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The Difference a Pharmacy Management System Can Make | Insights: Beyond the Counter · Pharmacy Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You are listening to the global network of podcasters dedicated
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to the pharmacy profession. Welcome to the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Outcomes from
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  Speaker 2: the Counter podcast. I'm John Grice, I'm your host, and
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  Speaker 2: I've got an interesting topic for us to discuss today.
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  Speaker 3: So I was posed with a.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Question, how do you know or what should you do
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: when you need to switch systems in your pharmacy. We
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: refer to them as PMS pharmacy management software or pharmacy
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: management systems, and it's usually the brain of your entire pharmacy.
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  Speaker 2: So how do you switch that out? What all needs
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  Speaker 2: to go into a decision? That big Most of the time,
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  Speaker 2: I'm your PMS is holding what feels like everything. It's
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  Speaker 2: got the gateway for how escripts come into your store.
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  Speaker 2: It's got all of the files and notes about doctors
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  Speaker 2: and patients. It's definitely got all of the drugs. Every
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  Speaker 2: drug you use probably has inventory levels, reorder points, pricing,
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  Speaker 2: price files, all of that kind of stuff. Man, they
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  Speaker 2: contain everything, it seems like, especially if they're even a
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  Speaker 2: part of your point of sale system, then it's running
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  Speaker 2: not just the back of the pharmacy, but it has
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  Speaker 2: some sway on everything out front too, So how do
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  Speaker 2: you know when do you switch?
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  Speaker 3: How do you switch? I'm going to do my best.
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  Speaker 2: I had some notes I wanted to jot them down,
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  Speaker 2: and I thought this would be a good topic to
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  Speaker 2: put some first thoughts out there. But I am really
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  Speaker 2: interested in hearing feedback. I really appreciate anybody who has
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  Speaker 2: reached out given me thoughts, and so the way I
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  Speaker 2: organized my thoughts was really around one big key thing,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: and that is, if you're wondering, you got to look.
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  Speaker 2: So if you've ever had the thought as you're sitting
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  Speaker 2: there behind the counter, either something went down and it
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  Speaker 2: shouldn't have or something keeps glitching up and it takes
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  Speaker 2: you time to have to go back and fix it.
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  Speaker 2: There's all sorts of problems with software systems, and every
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  Speaker 2: pharmacy system I've heard about or used myself has.
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  Speaker 3: Its own unique ones.
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  Speaker 2: But in those unique glitches and hitches are problems that
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  Speaker 2: are sometimes a bigger deal.
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  Speaker 3: For your pharmacy than to others. Maybe.
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  Speaker 2: And so if you're feeling friction, if you've got an
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  Speaker 2: issue and it doesn't seem to get fixed by the
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  Speaker 2: vendor and continues to either bog you down, stop you,
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  Speaker 2: or it's just a frustration that you feel like mentally
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  Speaker 2: you've had to just accept then there's something happening that
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  Speaker 2: you need to know about and address, and that is
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  Speaker 2: a lot of times it's causing a sense of I
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  Speaker 2: can't do anything about it, and that sentiment, at least
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  Speaker 2: from a pharmacist being myself in that position before, it
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  Speaker 2: changes the way you interact with your own staff, definitely
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  Speaker 2: with your customers, and don't you pick the fights that
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  Speaker 2: you enter into with maybe a claim that won't go through,
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  Speaker 2: or an issue here or there.
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  Speaker 3: You pick them differently, you fight them differently.
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  Speaker 2: And maybe at the end of the day you're not
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  Speaker 2: taking up some of the efforts that you should. And
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  Speaker 2: it might all be stemming back to this unwinnable feeling
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  Speaker 2: that you have with this problem in your PMS software.
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  Speaker 2: I've been there myself. Maybe it's not everybody's experience, but
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  Speaker 2: it has been mine, and so that's why I share
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  Speaker 2: it to say, you've got to get the fire back,
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  Speaker 2: and maybe your research will conclude that, no, I've got
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  Speaker 2: the best system out there. I'm happy where I'm at
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not going to make that switch, But at
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: least you took the effort to say, I owe it
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  Speaker 2: to myself, my team, my patients to get myself back
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  Speaker 2: in a state of mind where I can go after it.
