenient healthcare services that work – healthcare they can depend on, services they don’t have to wait on, and urgent care they can avail without worrying about the costs of an emergency room visit.

That’s a tall ask, but medication dispensing can help urgent care clinics move in this direction. By eliminating the need to visit a pharmacy for refills or to fulfill scripts, you’re saving your patients a lot of time and you can directly work with them to help them better understand the medication they’re taking, double-check that it’s the right drug, avoid adverse effects due to other medication they may be taking, as well as provide a comfortable and private moment to allow patients to ask any questions they might have – which can be harder to do in the public space of a pharmacy.

Furthermore, you free up your own time and that of your staff typically spent on calling ahead to confirm scripts or check that a pharmacy is stocked for your patient. More time saved is more time you can spend doing other things, whether it’s providing medical services or seeking more patients. Medication dispensing is convenient for yourself and your patients, and further makes your urgent care facility a one-stop-shop for most urgent care issues.

Additional Revenue

Some physicians presume that it’s expensive and overly complicated to begin stocking and selling medication – it’d be like running a pharmacy out of your own practice, right? But the truth is that repackaged medication dispensing doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing, and practices can start by buying just two weeks-worth of repackaged medication, focusing mostly on the OTC drugs and prescription medications that they prescribe most often.

It’s true that states and regulatory bodies require a strict paper trail for this stuff, and that there are licenses to pursue and uphold in some states, but companies that specialize in providing repackaged medication often also provide assistance to help practices begin dispensing as soon as possible, with no overhead costs and minimal hassle.

On the flip side, introducing medication dispensing can substantially boost revenue, even at prices that are affordable and comparable to low-cost pharmacies. While you can’t beat free, or some of the promos offered by larger grocery chains and big box stores, the convenience of being able to dispense medication right at the point of care is a big selling point for patients, who subsequently won’t have to worry about remembering to fulfill the script you’ve given them, or make the extra drive to a nearby pharmacy or drugstore.

Point-of-Care Dispensing is a Natural Extension of Urgent Care

It all comes back down to extending what urgent care services encapsulate: the basic selling point of an urgent care practice for many physicians is that it adds work-life balance and structure to their day-to-day, allowing them to truly disconnect from work more frequently while still providing critical lifesaving services for many patients.

The basic selling point of an urgent care practice for patients is that it fulfills the need for expedient medical care when a condition or issue isn’t vital enough to warrant a visit to the ER, but requires faster attention than a local primary care practice.

Medication dispensing therefore creates the ability to deliver quick, quality healthcare while granting immediate access to necessary medications for. Rather than adding what patients might perceive to be an additional barrier to their ideal healthcare, point-of-care dispensing provides them with the care they have come to expect, as well as added convenience they will come to appreciate.

Choosing the right partner for implementing medication dispensing is crucial. State-specific requirements and DEA administrative inspections aside, the successful implementation of point-of-care dispensing requires responsive and digitalized inventory management, integrating the dispensing system with your patients’ EMR, billing, and more. Here at Proficient Rx, our easy-to-use web-based dispensing platform is designed to help our clients get started as soon as possible, minimizing complexity, and making it easier than ever to properly organize and start dispensing medication in-office.

Revenue from Dispensing Can Significantly Improve Profitability

March 18, 2020Blogin-office dispensingproficient

Medical practices are seeing a decrease in revenue, but with the introduction of in-office dispensing, you can actually improve profitability.

The reasons for shrinking revenues in medical practices are varied, and each is as equally frustrating as the next – from increasing government regulation to declining reimbursements.

Some of this shrinking can be observed in the declining number of solo physicians, as more and more physicians are moving back into a model of being employed rather than being their own employer, and as a 2019 Medical Economics report revealed:

Only 22 percent of survey respondents claimed that their practice was “doing better than a year ago”
52 percent who said it was doing “about the same”
26 percent who “are doing worse”

Ways of improving profitability are in high demand among physicians, and medication dispensing is a particularly attractive option for several different reasons.

Economies of scale are not really something physicians can take advantage of, as they cannot effectively split themselves into several people. However, physicians can employ a variety of tactics for improving profitability, through complementary services and vertical integration. In-office medication dispensing presents a great opportunity to reduce medication non-adherence, improve reputation, ensure better patient outcomes, reduce inconvenience for patients, and create an additional revenue stream for one’s practice.

Why Consider Physician Dispensing for Your Practice?

In-office medication dispensing is a great option for physicians throughout the country, in states where dispensing physicians are well within their right to do so. While the practice is more common in other countries, it’s been less common in the US, where medication dispensing has been largely the job of the pharmacist.

But studies have shown that patients are comfortable with, and even prefer point-of-care medication dispensing, as it is immediate and convenient. Some of the reasons that physician dispensing is a patient-centered practice include the fact that:

It allows them to start their treatment immediately.
Their doctor can keep better track of their medication and issue follow-up requests.
They can ask private questions in the privacy of their doctor’s office rather than the public counter of a pharmacy.
They can save themselves the time and money it might take to go out of their way to the nearest pharmacy at some point during the near future.

In-office dispensing also saves you the trouble of dealing with pharmacy calls for clarification, calling ahead of time to ensure that they’re adequately stocked for a specific prescription, or dealing with wait times.

Physician Dispensing and Medication Adherence

Medication adherence (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) is a serious issue accounting for an estimated 50 percent of treatment failures, 125,000 annual deaths, and a substantial portion of annual hospitalizations in the US. 30 percent of patients do not fill their prescriptions. Described as the accuracy with which a patient adheres to the medication regimen given to them by their physician, medication adherence issues can be blamed on a number of different factors, most notably including rising drug costs, forgetfulness, and inconvenience.

