Point of Care Dispensing
Point-of-Care Drug Dispensing
If you can prescribe it…You can fill it!
Have you ever had to re-prescribe a “new” medication for one of your patients, because their pharmacy did not have the prescription medication you originally prescribed in stock? Wouldn’t it be great if you and your patients didn’t have to go through that aggravation and could get everything they need from you, the physician, in your office?
Point of Care Pharmaceutical Dispensing
DocRx has the answer. We now offer “pre-sealed”, “pre-labeled” generic medications for everything PRESCRIBED IN A PHYSICIANS OFFICE! If it can be filled at a retail pharmacy, you can dispense it, with in-office point of care medication dispensing.
No longer are you only able to offer a limited amount of prescribed medications. Now your patients will enjoy the convenience of receiving the most commonly prescribed medications for injuries, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, the flu, depression, plus many more……right from your office.
In Office Drug Dispensing — It's Efficient!
Dispensing prescription medications in-office has never been more efficient. Most prescriptions can be filled in just a couple minutes. This actually saves time compared to rewriting prescriptions, fielding calls from local pharmacies, dealing with renewals, and so on. Not only does this reduce the chance of errors, but less time spent on administration means more time with your patients and building your practice. It's like having your own in-office pharmacy. You will not need to take on any more staff or equipment; no automatic prescription dispensers needed.
Benefits of Point of Care Medication Dispensing
Not only does in-office dispensing, sometimes called physician dispensing, provide a major convenience benefit to patients – as well as your practice – but it’s also a fantastic improvement on the age-old problem of patient prescription compliance. (For example, a 2014 study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported that approximately one in three prescriptions are never filled). Formerly the province of worker's compensation resolution, dispensing at the point of care solves this issue completely. In addition, the in-office dispensing process ensures that patients get their prescription drugs immediately, allowing them to start their treatment without delay, which improves health outcomes. Moreover, it gives patients the opportunity to ask questions about their medications that they might not feel comfortable asking a pharmacist, in the more private environment of your office or clinic.
Primary medication non-adherence is a problem that affects patient safety, prolongs recovery and ultimately increases medical costs. You can help solve this problem for your patients and your clinic by ensuring that patients have the prescriptions medications they need, with a dispensing system managed by you, the physician, before they leave your office. This kind of dispensing program has major benefits for patient safety.
From your shelves to their hands……Patients’ HEALTH First!
Why Dispense Medication?
As a doctor, you have a tremendous responsibility. Few other professions impact the lives of an individual more than their primary care physician.
And, at the heart of your practice, there are 4 major steps you must take, with every patient you see:
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Examine
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Diagnose
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Treat
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Prescribe
All of these steps are part of your complete and lifelong, dedication to putting patient health first. Well, at DocRx, we would like to add one more step: Fulfill.
You have spent your entire career examining patients, coming up with a diagnosis, creating treatment plans and prescribing the best medication to heal your patients. But, unfortunately, about 30% of the time, all of your work goes for naught. Why? As noted above roughly 1 in 3 patients never pick up the prescription drugs that their doctors prescribe. This is a problem that is eliminated when doctors introduce medication dispensing at the point of care. Out of 15,961 patients in a network of 131 physicians, primary non adherence was 31.3%. That is over 31,000 prescriptions which were written but not filled. This is part of the broader problem of medication non-adherence, where the World Health Organization estimates that about 50% of medications are not taken as directed or prescribed. This is an extraordinary drag on the work doctors do in treating patients and adds massive costs to the health care system.
Although the conclusion of these studies could not find the exact reason for such a high number of prescription drugs going unfulfilled, there were three areas that they felt could help in lowering the number:
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Lower drug costs
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Lower prescription co-pays
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Doctor follow up
We at DocRx understand you, the physician, can not, and should not be, responsible for the high cost of drugs you prescribe or the high prescription co-pays of the insurance companies your patients choose. Nor do you have the time to see new patients and follow up with recent patients to make sure that they picked up their prescription medicines at the same time. There just isn’t enough time in the day.
But, what if you could ensure your patients reliable receive their medications you prescribe – because you and your staff are the ones who put them there? And what if you could improve patient outcomes without incurring any additional costs or hiring additional staff? What if, in fact, providing this valuable service to your patients also provided an additional revenue stream to reinvest into your practice while significantly increasing patient satisfaction, compliance, and safety? As an added bonus, point of care dispensing with DocRx often allows doctors and clinics to offer prescription medications to their patients at a lower cost that they would pay at the pharmacy.
Point of Care Drug Dispensing and the Coronavirus
A further benefit of point of care drug dispensing is highlighted by the development of the coronavirus pandemic. Point of care medication dispensing cuts down on opportunities for the virus to spread, by allowing patients, many of whom are sick and could be contagious and/or vulnerable to COVID-19, to avoid making an unnecessary visit to a pharmacy.
States that Allow Point of Care Dispensing
Regulations change frequently, but there is a growing consensus in the U.S. (and worldwide) that allowing medical practitioners to dispense medication at the point of care provides significant benefits to patients, clinics, and the medical system as a whole. Almost all U.S. States allow some form on doctor dispensing, with varying rules on who, specifically, can dispense medication from within a doctor's office. That said, there are some exceptions to broadly liberal point of care dispensing regulations: Texas, New York, and Massachusetts are common examples but even in these states, exceptions exist. Please contact us for a free consultation with one of our compliance experts.
Posted: 04-03-2019
Modified: 07-13-2021