"With our acquisition of the long-term care business, I realized I needed to make a decision about automation. The significant increase in volume in a very limited space had created a chaotic environment, and I was concerned about staff stress, dispensing accuracy, and maintaining our customer service levels," says Ronald Smith, R.Ph and owner of Alden Pharmacy. "I looked at various systems and PharmASSIST's small footprint and its ability to handle the various nuances of the long-term care filling were the keys to my decision. In my opinion, there's no way we could handle our increased volume without this system," adds Smith.

Rx Volume:
Alden Pharmacy was filling approximately 200-225 prescriptions a day before the long-term care deal. They now fill on average 325 prescriptions a day and have peak days of approximately 500 prescriptions.

Solution:
The independent's PharmASSIST Symphony+ System is comprised of 1 PharmASSIST cabinet, 50 dispensers, and 3 workstations. The PharmASSIST system is integrated with their QS/1 pharmacy management system, ensuring real-time prescription order flow for all Rx fulfillment tasks.

Benefits:
"When you first implement pharmacy automation, your staff goes through an adjustment period due to the change in process. Once we worked through that we were fine, and my staff now questions how they could do their jobs without this system," says Smith. "Our workflow is now much more efficient and the system's many quality checks have definitely improved our filling and verification steps. We've also cut our patient wait times in half with our customers waiting only 10 minutes tops even in our busiest periods," adds Smith.

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