2010 Looking Ahead: Features in Demand
What features are current/prospective users asking for?
  Current Users: Prospective Users:
Phil Beck, R.Ph., Sales Leader, Cerner Etreby More and creative ways to stay in touch wiht their client/patient base in order to increas the percentage of Rxs picked up from will call. Another big point is integration with health system EMR solutions as pharmacies see this as another avenue to increase patient base.
Mark Lyle, SVP, Pharmacy Services, Emdeon Our customers AND prospective users look to us to provide solutions that improve their profitability, accuracy and efficiency. Customers expect our services to provide technology that automates and simplifies their daily business demands. We monitor changes in the industry and listen to our pharmacies’ pain points to make the necessary enhancements or modifications to our offerings as well as develop new solutions.  
Greg Phillips, President & CEO, Emporos Systems Pseudoephedrine state registry databases to prevent consumers from purchasing over the limit from unaffiliated pharmacies. 



Prospective users are asking for additional interfaces to Pharmacy Management Systems.

Clarence Lea, R.Ph., VP, Marketing & Industry Relations, FDS Reconciliation services, custom reporting, advanced claims reviews/edits, patient education tools. Reconciliation services, robust reporting, revenue management tools, DME billing to third party payors, patient education tools.
Steven Hess, CEO, HBS Security functionality to comply with requirements, hard stops within the application for more control, more refill options Real-time replication, central refill options, ease of use for prescription processing.
Larry Stephenson, Vice President, Sales, HCC Many of our current customers are adding our EZ-Flow workflow system and Internet Refill components.  We have also responded to the tremendous interest in Prescription Imaging, even for pharmacies that do not elect to implement a workflow solution. Inventory Control has been a key concern of nearly every prospect that we work with.  Some also have more complex inventory needs for managing 340B and multiple wholesaler accounts. We find that employee accountability has become an area that more of our retailers are paying attention to.  Strict user access and fingerprint identification has been a key issue for many.  We also find that today's prospect expects more than the old standard of fill, bill, and print.  Efficient workflow management has been a key to our new sales.  Our customers want to operate safer pharmacies, but they want to use the current staff level with consistently fast patient service.
Doyle Jensen, EVP, Innovation Many current and prospective users are asking for ways to:
• Avoid printing paperwork until it is required.
• Print vial labels when they are needed
• Print patient information monographs when needed. 
• Better track C-IIs and automatic creation of audit forms.
• Track patient counseling interactions.
• Use central server capabilities in campus settings.  
 
Kevin P. Welch, CEO, Integra Our DeliveryTrack customers are asking for more accounting/billing features, plus more sophisticated routing and delivery options.  
Rex Bloom, Applications Director, Kalos • Workflow enhancements.
• Interfaces to EMR systems.
• Interface Monitoring.
 
Christopher Thomsen, Vice President, Business Development, Kirby Lester The dispensing area of a pharmacy is frequently a small, crowded space. Customers tell us that they need smaller, not bigger.  That led to our 2009 launch of our KL60, the most compact robot ever designed. The term 'small and compact' is a driving force behind Kirby Lester’s product design. Pharmacy owners seem to need affordability more than anything. It comes up in every conversation. They are highly aware of their available credit and spending limits, and they are not overextending. Therefore, they are asking Kirby Lester for affordable options to improve their dispensing, and we are uniquely positioned to help them.  We have a full line of automation, from very inexpensive counting devices to verification systems that include free workflow software, to the industry's most value-packed robotic dispenser. We offer a variety of incentives, but most important, we offer great technology at a price that's much lower than other competing automation.
Randall Murphy, VP & Cofounder, Manchac Technologies Security features are the main request such that they can provide better controls and operation procedures with DOSIS.  
Brenton Burns, SVP, Strategy, Product Management, Marketing, & Business Development, McKesson Pharmacy Systems Current Users want things that help improve business processes and open up doors to new revenue opportunities.  Examples we hear include:
• System integration between the pharmacy and a wide range of applications (long-term care, hospital, clinic etc.). 
• Advanced reporting (including performance metrics).
• Mail order.
• Central fill/central processing.
• Provide more compliance and auditing controls, including special logic to prevent common errors on Rxs.
• Provide more streamlining of various pharmacy tasks .
• Improved Inventory management (including 340B support).
• Support for more clinical services (vaccines, MTM).

Prospective Users have similar needs to current users.  Additonally we hear the following:
• Integrated Workflow with Load Balancing in order to reduce labor costs increase operational efficencies.
• Software-as-a-service in order to reduce system admin costs.
• Integrated patient safety features.
• Reporting flexbility.
• Interfacing capability (POS, IVR, Automation etc).

Tom Rhoads, CEO, Parata Systems Our customers today are acutely focused on speed and productivity – safety and accuracy are givens at this point. For Max, the features that resonate most strongly are those that reduce their upkeep time and help them maximize their productivity, including our vial dump (rather than hand-fed system), once-daily upkeep processes and high output capacity that keeps our system running without intervention. With PACMED, our pharmacy customers serving long-term care are similarly focused on improving the productivity of their operations, helping them automate the process to reduce labor and expand their ability to handle more beds. With short-cycle dispensing looming on the horizon, we believe PACMED will have an increasingly valuable role to play in helping pharmacies meet the requirements of that new CMS rule.
Jeff Ferris, CEO, PDX • Solutions that keep them competitive with/ahead of national, big box pharmacies.
• Mobile interfaces.
• Programs that create new revenue streams.
• Integrated Web services.
• Ability to host EPS.
• Data warehousing.
• Fully integrated e-scripts.
• AutoFill program.
• Increased inventory forecasting and inventory control.
• Central fill.
• Robust prescription filling/workflow system.
• Integrated manufacturer programs.
• Centralized patient database.
• Integrated Web services.
• Fully integrated e-scripts.
• AutoFill program.
• Security.
• Drug inventory.
• Central fill.
Michael Ziegler, Industry Analyst Manager, QS/1 Text messaging capabilities, incrased efficiencies in the workflow processing, customizable reports, pricing strategies, Document Imaging beyond prescriptions, and better Will Call management.  
Tom Weiss, Product Manager, Rescot Systems Group Interface capability to Nursing home systems Interface capability to Nursing home systems
Brad Jones, President & CEO, Retail Management Solutions continuing to ask for stronger more detailed two-way interfaces with the pharmacy management systems to improve efficiency and reduce cost. Prospective users are more interested in inventory control but they are also concerned about the quality of the two-way interface and our ability to improve the overall efficiency of their workplace.
Duke Yetter, President & CEO, RNA Holdings eMAR  
David Belinski, CFO, RX Net Services   Our solutions are addressing well-known, industry-wide, and expensive issues surrounding problematic Rx inventory.
Heath Reynolds, Director, Business Development, Speed Script Autofill features. (automatic adjudication of prescriptions that come in from IVR systems, which are automatically sent to the insurance, then filled by robotics - during business hours and when the store is closed) Eprescribing, signature capture, compounding features, how simple and fast is it to fill scripts on the system, workflow, inventory control, thermal printing
Steve Wubker, President, Transaction Data Systems EHR interface has been big.  Also workflow/prioritization, POS, reporting Same.