The Benefits of Refilling All of Patient’s Medications on the Same Day

Increasing medication adherence is an important part of your job as a pharmacy owner or pharmacist, but it can be a difficult thing to do when your patients don’t remember to pick up their medications. However for patients, managing multiple prescriptions can be difficult, especially when they run out at different times. The best solution is to implement a program that coordinates patient prescriptions so that they are all set to be refilled on the same day.

These programs, are called medication synchronization (med sync) or SyncRx and are incredibly beneficial to your patients. According to the National Community Pharmacists Association, medication synchronization programs ensure that your patients never run out of medications, help them manage prescriptions, and increase adherence. For your pharmacy, this type of program will help you increase prescription sales, help you better project which medications need to be ordered, and increase customer satisfaction.

Here are some additional benefits of refilling all of your patient’s medications on the same day:

Patient Benefits

Educating patients early in the med sync process is important to the program’s success. It allows you to determine if the patient adhered to the medication regimen prescribed and if a doctor made any changes in medication, allowing  you to effectively sync chronic prescription refills. Once enrolled in med sync, your patient and pharmacist will meet for a medication review and discuss the health importance of medication adherence.

The primary  patient benefits of medication synchronization include:

• Reduction in potential for gaps between refills
• Monthly  medications ready on the same day Elimination of order refill calls to pharmacy
• Improvement of overall adherence

The reasons for improved adherence is obvious. Statistics show that:

• 1 in 2 patients missed a dose
• 1 in 3 forgot if they took the medications
• 1 in 4 did not get refill on time
• 1 in 4 didn’t start a new Rx at all

These statistics show a definitive need for a process that improves patient adherence to the medication regimen. Patients in a medication synchronization program are 32% more consistent with their medications. Research also shows that 3 out of 4 patients who have trouble managing their medications are not enrolled in a med sync program, while 40% were unaware these programs even existed. as you can see, synchronization provides a room for  growth, resulting in an opportunity for pharmacies to improve patient care.

Benefits for your Pharmacy

While patient care is always a top priority and the first reason to implement a med sync program, it’s important to realize the pharmacy also benefits in the following ways:

• Easy to organize a more evenly distributed workload resulting in greater fill capacity.
• Pharmacies with 70 or more patients enrolled in med sync experience a significant change in workflow. The reduction in patients coming in multiple times results in “found time” for the pharmacist and their team.
• Improves medication adherence and patient health
• Provides an increase in prescription volume
• Improvesinventory control. With a growing percentage of patients enrolled in med sync, the pharmacy can anticipate the required inventory.

Medication synchronization plays an important role in the push for better patient care. SyncRx is not only beneficial to your patients but to your pharmacy as well. If you’re not already offering a SyncRx program, you’re missing out on a way to better serve your customers and be more efficient in your operations and inventory management.