Meet Paw Paw Village Pharmacy: RxSafe 1800 Customer
Family owned since 1982, Paw Paw Village Pharmacy in Michigan prides itself on fast and friendly service. The pharmacy’s staff are dedicated to helping patients find the best and most cost-effective solutions for their needs.
However, like many independent pharmacies, Paw Paw Village’s own success has led to challenges: the pharmacy must quickly and safely fill an average of 450 scripts per day, or more 700 prescriptions on a busy Monday.
The Pharmacy’s Challenge
To meet this challenge, pharmacy co-owner Joe Romph decided to purchase a two-tower RxSafe 1800. His primary goals were to increase accuracy and efficiency, while improving patient safety.
“On a typically busy day, we had a lot of technicians walking back and forth pulling bottles and counting drugs as fast as they could on multiple counters throughout the pharmacy in order to keep up with demand,” Romph says. “This negatively impacted our technician hours, error rate and service delivery.”
Game-Changing Results
After installing the RxSafe 1800, Paw Paw Village saw dramatic improvements in accuracy, efficiency, security, and profitability. For example, the system pulls medications by bar codes so the NDC codes are correct and there is far less room for errors. In addition, the RxSafe reporting features make it possible to track the movement of each prescription bottle to show each prescription filled and which technician filled it.
“Filling prescriptions using the RxSafe completely changed our workflow,” says Romph. “We used to have multiple technicians pulling drugs, filling prescriptions and lining them up on different counters for the pharmacist to check. Now that 80% of our volume is filled at the RxSafe with only one tech, we have a much more organized process of setting up the prescriptions on one counter for the pharmacist.”
The improved workflow helped Paw Paw Village’s profitability immensely, with less time being spent on technician counting and pharmacist verification, as well as reducing inefficiencies related to inventory management.
“Three months after introducing the RxSafe we saw a reduction in technician labor hours of between 200–250 hours per month,” Romph says. “This reduction basically covers the cost of the RxSafe.”
An Opportunity for Expansion
But Paw Paw Village didn’t stop there. Romph said he was considering purchasing another pharmacy, which would cause his inventory value and prescription volume to increase by more than 20% overnight. They would need a way to incorporate, manage and track this new inventory.
One year after purchasing the RxSafe 1800, Paw Paw Village acquired a second pharmacy and its inventory. The RxSafe allowed Paw Paw Pharmacy to assimilate all of its new inventory into their pharmacy over the course of a weekend. RxSafe’s bottle-picking algorithm automatically selected soonest-to-expire medications first, which enabled staff to dispense newly-acquired inventory that might otherwise have been discarded. Over a period of six weeks Paw Paw Village was able to deplete $98,000 of excess inventory. In addition, the pharmacy was able to increase inventory turns.
Client Testimonial
“We’ve seen our inventory turns go from 19 turns to 25 turns per year,” Romph says. “When we acquired a new pharmacy and added their inventory to our pharmacy it was easy with the direct-to-overstock feature—it’s a great program and it saved us!”
For pharmacy owners who are focused on improving the accuracy, safety, and security of their business operations, RxSafe is an automated, high-density robotic storage and retrieval system that helps pharmacies avoid medication errors and enhance narcotics security. Unlike traditional automation, our products provide the peace of mind that comes with unparalleled accuracy in the tracking of pharmacy drugs and narcotics.
Interested in a seeing the RxSafe in action? Please call (877) 797-2332 to schedule a live demo at a pharmacy near you.
About Paw Paw Village Pharmacy
Paw Paw Village Pharmacy is a family-owned, professional pharmacy serving the residents of Paw Paw, Michigan and the surrounding communities since 1982. The Paw Paw Village Pharmacy staff consists of two full-time and two part-time pharmacists, as well as 11 technicians. At Paw Paw Village Pharmacy, we pride ourselves on bringing you individualized service and attention and are dedicated to helping you and your physician find the best and most cost-effective medication for you.
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