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 Managing a pharmacy's front-end can be a time-consuming and complex task. But there are ways to make life easier. In this interview with ComputerTalk's Maggie Lockwood, ECRS President Peter Catoe talks about how the company's Supplier Gateway can connect its Catapult point-of-sale (POS) system with supplier ordering systems to reduce the time spent on ordering, pricing, and other activities.
CT: What steps does the ECRS Supplier Gateway save in the ordering process?
Catoe: ECRS's Gateway service is designed to automate the most time-consuming stages of the front-end replenishment process. Our research shows that many independent pharmacies spend 10 to 15 hours a week ordering and receiving front-end inventory. The majority of that labor is consumed with the process of manually building purchase orders, either on paper or on a hand-held terminal by walking down aisles and looking for holes on shelves. This data is either re-entered into an online supplier ordering system or batch uploaded to the wholesaler. This process is commonly performed by pharmacists or pharmacy technicians. This method, in addition to being time-consuming, is fraught with the potential for error. The staff does not have accurate data with which to make good business decisions about product restocking by taking in to account criteria such as seasonality, item movement history, and the impact of promotions or sales on item movement. Without good data, you risk having a less than adequate item mix, or worse, stock-outs on products customers want.
CT: How does POS offer advantages over a manual process?
Catoe: ECRS has a unique two-phase approach to solving this problem. First, our Catapult POS solution removes the manual process and inefficiencies by suggesting which items should be purchased and what the optimal order quantity should be. The suggested order is based off actual item data. This is not just a simple min max calculation, but one that uses optimized movement data, auto lead time calculation, auto safety stock calculations, promotional data and a statistical formula to determine the optimum order amount for each item. Once the order is calculated by the Catapult system, the buyer is then allowed to make changes where necessary. The second phase of automation is equally impressive. Once the buyer commits to the purchase order, Catapult automatically transmits the order via Supplier Gateway. The order is transmitted with one mouse click directly to the supplier's ordering system. The buyer receives an email acknowledgement confirming receipt of the order. Pharmacies can save up to 50% of the labor previously allocated to ordering tasks. This labor is typically reclaimed for high-value tasks such as customer service and prescription processing.
CT: Does the supplier ordering information flow back into the ECRS system and can the pharmacist print a report?
Catoe: Yes, once the order is fulfilled by the pharmacy's supplier, ECRS's Gateway service processes an electronic invoice and shipping notice and updates the Catapult purchase order with correct acquisition costs and shipped quantities. Back orders for shorted items are automatically created. And the buyer receives email confirmations of each step in the supply chain process. This automatic purchase order update also saves stores a tremendous amount of labor on the receiving end because a store's staff frequently will accept the receiving document and note any discrepancies as they restock the shelves. It's important to remember that one of the key benefits of this system is its automated nature. All communications and file transfers between the store and the supplier require zero user intervention.
CT: Getting correct, current acquisition costs sounds important. Tell us more about that.
Catoe: As I mentioned earlier, as each Catapult PO is received, the correct item acquisition cost is automatically updated in the Catapult database. The Gateway then dynamically compares the last cost for each item purchased with the invoice cost on the current order and generates a worksheet for those items where costs have risen and affected margin. This margin alert functionality is extremely popular with pharmacists because it provides them with timely data they can use to quickly address margin changes on the floor before their bottom lines are affected. This addresses an important issue for pharmacy owners, who frequently say that they lack the time and data to accurately manage pricing and margins in the front end.
CT: I understand that there's functionality for managing retail pricing as well, right?
Catoe: Yes, in addition to the ordering and receiving process, Supplier Gateway also eliminates manual processes associated with updating retail prices. This service maintains an up-to-date copy of the supplier price catalog and regularly compares these with the current retail prices for the pharmacy that are set in Catapult. When retail prices change on items stocked by the store, the Gateway creates a price change worksheet and notifies the store staff by email that they need to review the price updates. The staff simply goes through the worksheet, makes any necessary changes, commits the price updates, and generates new shelf stickers. All this is driven by the same automatically generated worksheet. Traditionally, it's a challenge for independent pharmacies to maintain their shelf prices in the front-end, particularly in high-volume stores.
