5 Reasons To Integrate Your Pharmacy With Your Practice Management System

Automating your clinic by implementing an efficient Practice Management System is undoubtedly the first step towards building a successful clinic but is it a comprehensive one?

Unarguably, you and the other clinicians at the clinic are the most important reason why the clinic will be successful but you will agree that medical care is not just about clinicians and procedures; medication is an integral part of the equation. Traditionally, the clinician would diagnose and prescribe the medicines, which are bought by the patient at her favorite pharmacy.

With software’s that allow integration of pharmacy with the operations of the clinic, medication can be made an integral part of treating the patient.

Here we take a look at the 5 most important reasons why integrating your pharmacy with your Practice Management System is a good idea:

1. Reduced Risks While Prescribing

Integrating your pharmacy with the Practice Management System at your clinic means you can choose and alter the prescription right at the point of care, which means lowered risks and effective medical care. It is a seamless process, wherein you have the entire inventory of your pharmacy at your disposal on your screen. When in doubt about prescribing a certain drug, after confirming the sensitivity and allergies with the patient, with few clicks you can easily see if it is a high-risk drug or if it can have any counter reaction with any of the medicines that the patient is currently on.

2. Easy Access To Patient Medication Information

Because you are a clinic and not a hospital, most of the medication history will not be available in your software, as they are not administered within your premises. Integrating your pharmacy with your Practice Management System will provide the clinicians with the medication history of the patient with all the past prescriptions, allergies, drug reactions, medication related complaints etc., thereby facilitating better medical decisions.

3. Facilitates Online Prescriptions

Integration between your pharmacy and your Practice Management System means better communication between the clinician and the pharmacy. The clinician can simply select the drugs,she wants the patient to take, from the pharmacy module and it will in effect become an online prescription. As soon as the clinician submits the prescription, the pharmacy will receive the order setting in motion their work even before the patient reaches the pharmacy counter. The communication is clear and immediate, with no handwriting confusion.

4. Easy On The Patient

When the patient gets out of the consultation room to the pharmacy counter, the pharmacy is already aware of her order and has most probably kept it ready. All she needs to do is pay for the medicines, compare them with the prescription and pick up the packet to walk out of the clinic. There is no question of finding a pharmacy nearby or finding a pharmacy where all the prescribed medicines will be available. This will go a long way in higher rankings on the patient satisfaction index.

5. Increased Revenue

In a traditional setup, after the clinician prescribes the medicines it is the patient’s discretion – whether to buy, how much to buy and where to buy from? Integrated pharmacy and practice management system would mean that it is one complete system and revenue leaks owing to the patient’s medicine buying behavior will come to a halt. Higher patient satisfaction owing to this hassle free system will also mean better revenues.

While the process of integrating the pharmacy module to the practice management software does not require high investment or technical hassle, the benefits it brings along is worth the little effort it takes. Looking at these benefits it is definitely an addition you will be happy to make as a doctor who wants to offer the best care for her patients.