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 ...

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.

By Dave Williams

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, many pharmacies are looking to cultivate greater customer affinity with a branded loyalty program. One misconception among many retailers is that these programs have to be complicated. Nothing could be further from the truth. By simply instituting a loyalty program where customers perceive some added value, store visit frequency and average basket size should increase by at least 1% to 2%. Such a sales increase ...

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 ...

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.

Pharmacies serving the long-term care market are likely to have special workflow requirements. Read on for vendors' views on the key elements to maximize LTC safety and efficiency.

Workflow technology is constantly evolving. Here are some details on the latest enhancements that vendors have added to their offerings.

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.

In this interview with ComputerTalk senior editor Will Lockwood, PharmacistsOnLine CEO David Knaggs offers his views on how independent pharmacists can improve their competitiveness by turning their attention to tested marketing tools and to product lines that have not traditionally been a big part their business.

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.

In this interview with ComputerTalk's Maggie Lockwood, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacist’s Carla Sexton, R.Ph., CGP, assistant director, policy and advocacy, along with consultant and ASCP board member Shelly Spiro, R.Ph., FASCP, talk about the ways evolving technologies, from web-based interfaces to the LTC e-prescribing pilot, are impacting the consultant pharmacist.

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.