Page 34 - rp-may-2020

BUSINESS THROUGH INNOVATION POINT OF SALE 32
RET AIL PHARMA C Y • MA Y 2020
FROM PAGE 31
Mr Freemantle explains that sending the
photo to a pharmacy using prescription
exchange, although secure, can be
problematic in that the photo is more than
likely taken from a mobile phone, so the
image’s resolution is poor and pharmacies
often find the barcode is unreadable by
their scanner.
“Initially the doctor sent the script to the
patient or to the pharmacy, which meant
a patient could get a script and take it to
25 pharmacies, meaning the system was
actually very dangerous,” he said.
“Because of that, the government has
removed the patient option, so now the
script must go from the doctor straight to
the pharmacy.
“It’s this sort of risk that has us
doubling down to fast-track our
ePrescribing model.”
Mr Freemantle added that Fred IT
hoped to be trialling its first pilot in the
first week of May.
While using photographs to transmit
paperless information between doctor
and pharmacy may seem a backward
step from a security perspective, it does
give a hint of the future, enabling
patients to complete the whole medical
cycle without stepping out of their
residence. With doctor’s appointments
now available on video chat, ‘snap
and send’ prescriptions in use, and
pharmacies funded to deliver those
prescriptions, social distancing has been
effectively maintained.
However, as Mr Freemantle is careful
to point out, this represents only
an interim measure until more
robust solutions are ready to
be implemented.
The federal Health Department is
also working with software providers
for healthcare practitioners to
accelerate the upgrade of clinical
software so that it supports electronic
prescribing. It’s anticipated that this will
be ready for 80 per cent of community
pharmacies by this month (May).
Workflow solutions
Fred IT Group CEO Paul Naismith says
making the move away from paper has
been a long time coming for pharmacy,
with many industries far more
advanced in their paperless processes.
“The airline industry is a good proxy
for the pharmacy industry as it’s all
based around the ticket, which is the
equivalent of a pharmacy prescription,”
he said. “While the airline industry was
paper based, today you can check in
using a kiosk, on your phone, or you
can still use a paper ticket and walk up
to the counter to check in if you prefer.
“The beauty is that it’s all been
automated and it’s left up to the choice
of the customer how they wish to deal
with the industry. And in the airline
industry, that system has given a lot of
benefits to fliers.
“McDonald’s is another great
example, with multiple options
available for customers to engage,
each one feeding seamlessly into a
workflow that consistently produces
accurate orders. You can order at
the counter, using a kiosk, with an
app, or at the drive-through window.
They even have a built-in link with
Uber Eats for delivery now.
“From a customer’s point of view,
all the technologies in McDonald’s
look simple and easy, but they
work. No matter what’s going on in
McDonald’s with all those different
inputs, they always manage to get the
workflow through. Whichever way you
put your order in, it all works seamlessly,
and the burgers get produced and
delivered to the customer.
“I think that’s the analogy for
pharmacy as we move towards digital
prescriptions. We have to work out
what the workflow should be and
consider how that makes it easier for
the patient.”
There’s plenty of advancement in
automation to consider when looking at
what’s happening in the big pharmacy
chains overseas. An example is the
experiment of Boots in the UK with
various new technologies linked to
online prescription services, including
installing electronically opened lockers
in the pharmacy. A customer can order
their script online, advise a collection
time, then come to the pharmacy and
access their allocated locker using a
code issued at the time of ordering.
It’s the pharmacy version of click
and collect and offers real benefits of
convenience to the customer. While it’s
an interesting idea, it won’t be feasible
in Australia until there’s an established
ePrescribing platform and workflow.
The key in implementing any new
digitised system in a retail environment
is recognising not all customers will
immediately transition to a new way of
doing business.
With ePrescribing, you may find some
patients want to bring in the paper
script and wait while it’s filled, just
as they always have. In this instance,
the script will be placed in a basket
and physically follow the dispensing
workflow. However, other patients will
come in with a digital script on a phone
in the form of a token. This will need to
be scanned into a ‘digital basket’ that
integrates into, then follows, the same
workflow as the paper script.
In addition, there will be emailed
scripts that must be captured and
added to that same workflow, as well
as repeats ordered by telephone,
or any of the above combinations.
This means a pharmacy must offer
multiple methods for entering items
into the system, ensuring each one
feeds into single workflow before
emerging, completed at the time and
place the customer expects.
To succeed, sound advice and
professional support in planning and
implementation are vital, not only
for today, but also for the exciting
advances likely to come to Australia
in the near future.
Touchpoints of advancement
With the imminent arrival of
ePrescriptions, it would be easy to
neglect developments in other areas of
pharmacy, including point of sale (POS)
stock control and data security. This is
particularly important as we become a
more hands-free society and with social
distancing likely to be part of our lives
for now.
As with dispensing, we can see how
COVID-19 has stirred innovation in
the rapid deployment of new ideas as
various pharmacies around Australia
have changed their business processes
to keep customers and patients safe.
Of particular note is the decision by
many to refuse cash payments in favour
of EFTPOS only, thereby limiting the
transmission of the virus while at the
same time asking more from existing
POS systems.
Others, such as Capital Chemist
“Image-based prescribing,
also known as ‘snap and
send’, is an interim short-
term concept where a
doctor writes a script and
takes a photograph of it
to send to the pharmacy
to dispense.”