Anything done to tackle the issue can massively improve patient outcomes and save lives. Physician dispensing can improve adherence by helping physicians ensure that their patients get the medication they need with the right dosage, and with a full overview of the patient’s other medications and potential counterindications.

Physicians can also emphasize the importance of adhering to the medication’s instructions and help ensure that their patients fully understand and remember when and how to take their medication, and how much.

Physician Dispensing Can Boost Your Revenue in Other Ways

Physician dispensing can help you boost your practice’s reputation through:

Better outcomes
Increased efficiency
Increased convenience
Take on more patients and appointments
Better reputation as a practice

This leads to more patients, more revenue, and more social revenue as well. Your reputation as a healthcare practitioner is critical, and directly relevant to the longevity of your practice, as well as your legacy as a professional. While some levy criticism at medication dispensing as a practice that inspires a conflict of interest and leads to over-prescription and predatory practices, medication dispensing improves access to medication, and helps you more directly address the issue of medication adherence by identifying the barriers your patients face.

Important Questions to Consider in Physician Dispensing

The first obstacle is logistics. To begin dispensing medication, you may have to first ensure that you’re able to do so in your state. Some states require annual fees to allow dispensing. There may be overhead involved in procuring, organizing, and managing your inventory of medication. You may have to deal with DEA audits and other unforeseen costs.

We at Proficient Rx offer such services without any overhead, allowing our clients to focus solely on the cost of the medication itself, by providing DEA and FDA-approved repackaged brand, generic, and over-the-counter medication.

With an easy-to-use web-based service, Proficient Rx can train office staff to begin managing inventory, keep track of sales and receipts, and ensure a clean and properly maintained paper trail. We help our clients stay accredited and deal with the necessary paperwork to begin implementing in-office dispensing and provide live customer support to answer every question you may have.

Why You Should Consider Point of Care Dispensing

June 20, 2018Blogin-office dispensing, Point of care dispensingproficient

Every doctor wants happier staff, streamlined in-office tasks and better patient outcomes. When you can provide these things, you look like a super hero. You become known as the doctor who really cares about patients, the doctors that cares about staff, and as a provider for all patient needs. Point of care dispensing takes care of all of this.

Point of Care Dispensing can help you become this super hero within your community. And on top of all those benefits, you can also significantly increase your revenue.

What Is Point of Care Dispensing

Point of care dispensing is also called in-office dispensing. With an in-office dispensary, you can prescribe medicine and fill prescriptions for your patients at the point of care. Meaning, before your patient leaves your office, you can provide them with the medication they need.

In-Office dispensing gives you the opportunity to provide your patients with a value-added service. It is simply a mini-pharmacy located right there in your office.

There are different models you can opt for when setting up this system. You can choose a simpler model that allows you to fill the prescriptions. Or, you can choose a larger model that allows you to hire a pharmacist part-time or full-time, or a pharmacy technician, to fill the prescriptions.

The ability to dispense medicines in your practice offers your practice many rewards.

No More Communicating with Pharmacists

Physician and Pharmacy communications aren’t the best. It is mostly done through technology.

But, you can eliminate faxing, refaxing and back and forth phone calls with the pharmacist. All your patient’s information is stored in the point of care dispensing software program, which allows you to distribute medicine to your patients.

The process is simple. You or your staff enters the prescription into the computer. A label is printed with all the details of your patient and their prescription. You then retrieve the prepackaged prescription from the dispensary box, hand it to your patient and you are working with your next patient in no time at all.

Same Number of Patients, Increased Income

Providing ancillary services such as in-office dispensing can offer you more money without having to expand your patient case load. When others find out you provide this service, they may want to become your patients. But instead of feeling obligated to take them on to increase revenue, you will have the option to choose the patients you want to see.

Some reports claim adding an in-office dispensing program can bring between $50,000 to $200,000 extra each year. Both numbers make it worth the effort.

Other reports claim you can make up to $5 per prescription written through your point of care prescribing program. Now take the number of prescriptions you write per year and multiply that by five. That’s a significant increase.

Adding a service such as this leads you to add even more ancillary services down the road. Retail is one of the largest ancillary services that offers the greatest returns. Just like ophthalmologists sell eye glasses in their office, you can sell medical products.

There are hundreds of products to help treat multiple medical problems. Choose the products your patients need the most. Or, you can offer ancillary procedures to make more capital.

These can include surgeries, like those considered to be cosmetic, that are mostly paid for by the patient, giving you even greater profit margins.

Additional income streams can be beneficial for any medical practice. In-office dispensing is an easy to use method of creating more revenue that will increase as the years go on.

Safety is Increased for Patients

Pharmacists rarely take the time to talk to patients about drug interactions. In fact, an undercover investigation by the news show 20/20 revealed that 70 percent of the pharmacies they visited did not take the time to tell patients about potentially harmful interactions.

Prepackaged medications come complete with drug interaction information on the packaging. You can compare patient medications and print any interaction information from the software technology.

Some drugs look alike. Some drugs look identical. Pharmacists and their technicians get pills confused, causing harm to the patients who take the medications.

Prepackaged medication completely avoids this problem because the pills are separated in pouches. The manufacturer sends them to the prepackaging company, who then separates them individually.

Cross-contamination can happen. People do not realize this, but medicines can be handled by pharmacy technicians and pharmacists that can pass germs to their medicines.

