{PDS Sponsored Post} Why Your Independent Pharmacy Needs An Adherence Program
Here at PDS, we take pride in highlighting some of our incredible solutions partners. We know these companies have the potential to revolutionize pharmacies just like yours through their products and services. We’re excited to introduce Parata, read on for their sponsored blog post about how a true adherence program can benefit your pharmacy business.
Did you know medication nonadherence can cost the healthcare system as much as $300 billion dollars per year? This common problem affects all aspects of the healthcare community from the providers to the patients. The healthcare providers take a hit with penalties, pharmaceutical companies have increasing amounts of waste, and consumers incur unnecessary medical bills. 
This is where independent pharmacies come in! Businesses and owners are in just the right spot to improve medication adherence. With Amazon’s recent acquisition of PillPack, the benefits to patients are obvious — they are healthier, and their medical costs are potentially decreased. But how can a true medication adherence program benefit independent pharmacy?
- Gain Customer Loyalty
An adherence program, like pouch packaging, helps to guarantee patients come to you for their refills. It becomes easy for the patient. A true adherence program builds trust — that means a patient does not have to worry if their medication is sorted or taken correctly. Eliminating common questions like, “Was I supposed to take that pill in both the morning and night?”, can be priceless for the patient. And by reducing the number of visits to the pharmacy per month from 5 to 1, you’ve helped them capture back more of their time. When a pharmacy can do that for a patient, the seeds of loyalty are planted.
- Experience less stress with better workflow
Since refills are scheduled, your pharmacy’s workflow becomes much more predictable. A predictable workflow translates into less stress. With his adherence program, pharmacist, PDS member, and pharmacy owner, Peter Wolfe, says the face of his pharmacy’s day-to-day has completely changed. “We stay about a week ahead, and we always know what’s up next. It eliminates stress, saves on inventory, and frees up time.”
- Cut down hospital admissions
Who can resist a greater good benefit like this? Fewer admissions due to nonadherence is better for the whole medical community as well as patients. When patients are adherent to their recommended medications, hospitals lower their risk of penalties in the form of reduced Medicare payments. As an added bonus for independent pharmacies, capturing patients with chronic conditions from referrals to hospitals is easier when you offer compliance packaging that works.
- Add OTC to your program
Packaging over the counter medications and supplements with prescriptions helps the patient take them as recommended, while also adding revenue for the pharmacy. Patients can mitigate vitamin depletion that some medications cause. Adding these items to pouches is an easy part of the packing workflow. Add simplified cross-selling that makes providing a complete solution to your patient easier.
- Earn the patient’s entire business
When patients are on a true adherence program, any prescriptions they may have gone to another pharmacy for are transferred to you. In addition to gaining those prescriptions, you also have a better picture of their medication regimen. This presents new opportunities to make appropriate interventions based on the whole picture.
Independent pharmacies can follow these five steps for a successful adherence program. We encourage you to work with the entire healthcare community to help pharmacies battle medication nonadherence on the front lines. Now is the time to think about how your pharmacy business and your patients can benefit from a fully functioning adherence program.
About the Author:
Parata Systems provides pharmacy technology solutions that empower pharmacists to help people lead healthier lives. Founded in 2001, Parata offers the most extensive pharmacy automation portfolio in the industry – designing, building, and supporting both vial-filling and pouch packaging solutions.
