Must-Have Tools for Pharmacy Innovation

At the fall 2024 Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit, held virtually on October 19, Lisa Faast, PharmD, founder and CEO of DiversifyRx, talked about the work her company is doing in pharmacies across the country and how pharmacists are using technology. Her session, titled “The Essential Tech Stack for Pharmacy Owners,” focused on the software and physical technology essential to pharmacies to grow and streamline their businesses.

“The software and the tech that every pharmacy needs is a pharmacy management system, often referred to as a PMS,” said Faast. She started her presentation by discussing the necessary functions a PMS can provide for pharmacists. Faast also mentioned how she is constantly asked which PMS is the best, and she cleared the air by saying “it’s the one that you just get.”

Learn how pharmacy owners can use technology to boost marketing efforts and, more importantly, profits. | image credit: Sergej Gerasimov / stock.adobe.com

Aside from PMS, Faast also delved into other areas of technology in the pharmacy, such as point-of-sale (POS) systems that handle transactions and appointment systems that better facilitate pharmacist-patient relationships. She also explored how pharmacy owners can use technology to boost marketing efforts and, more importantly, profits.

READ MORE: Understanding Prescription Drug Trends to Encourage Pharmacy Innovation

Read on for some key takeaways from Faast’s presentation:

• Faast explained how POS systems are designed to meet the specific needs of pharmacies. “When you talk to different PMS systems, they’re going to list all kinds of features, and if you can’t immediately figure out ‘what’s my use case for that feature,’ then that root feature isn’t really helpful to you. Think about what you want to do in your pharmacy, how you want to operate, how you want to help your patients, and look for features that you will actually use,” she said.
• “There might be all kinds of reasons you want appointments in your pharmacies, whether it’s vaccines, clinical services, consultations, brown bag days, whatever the case may be. I think it’s good for us to go to a more on-purpose, in-demand type of system,” said Faast. Specifically, she discussed how she prefers her appointment system to collect payments up front so that her pharmacy is guaranteed some sort of business.
• Promosuns is a company that Faast works with for her pharmacy’s promotional and marketing materials. At a “very low cost,” she is able to boost her pharmacy’s recognition and set it apart compared with nearby competitors. “If you want some logo items, Promosuns [would] be the way to go,” she said. Finding simple and cheap options to increase the familiarity of the pharmacy may be a small but crucial step in boosting revenue.
• “Websites are obviously a must this year. I’m actually still amazed by how many pharmacies I come across that don’t have a website. It’s not…the fact that not having a website is detrimental to your business, it’s the impression and the feeling that a potential patient gets when you don’t have a website. It makes you seem not legit. It makes you seem like you’re not really on top of things,” Faast continued. In this day and age, staying ahead of the technological curve is crucial, and a majority of all businesses rely heavily on an internet presence.
• Faast also mentioned the ability of Jotform to help pharmacists maneuver Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) documentation. “Jotform is a great way to go. They also have premade forms because so many pharmacies used them during [the COVID-19 pandemic]. They just came up with a ton of templates that make it really useful for us. So [if] you need a HIPAA-compliant form, that would be the place to go and get it.”
• “If you’re a pharmacy owner, you’re very aware that your inventory is the largest black hole of cash in your pharmacy. Every little bottle sitting on your shelf—just imagine them as little stacks of cash. If you have too much inventory, you have too much cash on your shelf, and you don’t have enough cash in your bank,” said Faast. She also mentioned how most pharmacies that close do so not because of a lack of profit, but a lack of cash flow. Faast uses a company called Datarithm to manage her pharmacy’s inventory.
• Faast also touched on compliance and the main tool she uses to ensure her pharmacy is upholding all necessary standards. “One of my favorites is R.J. Hedges. If you’re looking for HIPAA compliance, if you do any DME [durable medical equipment], if you do any compounding, [the company] literally is the go-to [place] for all…your policies and procedures; everything that you need to be compliant and train your employees. It’s not enough just to have policies and procedures that collect dust on a shelf. You need to actually have employees know how to use it and know how to be compliant,” she concluded.

Explore more of our coverage from the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit Fall 2024: Innovating With Cutting-Edge Technology. To read these stories and more, download the PDF of the Total Pharmacy December issue here.

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