Prepackaged medications prevent germs from getting onto medicines. The prepackaging companies have state of the art equipment that must pass federal and state laws surrounding cleanliness.

Your Staff Will Be Happier

The duties within your office will be streamlined and this will make your staff happy. Using a web-based portal, most point of care dispensing duties are completed for your staff. All they must do is learn the software. When it is time, they simply click a few buttons on the computer and they can complete a range of duties, from billing to dispensing to refills.

With web-based portals, your billing staff has the capability of sending claims with the simple click of a button. This is so because the software system is set up with a direct link to every insurance company’s claims submission portal.

Dispensing software is also known for its capabilities to handle workman’s compensation billing and communications. This takes a lot of work away from the staff, so they can focus on caring for the patient.

The connection between these two portals makes it easy for you, your staff, and even for the insurance company.

With in-office dispensing and web based portals, your staff can print educational information leaflets and FDA medication guides directly from the computer. Before they leave your office, you can provide them with all the information they need to understand their medication.

Considering point of care dispensing means you are ready to improve patient and staff satisfaction. It means you are ready to enjoy the rewards you have earned in your many years as a physician.

The Disadvantages of Pharmacy Dispensing

June 13, 2018Blogin-office dispensing, in-office medication dispensingproficient

If you ask any of your patients why they do not like going to the pharmacy, they are likely to give you an extensive list of the disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing.

Some patients may claim they do not like the time and effort it takes from when they receive the prescription to when they receive their medication. Others may report they don’t like everyone else in the pharmacy line being able to hear or see their transactions.

Patients do not ask for much when it comes to their health. They want you to help them relieve negative symptoms. They want their privacy protected. They want quick service and they want all of this at the lowest price possible.

Pharmacies do not seem to take any of these factors into consideration. Not necessarily because they are mean or don’t want to help, but pharmacists are busy. They are too busy to put the patient first. Keep reading to find out the most common disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing.

Capitalizing on Inconvenience

Studies have shown that patients are not satisfied with pharmacies, especially chain pharmacies. Much of their dissatisfaction is due to the amount of time patients spend waiting to receive their medicine.

During this wait time patients end up spending too much money on items they do not need. Pharmacies are set up to up sell products that could be purchased for much less at the dollar store. Patients get bored, however, and to kill time they shop.

Pharmacies capitalize on the wait time of patients.

Also, the longer the time at the pharmacy, the longer a patient must wait for relief. When someone is in pain, they will do almost anything for relief, even if temporary. This includes impulse shopping.

Potential Compounding Errors

A medication error is defined as any event that can be prevented but due to error on the part of the physician, pharmacist or patient, causes harm to the patient.

Pharmacy errors are increasing each year. Medication errors can include the following: giving the patient the wrong medication; giving the patient someone else’s medication; pharmacist authorizing the wrong dose on the medication; pharmacist or pharmacy technician contaminating the medication.

These errors happen, and they happen on a regular basis across the country.

The use of pharmaceutical technicians is also a concern. They are not trained as well to spot errors, prevent cross-contamination and keep up with the enormous demands of busy pharmacies today, which are major disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing

During a recent flu epidemic, when drug stores ran out of Tamiflu, the FDA simply posted their recipe and instructed pharmacists to recreate the formula as they need it. This tactic lead to major medical issues for patients, and even killed some.

Accidents like these can lead to allergic reactions in patients who trust the pharmacist to get it right.

An overdose can happen when a patient takes a higher dose of a medication than they should have. An overdose can also happen when a patient takes the wrong medicine, thinking it was the right medicine. Furthermore, an overdose can happen when a patient takes too many medications.

Privacy Is Compromised

Confidentiality is a big deal to patients. If they feel their confidentiality could be or has been violated, they will be hurt and angry.

Patients do not want to ask personal questions in front of a line of people like they must do at a pharmacy. There are no confidential areas at pharmacies that provide the secrecy patients are seeking.

Even those who do choose to speak with a pharmacist are forced to whisper, and then made to feel rushed so the pharmacist can return to filling more prescriptions.

Situations like this often cause patients to avoid getting their medicine, making them out of compliance.

Compliance Is Not a Priority

Compliance is when your patient follows through with the recommended treatment plan you created. If they are recommended to take prescription medicines, then they will most likely follow your orders.

When you send a patient to a pharmacy to pick up their prescription, you do not really know if they followed through with that action. You don’t even really know if they went to the pharmacy at all. You are left to rely on the word of your patients.

Pharmacists do not have to ensure patients are compliant with their medicines. While it would be nice, and ethical, they are not required to do so. They are not even required to report their suspicions or concerns to you when they feel a patient may be abusing their medicine.

Disadvantages of Pharmacy Dispensing

It’s tempting for patients to seek advice from pharmacists. They think because they work with medications, pharmacists should know how to direct them when they have a problem.

While pharmacists can offer their opinion and yes, they are well-educated on the prescription medicines they fill, they are not the right person to recommend treatment options for patients.

Pharmacists are not trained like physicians to offer treatment options, and they would not want to risk their license in doing so. Pharmacists can, however, explain in detail the medication or treatment you have been prescribed.

For example, if a patient is prescribed an anti-depressant, pharmacists can consult with the patient on everything related to that anti-depressant. This can include side effects and what to do in case of an accidental overdose.

This same pharmacist, even if they feel the patient has been given a poor medication, cannot explain all other treatment options to a patient. They can simply refer them back to their physician which is another of the disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing.

