Patient Adherence and Star Ratings for Independent Pharmacies

Originally published December 3, 2012 and updated

One of the challenges outpatient and community pharmacies face is patient non-compliance with thier medications. Not only does this hurt the patient, but it becomes lost revenue for the pharmacy. It’s estimated that $30 BILLION in lost revenue is attributed to patients not adhering to their prescribed medications, AND 58% of all prescriptions are taken incorrectly! 

Click here to see some amazing statistics on patient adherence

How can technology, such as pharmacy point-of-sale systems help? Pharmacy mobile POS technology is becoming more prevalent in our industry, and its becoming a vaulable tool to use during counseling.  Using a mobile POS device such as our EvolutionPOS handheld unit allows the pharmacist to counsel the patient in private, complete their prescription purchase, and record counseling notes, all on the handheld. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to send the patient to the register to stand in line behind the guy buying toilet paper and candy. The transaction becomes much more personal and patients will be more likely to return due to the personalized customer service they received. Because our EvolutionPOS device is portable, you can do this anywhere in the store, including standing next to the patients car if they have difficulty getting around. I’m certain that if an physcially-challenged patient is able to purchase their medication curbside and not have to fumble around with walkers, wheelchairs, and the like, that you will gain a customer for life.

Check out this blog to learn more about what star ratings are, and how they will affect your pharmacy. 

Learn more about how you can improve your pharmacy’s star rating by taking advantage of this 2 day seminar delivered by one of our business partners, Pharmacy Development Services.

Mike Gross is VP of Sales and Marketing for RMS.  Aside from being passionate about independent pharmacies and making them successful, he enjoys running, spending time with his family, and playing a little poker when he can.  He can be reached at mikeg@rm-solutions.com.