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  Speaker 2: And I do feel confident every day. So anyways, that's
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  Speaker 2: the big overarching kind of a psychological play. But you
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  Speaker 2: got to be aware of it inside yourself before.
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  Speaker 3: You will end up doing anything about it.
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  Speaker 2: But if that's happening, okay, So step one is, yep,
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  Speaker 2: I've got this problem.
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  Speaker 3: It keeps going on.
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  Speaker 2: It makes me frustrated, and then frustration taints maybe my
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  Speaker 2: entire day or a week. How do you then do
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  Speaker 2: your research? Well, sales everybody's got a sales arm. Every
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  Speaker 2: vendor will be more than happy to give you a
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  Speaker 2: demo and talk through their offering. So first step is
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  Speaker 2: to reach out and figure out the capabilities of the
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  Speaker 2: different systems you've heard about. You've probably got some peers
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  Speaker 2: who use other systems, and starting with a conversation with
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  Speaker 2: them might be the first step. My guess is you
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  Speaker 2: already had that as your first step, and so reaching
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  Speaker 2: out to vendors to learn about can you do everything
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  Speaker 2: I need done? Making sure that that breadth of abilities
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  Speaker 2: that their system has checks all the boxes. There's not
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  Speaker 2: something key that you and your store are doing that
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  Speaker 2: they can't do.
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  Speaker 3: You might have to learn new ways of.
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  Speaker 2: Doing certain things, but as long as they can do it,
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  Speaker 2: then you're okay to keep moving forward. So it's got
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  Speaker 2: to have the breadth of abilities. And under the very
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  Speaker 2: next thing I would say is it's got to have speed.
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  Speaker 2: You can't have a system that's going to go slower
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  Speaker 2: than you do today, So make sure that whatever you're
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  Speaker 2: looking at there's an emphasis on speed. It's been a
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  Speaker 2: funny history of pharmacy software because we went from speed
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  Speaker 2: to user ability usability, and we're going back to speed,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm excited about that. But everybody from the older
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  Speaker 2: generation knows how fast you could go when you had
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  Speaker 2: keys on keyboard all day long. You could fly when
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  Speaker 2: you had hot keys and macros to run prescriptions through.
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  Speaker 2: And things slowed down when we moved away from that
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  Speaker 2: to go to a mouse. But they looked better, and
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  Speaker 2: they absolutely came with a few more bells and whistles.
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  Speaker 2: But sometimes the overall speed of data entry of pharmacist
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  Speaker 2: PV one PV two slowed down, and so We've got
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  Speaker 2: to get that speed back because now more than ever,
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  Speaker 2: the speed behind the counter is important. And so I'm
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  Speaker 2: excited because I can see the future coming in the
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  Speaker 2: form of automated data entry AI doing some of our
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  Speaker 2: pv ones PB one, PB two. Even there's automation coming
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  Speaker 2: in pharmacy software that should be bringing speedback without giving
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  Speaker 2: up the user interface, that graphic that we're now used
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  Speaker 2: to looking at. You know, the old DOS based systems
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  Speaker 2: are hard to look at sometimes, but man, when they're
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  Speaker 2: fast and can do everything that needs done, they've stuck
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  Speaker 2: around this long because they're they're valuable in those ways.
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  Speaker 2: What's coming next, though, is also exciting, and that is
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  Speaker 2: all right, how do we build on that bulletproof system
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  Speaker 2: and actually gain more speed and put in some user
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  Speaker 2: interface that's more attractive to look at. So I see
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  Speaker 2: that coming and that should be something to look for.
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  Speaker 2: How do I get faster with this next system? So
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  Speaker 2: both abilities and speed, those are a big one. Next
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  Speaker 2: point though, is trust? Do I trust this system? Can
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  Speaker 2: I trust this system? There's a lot of different ways
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  Speaker 2: to slice this. Some people will say it's got to
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  Speaker 2: be a server in my pharmacy, and I've heard many
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  Speaker 2: others say absolutely not. I want that thing to be
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  Speaker 2: in the cloud, and I want to just have service
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  Speaker 2: level agreements that guarantee my uptime throughout a year. Depending
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  Speaker 2: on where your store is located, you might be in
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  Speaker 2: a rural town where I need my own server, or
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  Speaker 2: I don't trust my backup internet. That might not be
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  Speaker 2: at all part of the equation for you. And you
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  Speaker 2: say I want that thing in the cloud so that
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  Speaker 2: I can access it from anywhere.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of different things to think through, But again.