Other disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing include the possibility of cross contamination if medications are compounded on unclean surfaces. Or, if staff members are sick with the flu or other illnesses and are not following safe handling procedures.

Patients do not want to deal with the disadvantages of pharmacy dispensing and many more. Providing them with services such as in-office dispensing turns these disadvantages into advantages. It also turns patients into happy, satisfied and loyal customers.

When you have loyal patients, your practice will thrive.

In Office Drug Dispensing: The Great Benefits

June 5, 2018Blogin-office dispensingproficient

While some accounts date back to the mid-1200s, physician dispensing as we know it now was introduced in the early 1980s. This is when the Federal Drug Administration began allowing repackaging of medications which lead the way for in-office drug dispensing

Because of the extremely strict regulations, the FDA approved the physician’s ability to prescribe, fill and profit from the distribution of pharmaceuticals in-office. There are many benefits found with in-office drug dispensing.

Patients Do Not Deal with Pharmacies

Patients can sometimes wait hours for their prescription to be filled by a pharmacy. With only a couple of pharmacists on staff, one of the numerous pharmacy technicians are providing service to your patient.

If your patient has a question about his or her prescription, they wait for the pharmacist, who is already bogged down, to speak with them. While pharmacists are excellent at what they do, they just don’t have the time needed to dedicate to each customer.

Some patients do not feel comfortable asking a pharmacist for help due to the line of people waiting behind them, because they must ask their questions publicly, or because they see their pharmacist as a stranger.

On top of that, pharmacists make more mistakes when filling prescriptions under stress and an overwhelming workload.

In-office drug dispensing may prevent errors such as these.

Safety for Patients Due to Physician Control

The World Health Organization defines good dispensing practices as the way you provide medicine to your patients. Using good practices, you give the right patient the correct medication. The medication is labeled correctly, with all accurate data, including clear instructions for the patient to follow.

From the time you write a prescription until the time the medicine is given to the patient; all the actions in between can determine if your practices are good or bad.

There are a few things you can do to ensure this entire process is consistently successful. You can regularly take part in safety checks with your staff. Provide training that keeps you and your staff updated on changes to laws and regulations.

Working with an in-office drug dispensing and repackaging company is the best way for you to ensure you are compliant and running your practice properly. They do most of the work, allowing you to focus on caring for your patients.

Quality Control of Medicines

In-Office drug dispensing uses repackaged medicines which are stored and packaged in a clean, safe environment. The rooms are temperature controlled and have added security to protect the medicines. Monitoring is controlled with the use of state of the art computerized technology.

Repackaging facilities are held to higher standards than pharmacies. How often do you see pharmacists cleaning their counter tops when filling prescriptions? Germs transferred from a pharmacist’s counter to a medicine can cause adverse reactions. Plus, it is just unhealthy.

There are specific standards a repackaging company must follow when it comes to preparing bottles, multi-unit or individual unit packages. The containers must be better than the original container from the manufacturer.

Repackaging of controlled substances makes them safer for you, the physician, and for the patient. Controlled substances, and all other repackaged medicines, are coded and labeled. Meaning, they are traceable all the way back to the manufacturer.

Patients Have Immediate Access with In-Office Drug dispensing

Equipment used in helping people recovery from injuries, whether at work, at home or elsewhere, is expected to grow at an enormous rate. According to Grand View Research, the global market for durable medical equipment is expected to reach 242 billion by the year 2024.

Durable medical equipment is sometimes confused with disposable medical supplies. While both are needed and used by the elderly, ill and disabled, they are different.

The main difference is that durable medical supplies are items that help a patient care for themselves but are disposed of once used.

Durable medical equipment is prescribed for long-term use to help those in recovery from an illness or injury. In the case of the elderly, the durable medical equipment may be prescribed for an infinite amount of time.

Patients Have Access to Additional Medical Staff

Nurse Practitioners can and are perfectly capable of providing a variety of services. When there is an emergency, they can provide acute care.

Many Nurse Practitioners choose to work in Primary or Specialty care practices, scheduling and seeing several patients every hour for both typical and atypical medical issues.

If you have a Nurses Practitioner on staff in your practice, you can double the number of patients you see. This means your patients do not have to wait for an opening on your schedule if they need to be seen in emergencies or for reasons that prevent them from waiting for care.

Controlled Substance Prescriptions Are Better Managed

Controlled substances are heavily regulated. Due to the widespread patient abuse of these drugs, physicians are hesitant to prescribe controlled substances, even to the patients who need them and can benefit from them.

With in-office drug dispensing, you can have complete control over how your patients use the controlled substances you prescribe. You can prescribe one dose a day, or enough for two weeks. It will be up to you to determine the best way for your patient to receive a controlled substance.

In-office drug dispensing makes these decisions easier. It also lets you check national databases, giving you information as to whether your patient has established negative patterns in trying to obtain controlled substances.

In the end, the greatest benefit of drug treatments at the point of care is that you will develop a loyal patient database. Taking charge of total patient care shows your patients you care enough about them to want to manage their overall health.

Too many times, patients are sent two, three and even four separate locations for treatment. They go to a pharmacy for a prescription, a laboratory for blood work, and an imaging office for diagnostics. Eliminating most of these special trips will help you maintain a following of those who want to help you and your practice succeed.

In-Office Dispensing = Happier Patients

May 16, 2018Blogdirect dispensing, in-office dispensing, medication dispensingproficient

Happier patients equal long-term relationships and stable revenue for you and your practice. According to reports, there are many basic actions you can take to make your patients happier. You can make their wait time more enjoyable, or at least keep them informed on their wait time.

