Of course people want a pharmacy that delivers – we live in an “on demand” society.
At PersonalRX, home delivery is just a part of the equation, but it is an important part. Like everything else, there’s no one size fits all. We pride ourselves on doing more than simply shipping to the home. And not just because we do it with style (which we do).
There’s an art and a science to pharmacy home delivery done the right way. The scientific part is logistics. When we ship a 30-day supply of a medication, we know that the refill must be shipped no later than 30 days from the time the current shipment is picked up. For us, delivery times are actually based on the patient’s medication cycle “start date” – and while we can’t be late – there’s no harm in being early. The “art” is highly personal service.
The Surest Way To Be On Time Is To Be Early
This is our mantra: never be late; never be late; never be late. I know you’re thinking, what’s the big deal, automate the process – set it and forget it. Well, it’s not as simple as that. In the winter, we periodically see snow storms change the timing of delivery. During hurricane season, we run the risk of delays too, especially for our patients in Florida and on the gulf coast. So, we check the weather – and when in doubt, we ship early. Never be late, never be late.
There are other factors that require refill management to be more intricate than “Set it and forget it.” Our patients’ medication regimens change from time to time. A medication is discontinued. Another has a change in dosage. And one is being swapped out for another due to an unforeseen side effect. We learn of these types of changes because we proactively reach out to our patients, and their doctors.
A Dedicated Pharmacy Technician
How do we keep track? Each patient has a dedicated pharmacy tech. Each tech cares for a group of patients who belong to different shipping cycles. Here’s our secret sauce: patient outreach is systematically scheduled. Following a quality assurance call after the delivery of a medication shipment, there are roughly two more patient outreaches scheduled – for the dedicated pharmacy tech. One mid-month and one at the beginning of the production cycle. It’s here that we plan to catch any changes reported by the patient that aren’t evident from prescriptions received by their doctors.
The Right Technology
Our proprietary system, RX2 Admin, provides transparency so that various members of our clinical teams, including pharmacists, can easily see the status of patients in different phases of refill management, production and shipping. Technology provides us with safety nets – in the form of workflows and reports – to prevent tasks from falling through the cracks.
However, it’s the ownership and accountability of the technicians – their compassion for the patients under our care – that makes refill management and on-time home delivery work.
