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#pharmacy management

vujung · 2 years

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#pharmacy management #hrsoftbd

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infoskaters-products · 6 days

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Pharmacy Management System

Enhancing Healthcare Delivery: The Importance of a Pharmacy Management System In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, pharmacy management has become a critical component in ensuring safe and efficient medication distribution. A Pharmacy Management System (PMS) is an integrated software solution designed to streamline pharmacy operations, improve patient care, and enhance regulatory compliance. This article explores the significance of pharmacy management systems, their key features, benefits, challenges, and future trends shaping the pharmaceutical industry.

What is a Pharmacy Management System? A Pharmacy Management System is a comprehensive software platform that helps pharmacies manage their operations effectively. It encompasses various functions, including inventory management, prescription processing, patient record management, billing, and reporting. By automating these processes, a PMS enhances the overall efficiency of pharmacy operations while reducing the risk of errors.

Key Features of a Pharmacy Management System

Prescription Management A PMS enables pharmacies to process prescriptions electronically, facilitating quicker and more accurate fulfillment. Pharmacists can easily verify prescriptions, check for drug interactions, and ensure proper dosage, significantly reducing the chances of medication errors.

Inventory Management Effective inventory management is crucial for any pharmacy. A PMS tracks medication stock levels in real-time, alerts users when items are low, and assists in ordering new supplies. This feature minimizes waste, prevents stockouts, and ensures that patients receive their medications without delays.

Patient Record Management Maintaining accurate patient records is essential for providing quality care. A PMS allows pharmacies to store patient information securely, including medication history, allergies, and health conditions. This comprehensive data enables pharmacists to offer personalized care and better health outcomes.

Billing and Claims Processing A robust PMS streamlines the billing process by automatically generating invoices and processing insurance claims. This functionality reduces administrative workload and improves cash flow, allowing pharmacies to focus more on patient care.

Reporting and Analytics Pharmacy management systems provide powerful reporting tools that enable users to analyze sales trends, medication usage, and patient demographics. This data-driven approach helps pharmacy owners make informed decisions and optimize operations.

Benefits of a Pharmacy Management System

Improved Efficiency By automating routine tasks such as prescription filling, inventory tracking, and billing, a PMS enhances the overall efficiency of pharmacy operations. This efficiency allows pharmacists to dedicate more time to patient consultations and healthcare services.

Enhanced Patient Safety The ability to check for drug interactions and allergies before dispensing medications significantly improves patient safety. With accurate records and electronic prescriptions, pharmacists can help prevent adverse drug events, ensuring that patients receive safe and effective medications.

Better Compliance Pharmacies must adhere to strict regulatory standards. A PMS simplifies compliance by maintaining accurate records, facilitating audits, and generating necessary reports. This ensures that pharmacies meet all legal and regulatory requirements, reducing the risk of penalties.

Cost Savings By optimizing inventory management and reducing medication errors, a PMS can lead to significant cost savings. Pharmacies can minimize waste, avoid stockouts, and enhance overall operational efficiency, positively impacting their bottom line.

Enhanced Customer Experience With a PMS, pharmacies can provide a better customer experience through quicker service, accurate prescriptions, and personalized care. Satisfied customers are more likely to return, fostering loyalty and increasing sales.

Challenges in Implementing a Pharmacy Management System Despite the numerous advantages, implementing a Pharmacy Management System can present several challenges:

Cost of Implementation The initial investment in a PMS can be significant, particularly for small or independent pharmacies. Costs may include software purchase, hardware upgrades, and training, which can pose financial challenges.

Resistance to Change Pharmacy staff may be accustomed to traditional methods and resistant to adopting new technologies. Change management strategies, including comprehensive training and support, are essential for a smooth transition.

Data Security Concerns With sensitive patient information stored in a centralized system, data security becomes a critical concern. Pharmacies must implement robust security measures to protect against breaches and ensure compliance with regulations such as HIPAA.

Integration with Existing Systems Many pharmacies already use various software solutions. Integrating a new PMS with existing systems can be complex and may require additional resources and expertise.

The Future of Pharmacy Management Systems The future of Pharmacy Management Systems looks promising, driven by several emerging trends:

Telepharmacy Integration As telehealth continues to grow, integrating telepharmacy services into PMS will become increasingly important. This integration allows pharmacists to offer remote consultations and medication management, expanding access to care.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation AI and automation are set to enhance PMS capabilities, enabling predictive analytics, automated inventory management, and advanced patient engagement tools. These advancements will allow pharmacies to operate more efficiently and improve patient outcomes.

Mobile Accessibility With the rise of mobile technology, pharmacy management systems are likely to focus on mobile accessibility. Pharmacists and staff will be able to access critical information and manage operations from their smartphones or tablets, enhancing flexibility and responsiveness.

Patient-Centric Services The future of pharmacy management will increasingly prioritize patient-centric services, including personalized medication management, adherence tracking, and wellness programs. This focus will empower patients to take control of their health and medication regimens.

Blockchain Technology Blockchain technology has the potential to enhance transparency and security in the pharmaceutical supply chain. By providing a decentralized and tamper-proof ledger, it can help prevent counterfeit medications and ensure product integrity.