Happier patients want you to sit down and spend more time with them. They want you to explain their medical problems to them in a language they can understand. They want you to be the messenger, not your staff.

If a patient has a long waiting time and then gets less than ten or fifteen minutes with you, the doctor, they are not happy. Many may feel devalued and leave thinking you are only interested in making as much money as possible and that you do not really care about their health.

Yes, you do want to make as much money as possible. That is normal. But you also do have a desire to provide better care to your patients. You want them to know they are important. You want them to remain loyal, happy patients.

One way to ensure happier patients is with in-office dispensing. Keep reading to find out how dispensing medicines at the point of care can equal happier patients.

Happier Patients Gain Knowledge

Patients want to understand what is wrong with them. Too often, patients are just following your orders and do not truly understand what is going on with their own bodies. Many can’t even pronounce the prescriptions you order and struggle telling friends and family why you prescribed it.

If you are dispensing medicines to your patients, you have the perfect opportunity to provide them with worthwhile information regarding the medicine they are about to take. They can find out if the medicine you prescribed interacts with other medications.

They can also be taught when to take their medicine, how to take it and for how long. You should never assume patients are able to read the instructions and follow through.

More knowledge equals greater follow-through, which equals better health outcomes, which equals happier patients.

They Gain Time

Your patients are just as busy as you are. Yet, they take time out of their busy schedule to sit in your office and wait for help. This can be very frustrating for busy patients, especially those who do not feel well but still have many duties to complete.

The last thing they want to do is leave your office and take their prescription to a pharmacy, where they will continue to wait and wait and wait.

An in-office dispensary eliminates a lot of this wait time for your patients, even when getting refills.

If you are dispensing medicines to your patients directly, they simply call in to your office and schedule for the pickup. Because there are only your patients obtaining refills this way, there is a much less wait time involved.

Providing in-office dispensing to your patients allows them to get back to their lives and to healing much faster, making them much happier.

They Gain Privacy

Confidentiality is a big deal to patients. If they feel their confidentiality could be or has been violated, they will be hurt and angry.

In your office, you can offer patients security the pharmacy cannot. Patients are expected to trust their doctor and their pharmacist. Providing confidential services is one of the best ways to make sure this happens.

In your office, you can meet with them privately to discuss their prescription, educate them on their illness and the medication you are prescribing, and improving the chances that they will follow through with treatment.

When they follow through and notice better health, they will be much happier in all areas of their life.

They Lose Manipulation

Many pharmacies are set up to make money on products other than a prescription. Today, pharmacies sell cosmetics, school supplies and even groceries. There is constant temptation placed on the patient to make impulse purchases while waiting on a prescription.

These impulse buys for items they don’t need are costing your patients money and pharmacies know this. Pharmacies implement product placement strategies to attract your patients to products they do not need.

In-office dispensing does not focus on upselling like pharmacies do, making patients feeling good when they leave your office, not guilty for spending more than they intended. They go home happier, with just the thoughts of improving their health.

They Gain a Better Physician

The happier you are as a physician, the more satisfied your patients will be. Your patients know when you are happy in your job and when you are just going through the motions. All patients want a doctor who is excited to be practicing medicine.

In-office dispensing can make you happier by giving you more time and a lot more revenue. Some reports claim adding an in-office dispensing program can bring between $50,000 to $200,000 extra each year. Both numbers make it worth the effort.

It can also streamline your office practices, making your staff happier and reducing negative feedback from staff. You can hire nurse practitioners and add additional ancillary services.

The technology used with in-office dispensing makes it easy for anyone who will be using the system. Software packages are created specifically for your office’s needs that have been shown to reduce errors in prescriptions. This can lower your stress levels because you no longer need to worry about pharmacist errors.

Patients do not feel their best, or they wouldn’t be visiting you in the first place. You can make the experience better for them. You can do many things to make them happier.

Increasing the Profitability of a Practice via Medication Dispensing

April 18, 2018Blogdirect dispensing, direct medication dispensing, dispense in office, in-office dispensingproficient

As a physician, you have many responsibilities. You maintain a full patient roster, so you can provide a secure job for your staff and yourself. The pressure of making enough money to maintain your profitability as a practice can be overwhelming at times.

Finding ways to reduce your stress while increasing your profitability allows you to make patient care your priority, not finances. Dispensing medications is proving to be a wonderful way to do this.

In-office dispensing is becoming more popular as physicians recognize the benefits for both the practice.

Why Medication Dispensing Makes Sense

Thousands of medicines are available for prepackaging. From decongestants to contraceptives to medicines associated with mental illness can be prepackaged and shipped to any clinic, no matter what level of medical degree or specialties exist within a practice.

Physicians find a great deal of comfort knowing each medicine ordered for inventory goes through an intense inspection process that meets FDA approval. Extraordinary steps are taken to ensure medicines are prepackaged correctly and are shipped in a timely manner. It is a top goal to make all custom orders a priority.

When most of your patients are taking at least one prescription, it is likely there are commonalities among the prescriptions you write. Some of your patients are likely on four or five prescriptions for similar problems.

Finding these common prescriptions is a great start to creating your list of medicines to dispense and increase your profitability.

Common Medications

The most common drugs prescribed by physicians last year included analgesics, antihyperlipidemic agents, and antidepressants.

Solid, compressed, time-release and coated are the most common types of solid form dosages today. Tablets appear to be the easiest form for most patients.

