Pharmacists lacking a point-of-sale (POS) system and wondering what to do come Jan. 1, 2009, when FSA and HRA debit cards can only be used at authorized pharmacies now have an option to be a SIGIS-certified merchant. KeyCentrix, provider of the RxKey pharmacy system, and Retail Management Solutions, provider of pharmacy POS systems, have teamed up to form a new company, flexTRAX Solutions. The company is offering independent pharmacies an alternative to a traditional POS system in order to process flexible-spending-account debit cards.

According to Brandon Shuey, president and CEO of KeyCentrix and cofounder of flexTRAX, the system is IIAS-compliant. Pharmacists subscribing to the service can ring up sales, verify the items eligible for flexible spending accounts against the IRS-required IIAS product file, tender payments, and print receipts. The flexTRAX application runs on Windows XP or Vista. Pharmacists will need a dedicated PC, barcode scanner, magnetic strip credit/debit-card reader, and receipt printer.

Membership in SIGIS is required for the pharmacy in order to have access to the IRS IIAS product file and be listed as a SIGIS-certified merchant.

More details on flexTRAX can be found at www.flextraxsolutions.com.