Times have changed. Drug inventory management, one of the most important duties of all pharmacies, is now often delegated to pharmacy techs. This is on top of their many other daily tasks and assignments. So, what does drug inventory management entail? And are the most junior staffers up to the challenge?
First and foremost, pharmacy technicians must ensure a balanced or adequate inventory level that can fulfill a forecasted patient need. Over time, if this is the only focus, unnecessary stock levels can cause an increasingly high investment in pharmacy inventory and put a resulting strain on cash flow. That is why it is equally as important that pharmacy techs take advantage of return-to wholesaler policies to keep inventory balanced while avoiding unnecessary stock levels.
Most drug wholesalers have a return process that can be used when excess amounts of drugs or unneeded drugs are on the pharmacy shelf. The returns process must be monitored regularly and returns made in a timely fashion. If not, the returns window may be closed! This is not an easy task in the normal hectic day where patient care and safety are job one!
To further complicate things, drug inventory can be affected by many other factors such as new or first-in-class medications, patent expirations, inventory spoilage (ie; time or storage conditions that cause medicines to weaken), and drug recalls. To maintain an adequate, cost-effective supply of medications, both technicians and pharmacists must ensure that effective inventory procedures are established and maintained.
This is by no means an easy thing to do, and why most pharmacies fail when it comes to properly managing their biggest expense and largest investment—their pharmacy inventory. The traditional post-it note and memo pad systems just doesn’t work.
But smart pharmacy directors, managers, and pharmacists have found an easy and cost-effective way to automate their pharmacy inventory. They use Datarithm ®.
Datatithm ® takes the guesswork out and automates the entire process and delivers 3 major benefits!
Benefit #1: Increased speed
In 2030, one in five US residents will be of retirement age. With 87 percent of people 65 to 79 years of age using prescription drugs, there will be a drastic increase in prescriptions to fill. Manual efforts will not fit the bill or keep up with demand. Automation with Datarithm ®, however, will greatly increase each pharmacy’s productivity. Best of all, Datarithm ® is extremely cost-effective and typically pays for itself in less than 3 months. Now that’s a great ROI!
Benefit #2: Increased accuracy
People make mistakes—no matter how many checks, balances, and safeguards are put in place. But when it comes to pharmaceuticals, even the smallest error can have dire consequences.
Datarithm ® helps pharmacies nationwide avoid on-hand drift with its automatic, consistent and, quick cycle counting. On-hand accuracy can both avoid overstocking and stock-outs. Additionally, Datarithm ® automatically re-calculates optimal order points every month for every item/generic group based on changes in dispensing. These new order points are then automatically uploaded to the pharmacy management system. Every item and generic group are handled—nothing is missed, and nothing falls through the cracks.
Benefit #3: Improve time management through automation
As you now know, pharmacy inventory automation with Datarithm ® provides pharmacies greater control over their inventory. Paper trails and manual data entry is no longer needed or relied upon. Datarithm ® can streamline inventory tasks, and free up techs and pharmacists to focus on patient needs.
Pharmacy automation solutions are not a luxury reserved for large chains and uber organizations. As patient load increases, new regulatory requirements are put into place and medication requirements increase—all pharmacies must transition away from manual, error-prone tools and processes. There is too much at stake and too much to gain.
Datarithm ® is the one single solution that encompasses all of the potential pharmacy automation capabilities. Everybody wins with Datarithm ® pharmacy techs, pharmacists, managers, directors and, owners alike.
Invest in the future of your pharmacy and your patient’s health with Datarithm ®.