Solid form dosage medicines commonly used to treat the most common illnesses are in tablet form. These are used to treat patients with heart disease, as well as many other illnesses.

All these medicines are available in prepackaged form and can be dispensed in your office, giving you the profitability you need versus sending money to a pharmacy. In addition to dispensing common medications, you can dispense durable medical equipment for higher revenue.

Durable Medical Equipment

Patients would much rather purchase their needed equipment from you, at the point of care, rather than from a pharmacy who can mark prices higher than you will. The convenience alone saves your patients money.

It can mean more profitability for you, however.

Durable medical equipment, dispensed in-office, is a huge benefit for patients. Patients who need durable medical equipment often are handicapped or disabled in some way.

To help patients move around, a doctor can prescribe specific mobility devices such as wheelchairs, walkers, scooters and canes.

Specific personal care aids include rods to help patients pull up their own pants and socks. They can also include raised toilet seats for patients who have trouble bending. Bath and shower aids can include handles and shower stools.

All personal care aids enable the patient to remain independent.

Artificial limbs are serving over two million Americans today.

Orthotic equipment is often prescribed by doctors for foot therapy and pain relief. Common orthotics include shoe inserts, possibly to help with arch support. Others include heat moldable orthotics, and shoe insoles.

Durable medical equipment can be dispensed along with durable medical supplies, which are different for your patients. Although different, still very much needed and an uncomplicated way to create extra profitability.

Durable Medical Supplies

Durable medical equipment is sometimes confused with disposable medical supplies. While both are needed and used by the elderly, ill and disabled, they are different.

The main difference is that durable medical supplies are items that help a patient care for themselves but are disposed of once used. Examples of supplies include blood sugar testing strips for diabetics. Durable medical supplies can also include disposable gloves that a patient or caregiver may wear during a daily treatment.

Supplies can also include bandages, catheter equipment, needles for injections and diapers. If it is used once and then thrown away, it is considered a durable medical supply.

These items at a pharmacy can be quite expensive. Because you can offer the supplies at a lower mark up price, your patients will recognize and appreciate this benefit. Dispensing medical supplies is a straightforward way for you to increase your profitability.

Keep Adding Ancillary Services For Profitability

Once you establish and see success with the ancillary service of dispensing medication, equipment and supplies, you can then proceed with even higher revenue services.

In-office dispensing can be followed up with much needed in-office lab testing. You could also add x-ray and diagnostic testing for your patients, or even diabetes education.

Some physicians even go further and add an urgent care clinic to their list of services. While this may seem like a huge undertaking, the others are much more doable with the cost of the equipment being the most expensive.

The more services you provide to your patients at the point of care, the better. You are showing you care about your patients by saving them time and closing the gap between the time you prescribe an order to the time they receive it.

The more ways you establish to bring in extra income, the higher your profitability. With providing just in-office consultations and check-ups, you are relying solely on those appointments, and those set fees, to support your practice.

Adding ancillary services can give your practice more avenues of support and greater financial security. On those days when patients may not show up for appointments, you can feel secure that your ancillary services are making up for any profit losses.

Having multiple streams of revenue is always a better option, for you, your staff and your patients.

Why You Can’t Afford to NOT Dispense In-Office

February 27, 2018Blogdirect dispensing, in-office dispensingproficient

In-office dispensing is becoming very popular among physicians across the nation. This is because dispensing at the point of care can help you meet both your personal and professional goals. In this day in age, you can’t afford to NOT dispense in-office.

Want to get out of debt? In-office dispensing gives you extra money you can apply towards debt reduction and elimination. Want to retain patients who are satisfied and tell all their friends and families you are the best? Dispensing can help with that.

Below are some of the reasons discussed in more detail as to why you can’t afford to not dispense in-office, for yourself and for your patients.

Easy Money

Some reports claim adding a program to dispense in-office can bring between $50,000 to $200,000 extra each year. Both numbers make it worth the effort.

This basically means you can see the same number of patients, for the same amount of time, but increase your revenue per patient.

Patients are eager to trade a few more dollars for prescriptions, supplies and equipment that saves them hours of time they would have spent at a pharmacy. And it is not with every prescription that they would need to pay more. On many, you will be able to save them money.

Saves Money

The cost of medicines can be more affordable when dispensed in-office. This is because you can search and find your patients the best deal, making this service very popular.

You can work with a medication dispensing company to get the lowest costs for your patients. You can lower the price of medications while still making a nice profit for yourself.

Your patients are not all wealthy members of society. Many are struggling to make ends meet. Some are living paycheck to paycheck and may even be missing payments on occasion.

Your patients will appreciate the reduced costs you can provide them when you dispense in-office.

The Technology Saves Time

A software specialist will guide you and your staff through the straightforward steps involving claim submission, inventory, patient information and much more.

Choosing the right software program is the most important part of beginning the process of introducing point of care medication provider. The right company, with the right technology, will streamline your business so much that you will find yourself saving time and money as you dispense in-office.

Retains Patient & Dispense In-Office

When you provide private, quick, on-site prescription services to patients, you are likely retaining your patients and giving them reasons not to leave your practice for another. Patient retention means your career is secure and stable.

Patients may benefit the most by being able to access their medicines in a shorter amount of time. Some of your patients must arrange for transportation, often a difficult and sometimes costly task. Setting up a way to dispense in-office will eliminate this barrier.

Your patients will feel more comfortable talking to a staff they already know, not a stranger at the pharmacy. They will be more likely to ask questions and reveal if they are having any issues with their medicines.

