Ghada Abukuwaik, head pharmacist and owner at CureMed Pharmacy in New Jersey, has been a pharmacist for more than 20 years. Even with all that experience, she was surprised how much the RxSafe 1800 changed her pharmacy’s workflow, for the better.
“Before we added the RxSafe to our pharmacy, we struggled with workflow and how to effectively take all the prescriptions from time of entry to delivery/pick up time,” Abukuwaik explains. “We struggled keeping up with walk-in patients on top of our usual maintenance medication refills.”
CureMed, which is a certified diabetic wellness center, also does adherence packaging, MTM, home visits and other clinical services for its patients.
“The RxSafe has significantly changed our pharmacy workflow,” Abukuwaik says. “It provided a clear structure so every member of the team has their own role. RxSafe helped us minimize the employees needed to fill and complete a prescription.”
Filling 100 scripts per hour, accurately
“When we purchased the RxSafe we were striving to improve accuracy, safety, time efficiency and inventory management,” Abukuwaik says. “Before installing the RxSafe, we had a minimum of three technicians filling prescriptions. Now, I only have one technician filling prescriptions.” The other two technicians have been freed up to work on more profitable services, Abukuwaik says.
"One of our technicians handles 100 prescriptions per hour with the RxSafe,” she adds. “The system has improved our efficiency and has allowed us to be able to handle more patients and prescriptions and give more attention to other clinical services.”
"Put away labor also has greatly decreased” Abukuwaik says. “The technician no longer has to run around the store to put things away. It is all in one place – the RxSafe.”
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Time savings was only the beginning
Abukuwaik was also impressed by the RxSafe 1800’s ability to save precious pharmacy floor space.
"The RxSafe offers much more than security, safety, efficiency, inventory management and accuracy,” she says. “It is also a high capacity storage cabinet. Everything in our pharmacy fits into the RxSafe. It has allowed us to free up a lot of extra space and create an area in our store to do multi-dose packaging, MedSync, and many other clinical services.”
A 3-tower RxSafe 1800 system can hold virtually all of a pharmacy’s oral solid stock bottles: up to 5,400 stock bottles in 40 square feet of space. That means pharmacy owners can avoid remodeling, and grow revenues by gaining additional floor space for additional income.
Narcotics security = peace of mind
The RxSafe 1800 is a closed and locked inventory system that guarantees unprecedented inventory accuracy, theft prevention and security for all drugs. Stock bottles are stored behind locked doors, and any discrepancies are tracked by user.
"The security features have made everyone more accountable,” Abukuwaik says. “I know exactly which employees remove or add items to the RxSafe, and when. The RxSafe has avoided possible mistakes and decreased lost time with audits.”
“I feel safe with my narcotics in the machine,” she adds. “Even if I’m traveling or not available at the pharmacy, I know that only the pharmacist is accountable for those, and it makes me feel far safer than before. The RxSafe provides great security and accountability for each pill.”
50% less on-hand inventory for CureMed
The RxSafe 1800 requires less on-hand inventory, driving increased inventory turns. RxSafe’s proprietary software interfaces with the pharmacy’s PMS. In addition, pharmacies can track their inventory in real time, so they know what and when to reorder. Other benefits include:
- No disappearing inventory
- No opening a second bottle
- No waste due to expiration
- Remote stock management is another standard feature of the RxSafe system
- All pharmacy inventory is managed by the system whether it’s inside or outside the RxSafe
- No more headaches keeping track of inventory in different locations
“My very favorite feature of the RxSafe is the inventory management,” Abukuwaik says. “It’s phenomenal, exceptional, amazing! We now carry approximately 50% less inventory than before the RxSafe,” she says, adding that the RxSafe 1800 has improved CureMed’s inventory turns, from an average of 11 to 18, and reduced the cost of having extra medication on the shelves.
"Inventory was a great challenge for us,” says Abukuwaik. "We were not fully aware of the inventory we had in stock at times, which led to delays for patients and affected cost.”
Abukuwaik also pointed out that the RxSafe’s ability to manage and check expiration dates has saved money for CureMed Pharmacy.
“Our lead technician checks the expiration reports monthly so we can return the expired items and get credit,” she says. “It also shows us which bottles are fast moving as well as which bottles have been sitting for months unused. We return the bottles that we do not use on a regular basis, saving us money.”
"I like the time efficiency it has created for my pharmacy and how it improved our knowledge of what we have on hand. It really helps manage our inventory,” Abukuwaik adds.
Profitability: system pays for itself in 12 months
Workflow changes, inventory management and labor savings have added up to a positive return on investment for CureMed, Abukuwaik says.
"RxSafe has saved us a lot of time searching for lost or misfiled items,” Abukuwaik explains. “We simply type the item in the inventory check to see if we have it on hand, which only takes a few seconds. Before that, we would have to search through each shelf which wasted a lot of valuable time.”
"My profit has improved significantly because there is now less cost due to inventory savings and only having the appropriate staff needed for the day.” Abukuwaik estimates that CureMed saves approximately $70,000 per year on labor and inventory savings alone.
“I believe that I got back my investment on the RxSafe within the first year,” she concludes.
"We love RxSafe. It is an investment that any pharmacy will see great results from. It will save time, money, improve workflow, inventory management, and increase overall patient satisfaction.”
For more information on the RxSafe 1800, visit our product page, or call 877-797-2332 now to speak with an automation expert.