CT: What other manual processes can the Supplier Gateway help automate?
Catoe: The Gateway can also help customers with promotional and marketing programs. For example, Cardinal customers can use this service for the Leader Ad program. Each month, Supplier Gateway can build a Leader promo in the store's Catapult system, inputting the start and end dates of the sale, affected items, and promo prices for those items. The store receives a notification a few days before the sale begins that a new promo is available for review in Catapult. The store reviews the promo, makes any necessary changes, accepts it, and prints shelf stickers for the sale items - all from one screen. Accepted promos then begin and end automatically, returning the items to regular price on the date the sale expires. Before increased automation through the Gateway, stores might not have participated in programs such as Leader Ad promotion because it was simply too time-consuming for them to change prices each month. Automating this process allows stores easier access to this and other promotional programs and the opportunity to benefit from participation.
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One of the features of the 2010 McKesson Trade Show in Las Vegas was a
continuing education presentation give by industrial engineer Robin Gensler,
and sponsored by Parata Systems. Gensler came to talk with independent
pharmacists about how they can best analyze their operations, and develop
methods for making educated decisions about workflows, staffing, and
technology. Gensler made several interesting observations about what you can
learn using the right methods. For example, Gensler mentioned studies that
showed that the ...
The recent article &...
My name is
Bryan Samuels and I am the technology director for a company called
Modern Health. We are a privately held, specialty pharmacy company
located in Southern California. Our company owns and operates six
different specialty pharmacies each catering to its own specific
demographic and/or disease state. Collectively, we dispense over 1.5 million prescriptions a
year.
A recent conversation with Bob Moser, R.Ph., supervisor
of pharmacy clinical systems for Winston Salem Healthcare Pharmacy,
brought up the topic of checklists and their potential to improve
pharmacy operations. The topic came to Moser's attention from several
sources, including reading airline captain Chesley Sullenberger's book
"Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters." In this interview, ComputerTalk
senior editor Will Lockwood talks with Moser to find out more about ...
Pharmacist and owner Jimmy Yuen recently installed dispensing automation at his Advance Medical Pharmacy in Walnut Creek, Calif. In this audio slide show, he talks about the decision process that led him to select Kirby Lester’s new KL60 and his decision to to invite his independent colleagues for a first-hand look at this technology.
In this interview, pharmacist Jay Lalkiya talks about how he's using
a tool called myPharmacyTrainer to educate his staff at Apalachin
Pharmacy about how to improve store operations and how best to interact
with customers. This tool offers 22 modules that recreate scenarios
commonly encountered by pharmacy staff and employs an interactive,
audio/visual educational approach.
In this podcast, McKesson Pharmacy Systems President Stanton McComb
covers a range of topics surrounding pharmacy, technology, and the
current drive for healthcare reform. He offers his take on what new
roles pharmacy may play as a result, the growing role of clinical care
in pharmacy, and what’s on the horizon for technology for the pharmacy
and for the patient. Also part of the discussion: What MTM means for
retail pharmacy right now and what it ...
For the last twelve months, many independent pharmacies have
struggled over the decision of whether to register their pharmacy under the 90% Rule, or invest in an IIAS certified point-of-sale. For one reason or another, many pharmacies opted for the 90%
Rule. It seemed like a logical
choice. No expensive
point-of-sale, no major changes, just a little complicated paperwork and it is
back to business as usual. For some,
this has worked out. For others,
FSA card declines have ...
Pharmacies already have OTC items in their stores, and with a little
planning and proper placement, those standard items can turn into added sales
at the POS.
This letter from Integra CEO Kevin Welch is in response
to the article written by Kapali Eswaran in the September/October 2009 issue of ComputerTalk
regarding "What to Look for in a Paperless System."