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  Speaker 2: The main idea is not so much about how the
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  Speaker 2: server is set up, but more so about how do
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  Speaker 2: you trust it. If you can say I know that
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  Speaker 2: the reports I get out of my system are accurate
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  Speaker 2: and that lets me make good decisions every day, you're
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  Speaker 2: on the right track.
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  Speaker 3: But if you're not sure if the server is about
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  Speaker 3: to go down or you're going to get.
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  Speaker 2: Kicked out of this particular function every time you access it,
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  Speaker 2: those goofy glitches and hitches, they'll make you doubt.
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  Speaker 3: And the more doubt that you have behind the counter,
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  Speaker 3: like I.
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  Speaker 2: Said, it's going to change the way you interact with
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  Speaker 2: your customers and they'll sense that, and so trust in
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  Speaker 2: your system is key. Confidence was first. Trust is right there,
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  Speaker 2: and so make sure that you can pull reports, you
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  Speaker 2: can track inventory, you know pricing, and that you trust
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  Speaker 2: how all of those things are that up and then
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  Speaker 2: work together.
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  Speaker 3: Trust is key.
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  Speaker 2: And then last, I would say is financial, not because
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  Speaker 2: this is the last to be concerned about, but definitely
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  Speaker 2: because it's the most important point.
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  Speaker 3: I believe.
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  Speaker 2: If you might find the best system out there, but
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  Speaker 2: if it's the most expensive and your pharmacy just isn't
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  Speaker 2: in a spot where it can afford that level of expense,
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  Speaker 2: then you've got to be real about that too and
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  Speaker 2: just say, all right, my store has a budget of
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  Speaker 2: this and I can afford a system of this caliber.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I need to accept, and then know that
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  Speaker 2: I got the best for my store that I could
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  Speaker 2: and that might be different than somebody just ten minutes
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  Speaker 2: down the street. That's okay, But knowing your financials in
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  Speaker 2: your store and then making the best financial decision is
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  Speaker 2: a part of it. Also, how those financials are arrived
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  Speaker 2: at are key. So pharmacies. Every day you're working your
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  Speaker 2: fill in scripts, you're generating data. You are producing data
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  Speaker 2: points with every script you fill, every insurance claim you
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  Speaker 2: send and that data is valuable folks out there, whether
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  Speaker 2: they're industry aggregators or pharma companies, people want to know
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  Speaker 2: what's happening in pharmacy and they pay for that data.
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  Speaker 2: And so if you are generating that data, someone is
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  Speaker 2: probably getting paid for that, and hopefully it's you. So
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  Speaker 2: just make sure that that's part of a conversation. As
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  Speaker 2: you're evaluating the cost and the value proposition of a
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  Speaker 2: new system, dig into how did they arrive at this
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  Speaker 2: bottom line number that I'm going to pay over the
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  Speaker 2: course of the year. It's going to be a mixture
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  Speaker 2: of software fees and maintenance fees. But then make sure
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  Speaker 2: that there's some credits in there for data sales, because
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  Speaker 2: odds are good they're selling your data. You just need
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that you're getting paid for it. Look
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  Speaker 2: for other incentives too. Are there different metrics I can
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  Speaker 2: do in the pharmacy that will improve that? You know,
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  Speaker 2: if I'm filling more scripts, i generate more data, maybe
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  Speaker 2: I'll get paid more for data sales. But are there
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  Speaker 2: other pieces that I can bring to the table, like
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  Speaker 2: clinical services that will somehow bring back credits because I'm
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  Speaker 2: more valuable to my pharmacy software system and their company
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  Speaker 2: than if I don't do those efforts. So look for
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  Speaker 2: the ways that you can better your own contract through
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  Speaker 2: the activities that you're already doing in the pharmacy, or
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  Speaker 2: through activities that you maybe thought about could get into
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: just hadn't seen the impetus for them yet, because they
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  Speaker 2: might have more return than just simply transaction, you know,
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  Speaker 2: dollars coming in for that service. It might be a
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  Speaker 2: data on that service that also produces value for you.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a key consideration all under this third point
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  Speaker 2: about financials, how do you evaluate the financials of the system.
