A trip to the pharmacy used to be a breeze. Now, some residents needing Band-Aids or a refill on a late-night medication have fewer easy options than they once did.
Opening a 24-hour pharmacy is expensive. It requires two full-time pharmacists, two managers, and 2-3 cashiers.
Telemedicine
Telemedicine uses information and communication technologies to assist physicians, patients, and others in delivering medical care. It is a fast-growing area that encompasses numerous clinical and nonclinical applications. Technology is reshaping the personal, face-to-face relationship between doctor and patient that has been the model for healthcare for generations.
During a telemedicine visit, the physician and patient communicate via secure messaging systems or video conferencing applications. Patients often provide self-reports that can prompt additional questions for the doctor, and they can upload documentation of their symptoms or conditions.
This form of virtual check-in can be used to diagnose, treat, and manage many disorders that do not require lab examinations or physical exams. It expands access to specialty health services in rural areas. It also allows individuals with limited mobility to obtain healthcare without traveling long distances for in-person visits. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this technology helped to reduce the number of people exposed and infected by direct contact with an infected person.
Prescription Refills
For patients on multiple medications, prescription refills are vital. Requiring a patient to visit the doctor in person to refill their medication is costly and frustrating.
In addition, the timeframe for getting a refill can vary widely depending on whether or not your prescriber included refills with the original prescription and how many you’re allowed to have. You can find out how many refills you’re eligible for by checking the label attached to your medicine container or contacting your prescriber.
Refill protocols and procedures vary widely between practices, even within family medicine residency programs. For example, Elliott et al. found that some methods involve clinical pharmacists refilling and using formal protocols, whereas others don’t.
Some insurance plans also have restrictions on refills for controlled substances. Hence, you must check with your 24/7 pharmacy Mason OH or physician for an emergency prescription refill. For example, you might need an emergency refill if your house floods or you lose your medication while traveling.
Remote Patient Monitoring
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is an increasingly popular telehealth service that helps physicians manage acute and chronic conditions in patients’ homes. It also allows providers to focus on high-demand, in-person care while reducing costs and infection risk for the hospital and patient.
Patients use various devices—blood pressure cuffs, pulse oximeters, thermometers, glucometers, activity trackers, and ECG/stethoscopes—to gather data and upload it to their healthcare provider for analysis. This data provides the information that patients, doctors, and caregivers need to make informed treatment decisions.
RPM enables patients to self-manage their health at home, leading to improved medication adherence, better outcomes, and increased quality of life. It’s essential during care transitions, such as after a patient’s hospital discharge. This is why ASHP and APhA developed the Medication Management in Care Transitions (MMCT) project to identify best practices for pharmacists and to offer scalable models that support these best practices.
Medication Dispensing
In-office dispensing of medications allows doctors to administer medicines to patients immediately. This eliminates the need to write and send a prescription to the pharmacy, increasing patient adherence and improving outcomes.
In addition, it eliminates the need for pharmacies to call the physician’s office to verify a prescription. This saves time for clinic staff and reduces errors. For instance, if a patient has a drug allergy, the physician can easily specify a safe alternative medication.
To get started, a physician must find a trusted medication dispensing company that can provide high-quality medicines at fair prices and supply them with a program or software to make the entire process fast, efficient, and safe for clinicians and patients. This includes a database that tracks medications by lot number and expiration date, following the FIFO method to reduce waste, and submitting PDMP reports automatically. The program also provides a way for physicians to promptly address patient concerns or questions about administering their medications.