With shrinking reimbursements, growing DIR fees and rising labor costs, independent pharmacies today are challenged like never before to stay profitable.
As a pharmacy owner, PBM rules, drug prices and other external forces are completely out of your control. Luckily, there are some internal factors you can control: i.e. your workflow, your efficiency, and your inventory, to name a few.
Taken together, these factors add up to thousands of dollars in profit -- like putting cash back into your register -- each and every month.
At RxSafe, we call it the “profit equation.” If you saw our previous blog on this topic, you’re already in the know, but here’s a quick recap:
The profit equation
Enhanced accuracy & speed, space savings, narcotics security, and inventory management all combine to form a huge savings: we call it the profit equation.
In fact, using NCPA averages, we’ve calculated that the average pharmacy can achieve a total first-year cash increase of $161,000 after purchasing the RxSafe 1800. Many of our customers have reported that the system pays for itself in as little as 12 months.
The video below shows how six pharmacists are using pharmacy automation to keep more of their cash.
Click to watch the video above.
How does RxSafe improve a pharmacy’s bottom line? You can read all about it on our profit page, but just read a few of the comments from your fellow pharmacists and pharmacy owners below.
Enhanced accuracy & speed saves labor costs
The RxSafe 1800 is an automated labor-saving system designed to speed up your filling process, while making dispensing more accurate.
“Four months after introducing the RxSafe, we saw a reduction in technician labor hours of between 200–250 hours per month,” says Joe Romph, co-owner of Paw Paw Village Pharmacy in Michigan. “This reduction basically covers the cost of the RxSafe.”
“We’ve been able to grow a lot without increasing payroll,” says Jana Bennett, pharmacist and owner of The Medicine Shoppe in Texas. “Our payroll was 9 percent before; after installing the RxSafe it’s at 7.3 percent.”
"In our pharmacy we have a lot of programs,” says Amjad Abukwaik, pharmacist and owner of Sheefa Pharmacy in New Jersey. “We have wellness programs, sync, DME and having RxSafe has allowed me to utilize my best staff to implement these programs. The people who used to count, are now working on these programs and they're doing a phenomenal job."
Small footprint, dense storage means more room for profits
The typical pharmacy has its inventory spread across several low-density shelving units, plus room in between the shelves for employees to walk and search for drugs. However, the RxSafe employs high-density storage towers that minimize the amount of space taken up by medication stock bottles.
"I think every pharmacy suffers from a lack of space,” says Bennett. “As soon as we built our pharmacy we were short on space. The first RxSafe tower that we got we were able to take out 3 shelving bays and when we added a second tower we took out another bay. So we have all kinds of space. It's great, it's clutter-free, it's nice."
“Before we got the RxSafe we had two technicians filling scripts,” she adds. “It was actually less expensive to add the RxSafe than to have the second technician. With more room, we added a med sync program that the second technician manages now instead and sales went through the roof.”
Eliminating diversion with biometric security
Narcotic security is a top priority for any pharmacy owner. The RxSafe’s locked cabinets and biometric access provide peace of mind, as well as saving owners potentially thousands of dollars in loss due to theft or diversion.
"One of the key drivers in selecting the RxSafe was security of our controlled substances,” says Frank McCree, director of the outpatient pharmacy at Carolinas Healthcare. “We had experienced an internal pilferage situation and it went on for several months before we caught what was happening. By the time we caught it we were missing several thousand doses of controlled substances."
"We recently completed our first DEA-required bi-annual inventory utilizing the RxSafe for the first time,” he adds. “We're very pleased with how much quicker that process was with the RxSafe versus having to go around and count every single controlled substance by hand."
“With the reporting features we’re able to track the movement of each prescription bottle to show what prescription it was used for and what technician filled it,” says Romph. The system allows us to verify the count on all prescriptions if there is ever a question, as there often was on narcotics. The machine checks the weight of each bottle and for controlled substances it will warn you if you're off by even a single tablet."
Reducing inventory costs with better management
Aside from your staff, your pharmacy’s inventory is the most important asset in your business. The question is, is that asset working for you… or against you? RxSafe helps answer this question, with real-time data you can use.
"The scope of services you get from this machine is phenomenal,” says Matthew Maker, pharmacist and owner at Donlon Pharmacy in Iowa. “Not only does it help count pills accurately and select drugs accurately, it also tracks all my inventory, it tracks all my outdates for me so I can instantly comb all my shelves for outdates. It does a lot of things that other automation solutions just do not offer."
"Inventory management was a key driver for our decision to implement the RxSafe,” says McCree. “What we love about it is that everything is fully documented, we know exactly what's in there. We can go to the RxSafe at any time, pull a report, and know the exact number of dosage units of any drug that we have stored in the RxSafe."
The bottom line
"Our profit has improved because of many things related to the RxSafe,” says Bennett. “Better inventory control, better payroll control. That makes a big difference with your cash flow if you can get those things where they need to be and the RxSafe has definitely helped us with that."
“Along with a quieter, smoother and more efficient operation, we’ve also been able to increase our inventory turns and our profit with the RxSafe,” concludes Romph.
Click here to watch the whole video.
To learn more, visit our profit page or call 877-797-2332 today to speak to an automation expert.