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  Speaker 2: But going back now to the kind of the big
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  Speaker 2: overarching idea, if you are wondering if you should odds
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: are good, you need to start doing some research. If
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  Speaker 2: that research concludes, yeah, I don't, I don't have the
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  Speaker 2: best system, and I need to make a switch, don't
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  Speaker 2: rush into it.
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  Speaker 3: It's not easy to do.
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  Speaker 2: But the duty you have as a pharmacist is to
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  Speaker 2: be in a positive, helpful frame.
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  Speaker 3: Of mind behind the counter.
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  Speaker 2: And so that's a big piece is knowing I've got
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  Speaker 2: the best that I could have for this pharmacy and
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  Speaker 2: that serves my patients well, Okay.
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  Speaker 3: We're there. You decided, now you got to make the switch.
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  Speaker 3: I can do that. Let's talk through that just a
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  Speaker 3: little bit. There is no right.
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  Speaker 2: There might be some wrong answers, but I don't know
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  Speaker 2: that I've ever heard somebody say here's the right answer,
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  Speaker 2: and so it's a it's an art. I would say
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  Speaker 2: that switching software systems is an art, and you've got
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  Speaker 2: to be willing to learn new things. You've also got
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  Speaker 2: to be willing to go with your gut on some things.
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  Speaker 2: As you look at the size and the embeddedness that
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: a software system is to your pharmacy, it obviously is
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  Speaker 2: no small consideration, but it takes careful planning. You've got
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  Speaker 2: to have a team, first of all, that's ready for it.
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  Speaker 2: If you are thinking that you can go into it
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  Speaker 2: and change out a software system and the team is unsure,
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  Speaker 2: maybe even doubtful about the new system that you've selected, pause,
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  Speaker 2: take a minute, think about that a little bit longer.
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  Speaker 2: It's either going to take some more salesmanship or convincing
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  Speaker 2: before you can get them believing in what you see.
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  Speaker 2: Or maybe it's a red flag to say, Okay, I
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: might be overlooking something. Maybe I'm not I'm not valuing
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  Speaker 2: a particular component as highly as I should be, and
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  Speaker 2: they see that and that's their source of concern. But
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  Speaker 2: either way, you're going to need the team. You've got
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  Speaker 2: to go through it with a team you've got you
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: have because you believe in them already, and so don't
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: forget to include them in the decision itself. Once you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: think you've arrived at one, bring them into it, and
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: then make sure that they're going to be in place
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  Speaker 2: as you go through it. The process of making a
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  Speaker 2: change is not a one overnight data translation, nor is
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: it even a one year process and then it's all
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: wrapped up and done. You're going to find that that's
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: an ongoing process of what we used to do and
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: here's now what we do in the future. And so
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: you've got to have a team that's with you, that's
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: bought in, and so do what you need to do
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: to evaluate what were they feeling, how are they doing?
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  Speaker 2: How confident am I now? Are they that they'll be
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  Speaker 2: here with me after a month of the new change,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: because that's going to be key. Finding a way to
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: stick together as you go through it is important, So
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: make sure you get your team around you. You all
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: need to be in that positive head space. If you're
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: not today, that's a sign to begin looking. And then
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: even once you have identified one and you're ready to
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: make the change, you still have to do that same
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: check in and go are we all together? It's kind
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: of an all for one, one for all moment, and
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: then you go and odds are good. Your vendor has
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the company you select has a lot of recommendations, a
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: lot of training programs. They'll assign somebody to probably walk
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: you through the conversion, and so they'll do everything in
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: their power to help you be successful. But it always
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: will come back to the pharmacist behind the counter. So
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: make sure you're ready. Think about all those different categories
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: we talk through. But at the end of the day,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: if that's what's renting space, if that's the question you're wondering,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: then start answering that for yourself, because as a pharmacist,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: you owe it to yourself and to your customers to
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: show up every day with a confident sense of your
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: system and what it's doing for you. So that's the
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: best advice I've got on the topic. I can't wait
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: to hear feedback and hopefully it's a dialogue that we
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: can open up and share some more thoughts best practices.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: There's definitely people who've been through more of these than
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I have, so I'd love to hear what you all
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: have to think too, So thanks so much, guys, have
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: a great rest of the day.