The mobile technology initiative in 
Long-time independent pharmacist Bob Graul has made some big changes and taken a new direction recently. In this interview with ComputerTalk senior editor Will Lockwood, Graul talks about the process of selling his pharmacies and how this motivated him to get involved in his current project: 
You're probably aware that as of January 1, 2009 there will be new rules for pharmacies processing payments for items eligible for FSA/HRA spending. If you have a point-of-sale (POS) system, you'll need to make sure it is IIAS compliant and that your system has been certified. If you don't have POS, then you may be looking for another solution. In this interview, Retail Management Solutions President Brad Jones and KeyCentrix ...
In this interview with ComputerTalk's Will Lockwood, DAA VP for business development Abrar Kazmi talks about the company's new OnClickTech Support offering, which offers remote PC support. This is a joint venture with Team 9 Global Serivces, and is something a little different for ...
McKesson Pharmacy Systems' (MPS) president Stanton McComb took time during the most recent McKesson Trade Show in Las Vegas to answer a series of questions from ComputerTalk's Will Lockwood about what the centrally-hosted EnterpriseRx pharmacy management product, already deployed in the chain setting, offers for independent pharmacy.
Pharmacist Doug Kaleugher opened Med-Fast Pharmacy 1990. Since then the business has expanded to 22 pharmacies in western Pennsylvania, with a mix of standard prescription services, retail, long-term care, and compounding. In this interview with ComputerTalk's Will Lockwood, Kaleugher talks about the big role dispensing automation has played Med-Fast's growth. He also offers strategies for introducing automation into your pharmacy and his take on the benefits of some of the newest dispensing technology out there.
Dave Burke R.Ph, M.B.A., pictured at left in blue, owner of Dave’s Pharmacy in Marysville, Ohio, took some time out at the recent Cardinal RBC to talk with ComputerTalk's Will Lockwood about his decision to a install a workflow management system and the benefits he has seen. Dave’s Pharmacy fills an average of 400 prescriptions per day, with peaks on some ...
Jonathan Rider, owner of Rider Pharmacy in Fairmont, W.Va., is a firm believer in perpetual inventory. He took a few minutes at the Cardinal RBC in Orlando, Fla., to talk to ComputerTalk’s Will Lockwood about Cardinal Inventory Management (CIM), how he uses Kirby Lester counting technology to speed through the daily counts that are the basis for this inventory tracking method, and the financial and operational improvements he’s seen.
Joe Ross, director of business services at McKesson Pharmacy Systems, talks in this interview with ComputerTalk senior editor Will Lockwood about existing and anticipated regulations that are changing what drug sales pharmacists are required to log. State and Federal regulations that require tracking the sale of non-prescription methamphetamine precursors have contributed to a demonstrable reduction in the illegal use of these drugs. More regulation may be in store, since the FDA is currently considering a behind-the-counter class of ...
Here is an overview of the big questions about e-prescribing that
pharmacists were asking Speed Script’s Heath Reynolds during the 109th
NCPA meeting in October. Reynolds, director of business development,
talks here of the nuts and bolts of taking e-prescribing from theory to
practice.
ComputerTalk senior editor Will Lockwood caught up recently with Marc Cohen, senior director of marketing for RelayHealth, to talk about what's happening in the world of claims processing and switching services.
It turns out that there are some interesting new additions being made that build on the transactional expertise and connectivity that are the core elements of these services.
McKesson Pharmacy Systems (MPS) President Stanton McComb sat down with ComputerTalk
senior editor Will Lockwood at the McKesson Pharmacy Strategies
Conference and Trade Show in Boston in July to talk about recent
changes at MPS resulting from the Per-Se Technologies acquisition, the
newest technology that MPS is offering, and the changes he sees ahead
for retail pharmacy practice.
Parata brought its RDS robotics directly to ComputerTalk recently, courtesy of its new mobile unit. The concept was developed over the past year as a way to reach out to busy community pharmacists.
In this interview with ComputerTalk's senior editor, Will Lockwood, Parata's executive VP of sales and marketing, Tom Rhoads, pictured at left, discusses the results and lessons of two recent surveys on dispensing automation that covered independent, chain, and institutional pharmacies. Read on for his take on the trends revealed, pharmacists' attitude toward their industry and their future, and the tools that can help make sure that investment in automation pays dividends.