Leads to Other Ancillary Services

There are hundreds of products to help treat multiple medical problems. Choose the products your patients need the most. Or, you can offer ancillary procedures to make more capital.

You can even hire Nurse Practitioners or Physician Assistants as ancillary services in addition to your dispense in-office program.

Helps Your Staff

Your staff members are extremely busy. In-office dispensing and the software to run the process makes all your staff’s duties more efficient. They spend less time faxing and emailing information to pharmacists and insurance companies.

The representative from the company you chose can train you and your staff in less than an hour. They can teach you everything from how to log into the system to how to re-order prescription stock.

They can provide in-office training and online training, whichever suits your practice. Because using the system is so easy, training is easy. Your office is most likely using software now that is more challenging that in-office dispensing software.

Even the least technical staff will be able to easily adapt and learn this system. But even if your staff has difficulties, they are provided with round the clock technical support from the dispensing company too.

Is Safer for Your Patients

Pharmacies are fallible, just like everything and everyone else. Unfortunately, when a pharmacy makes a mistake, it can mean danger for a patient.

One study examined 142,000 medications prescribed by hospital pharmacies. Of those, 3.6 percent contained errors. And 24 percent of those errors would have caused adverse effects.

Because some medicines are similar in shape, color and size, pharmacists confuse one drug for the other.Not only is dispensing the wrong drug a problembut dispensing the wrong dosage of the right medicine.

Pharmacists make mistakes when it comes to delivering the wrong dose of medication to patients.

If a pharmacist dispenses a dose that is too low, a person may not benefit from any of the effects of the medicine. If the effects of the medicine are to keep blood from clotting or decrease blood pressure, there could be serious negative consequences if their dose is too low.

Think about all the goals you want to reach in your medical practice. It won’t be hard to recognize how deciding to dispense in-office to your patients can help you reach those goals. It’s easy to set up, easy to implement and easy to maintain.

In-office dispensing is rewarding for everyone involved.

Prepackaged Medication Makes For Easy Medication Dispensing

February 21, 2018Blogdirect dispensing, in-office dispensing, prepackaged medicationproficient

There is a single reason why doctors across the nation are choosing to easy medication dispensing of prepackaged medications at the point of care. It makes dispensing quick and effective.

If you are a physician who wants easy medication dispensing out of office, you will benefit from prepackaged medications the most. You no longer need to be the one to do all the demanding work.

Prepackaged medications are ordered from an office dispensing company, who after receiving medicines from the manufacturer, use extreme safety measure to properly package medications.

With prepackaged medications, you only order and pay for medicines you need, no extras. The medicines are separated and labeled for easy use. Using prepackaged medications helps you and your staff provide the best care possible as part of an easy medication dispensing program.

Easy Medication Dispensing Processes

Prepackaged medications can be streamlined for quick delivery because there is no compounding, mixing, or sorting that needs to be completed by you. The medicines are prepared, shipped to you and readily available before the patients even need them.

You and your staff simply enter the prescription information into the computer. Next you print the label, retrieve the prepackaged medicine from the locked cabinet, adhere the label and deliver package to your patient.

Just a few steps to complete the entire easy medication dispensing process, improving operations in your practice.

Simple Dosing

Prepackaged medication comes in individual doses. This means you and your patients do not have to worry about medication errors such as underuse or overuse. When patients overuse their medicine, it creates a concern that they will run out of medicine they need before their next refill date.

Or worse, they could overdose, experiencing negative reactions.

With prepackaged medications as part of your easy medication dispensing program, the patient can get the correct information on doses directly from you. Accidental overuse is not an issue, making this process safer for the patient as well.

Simple Storage

Prepackaging companies can provide everything a physician needs to properly store and distribute medicines to their patients. Doctors are given lock storage boxes that protect the medicines until it is time to distribute.

In addition, prepacking companies can offer temperature-controlled storage containers to physicians who need to keep some medicines cold and others at room temperature.

Temperature is very important in keeping medications, avoiding loss of effectiveness before normal expiration. As a physician, you want the medicines you prescribe to do exactly what you tell your patients they will do.

If medication is not stored properly, you may be giving a patient medication that won’t live up to its potential.

Simple Claims Processing

One of the most dreaded activities in your office may be dealing with insurance companies. Depending on the insurance company, claims processing can be arduous.

Using prepackaged medication software, your staff no longer needs to call insurance companies and billing departments only to be put on hold. There are no more faxing reports back and forth between your office and a claims department.

Easy medication dispensing software is also known for its capabilities to handle workman’s compensation billing and communications. This takes a lot of work away from the staff, so they can focus on caring for the patient.

The connection between these two portals makes it easy for you, your staff, and even for the insurance company.

Simple to Re-Order Supplies

When you are running low on medicines, durable medical supplies and durable medical equipment, you simply place a reorder through the in-office dispensing software.

Durable medical supplies are items that help a patient care for themselves but are disposed of once used. Examples of supplies include blood sugar testing strips for diabetics. Durable medical supplies can also include disposable gloves that a patient or caregiver may wear during a daily treatment.

Supplies can also include bandages, catheter equipment, needles for injections and diapers. If it is used once and then thrown away, it is considered a durable medical supply.

The dispensing company you choose receives and processes your re-order of any medicines, supplies or equipment. Within days, your inventory is re-stocked.

Simple Labeling

Correct labeling is important in all medication production, especially prepackaged. The label, even though small, contains a large amount of information. Prepackaging facilities know just how vital this information can be.

Name of the physician, brand name of the drug, and patient name are three pieces of information on a label. Other pieces include drug expiration date, safety warnings such as “may cause drowsiness”, and instructions on how to take the medicine.

Some medicines need to be taken with food, while others need to be taken on an empty stomach. Having these instructions available can determine the effectiveness of the medicine.

Prepackaged medication labels will also note if refills are available and if so, how many. It will have contact information for the doctor and an account number or serial number that can be traced back to the prescription ordered.

The label is easily printed from the prepackaged software. Once printed, all you need to do is adhere it to the filled prescription.

The best thing about using prepackaged medication is that it makes it simple for you to make more money without much more effort. And while your revenue increases, so will patient satisfaction. Your patients will appreciate being able to receive prepackaged medications in your office.

This saves them both time and money. And because prepackaged medication makes total compliance a reality, overall patient health outcomes will improve. This means you are helping patients live an improved lifestyle, which is the reason you are a physician in the first place.

Prepackaged medications can help you and your patients achieve success.

Having Medication in Office is the Future of Dispensing

February 13, 2018Blogdispense in office, in-office dispensing, in-office medication dispensing, medication dispensingproficient

Physicians are beginning to recognize the benefits of having medication in office. They are realizing they can make more money with little extra work and provide better care to patients. Physician dispensing is seeing a huge increase in the number of doctors implementing these practices.

Having medication in office to dispense to patients is the future of dispensing. Keep reading to discover some of these reasons, all of which benefit you, staff, and the patient.

Doctors Want Ancillary Income

Everyone thinks doctors are immediately wealthy. You know this is not the truth. Some doctors have student loan debt, while others are supporting a family. Some physicians are both paying off debt and have a family.

On top of that, doctors have additional bills that many citizens do not consider when they generalize that all doctors are wealthy. You have employees to pay, insurance costs, and mortgage fees. And those are just for your office.

Physician dispensing and having medication in office is a way for all doctors to bring in more money without having to do more work. In fact, most of the services can be done by your staff. It costs little money to set up but has a great return on your investment.

Doctors Want Better Outcomes Measurement

Somewhere along the way, the ability to track your patients’ health outcomes has become more difficult. Not because you haven’t tried, but some of your patients aren’t the best at maintaining the treatment plan you created with them.

Some patients visit several different doctors for the same medical concerns. Yet they fail to tell you they are doing so. Other patients feel they know the best way to take their medications, which may not be as prescribed by you.

With medication in office you see just how well your patients are doing when it comes to following their care plan. You can track their progress and learn exactly why they are or are not meeting positive health goals.

Doctors Don’t Want to Have to Deal with The Pharmacy

It seems like pharmacists have prescription issues when you are at your busiest time of the day. They don’t know this, of course, and they certainly don’t want to bother you. But it happens.

When you have medication in office, you will no longer need to communicate with a pharmacy because all your prescriptions can be filled right there in your office, by you and your staff.

With in-office dispensing software, your staff can fill a prescription with medication in office in less than ten minutes, accurately and safely. You can consult your patient in-person to ensure they receive education on their medicine. And refills are prepared with a few simple clicks on the computer.

Medication In Office Can Help Avoid Medication Errors

You can read your own hand writing so there won’t be any pharmacy related errors when you keep medication in office. It’s true that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have made errors when filling prescriptions. They have mistaken one drug for another simply because they are similarly spelled.

They have accidentally cause cross-contamination due to unclean sorting practices. They have even given the wrong dose, and the wrong prescription to the wrong patient. Errors such as these can be fatal, can set you up for a lawsuit, or both.

You can avoid all these errors by filling your own prescriptions.

Doctors Want to Better Manage Controlled Substance Prescriptions

With in-office dispensing, you can have complete control over how your patients use the controlled substances you prescribe. You can prescribe one dose a day, or enough for two weeks. It will be up to you to determine the best way for your patient to receive a controlled substance.

Too often, patients get a thirty-day supply. Some abuse this by taking too many in less than thirty days. This creates a cycle where the patient calls for early refills and you are faced with allowing your patient to experience pain or prescribing more.

Medication in office makes these decisions easier. It also lets you check national databases, giving you information as to whether your patient has established negative patterns in trying to obtain controlled substances.

Doctors Want Their Patients to Be Happy and Loyal

Dispensing at the point of care saves your patient a great deal of time and effort. They can obtain their medication in office before they leave. Meaning, they can receive immediate relief for their pain.

If they need a cane or walker, you can provide that to them on site. If you are prescribing a medication for relief of negative symptoms, your patients no longer must wait hours for the pharmacist to fill their prescription. They can get their first dose at your office, and possibly administered by you, so you can educate them on how to properly take a dose.

Happy patients are those who are shown respect, especially when it comes to their confidentiality. At the pharmacy, there is little effort made to protect the confidentiality of your patients. Even at the bigger chain pharmacies, only a small window is provided for communicating with the pharmacist.

Everyone else waiting in line can still see and hear what your patients are discussing with the pharmacist. Most of the time, patients refuse communications with pharmacists to avoid embarrassment.

When your patients are happy, they are loyal. They tell all their family and friends how great you are, allowing your practice to never need patients. The more patients you gain, the more money-making opportunities will come your way.

With more patients, you can hire nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Additional staff like this means your office can see twice the number of patients, at a higher fee, giving you more profits.

In-office dispensing is becoming popular due to the many advantages it offers physicians. It is easy to see why having medication in-office is the future of dispensing.