Conclusion A Pharmacy Management System is an invaluable tool that can transform pharmacy operations, enhance patient care, and ensure compliance with regulations. By streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and prioritizing patient safety, a PMS empowers pharmacists to deliver high-quality healthcare services. While challenges exist, the benefits of implementing such a system far outweigh the hurdles. As technology continues to evolve, Pharmacy Management Systems will play an increasingly vital role in shaping the future of the pharmaceutical industry, making healthcare more efficient, transparent, and accessible. Embracing this technology is essential for pharmacies looking to thrive in the modern healthcare landscape.

#pharmacy management #pharmacy #nursing #pharmaindustry #biotech

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raivendr · 27 days

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The Essential Guide to Vitamins as well as Minerals: Unlocking the Power of Nutrition for Optimal Health

Paragraph 1: Vitamins as well as minerals play an essential role in maintaining our total wellness and also health. From boosting our immune system to supporting correct brain function, these crucial nutrients are the foundation that our bodies require to function at their finest. In this thorough overview, we will dive deep into the world of nutrients, unraveling their benefits, sources, as well as the relevance of maintaining a well balanced consumption for ideal health.Paragraph 2: Nutrients are not just necessary for our bodily features, but they also act as powerful anti-oxidants, safeguarding our cells from damages triggered by unsafe free radicals. While a well-balanced diet regimen should preferably supply us with all the required nutrients, particular aspects such as inadequate dietary choices, anxiety, pollution, and also also medications can result in shortages. That's where supplements enters into play. We will explore the various sorts of vitamins and also minerals, their details features, and also just how to determine if you need to supplement your diet to ensure you're getting the correct amount of these crucial nutrients. Whether you're seeking to improve your power degrees, support your body immune system, or boost your skin wellness, understanding the globe of vitamins and also minerals is the primary step towards attaining ideal wellness.

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#over-the-counter medicines #trusted online pharmacy #pharmacy management

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 days

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What the fuck is a PBM?

TOMORROW (Sept 24), I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

Terminal-stage capitalism owes its long senescence to its many defensive mechanisms, and it's only by defeating these that we can put it out of its misery. "The Shield of Boringness" is one of the necrocapitalist's most effective defenses, so it behooves us to attack it head-on.

The Shield of Boringness is Dana Claire's extremely useful term for anything so dull that you simply can't hold any conception of it in your mind for any length of time. In the finance sector, they call this "MEGO," which stands for "My Eyes Glaze Over," a term of art for financial arrangements made so performatively complex that only the most exquisitely melted brain-geniuses can hope to unravel their spaghetti logic. The rest of us are meant to simply heft those thick, dense prospectuses in two hands, shrug, and assume, "a pile of shit this big must have a pony under it."

MEGO and its Shield of Boringness are key to all of terminal-stage capitalism's stupidest scams. Cloaking obvious swindles in a lot of complex language and Byzantine payment schemes can make them seem respectable just long enough for the scammers to relieve you of all your inconvenient cash and assets, though, eventually, you're bound to notice that something is missing.

If you spent the years leading up to the Great Financial Crisis baffled by "CDOs," "synthetic CDOs," "ARMs" and other swindler nonsense, you experienced the Shield of Boringness. If you bet your house and/or your retirement savings on these things, you experienced MEGO. If, after the bubble popped, you finally came to understand that these "exotic financial instruments" were just scams, you experienced Stein's Law ("anything that can't go forever eventually stops"). If today you no longer remember what a CDO is, you are once again experiencing the Shield of Boringness.

As bad as 2008 was, it wasn't even close to the end of terminal stage capitalism. The market has soldiered on, with complex swindles like carbon offset trading, metaverse, cryptocurrency, financialized solar installation, and (of course) AI. In addition to these new swindles, we're still playing the hits, finding new ways to make the worst scams of the 2000s even worse.

That brings me to the American health industry, and the absurdly complex, ridiculously corrupt Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), a pathology that has only metastasized since 2008.

On at least 20 separate occasions, I have taken it upon myself to figure out how the PBM swindle works, and nevertheless, every time they come up, I have to go back and figure it out again, because PBMs have the most powerful Shield of Boringness out of the whole Monster Manual of terminal-stage capitalism's trash mobs.

PBMs are back in the news because the FTC is now suing the largest of these for their role in ripping off diabetics with sky-high insulin prices. This has kicked off a fresh round of "what the fuck is a PBM, anyway?" explainers of extremely variable quality. Unsurprisingly, the best of these comes from Matt Stoller:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-lina-khan-pharma

Stoller starts by pointing out that Americans have a proud tradition of getting phucked by pharma companies. As far back as the 1950s, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver was holding hearings on the scams that pharma companies were using to ensure that Americans paid more for their pills than virtually anyone else in the world.

But since the 2010s, Americans have found themselves paying eye-popping, sky-high, ridiculous drug prices. Eli Lilly's Humolog insulin sold for $21 in 1999; by 2017, the price was $274 – a 1,200% increase! This isn't your grampa's price gouging!

Where do these absurd prices come from? The story starts in the 2000s, when the GW Bush administration encouraged health insurers to create "high deductible" plans, where patients were expected to pay out of pocket for receiving care, until they hit a multi-thousand-dollar threshold, and then their insurance would kick in. Along with "co-pays" and other junk fees, these deductibles were called "cost sharing," and they were sold as a way to prevent the "abuse" of the health care system.

The economists who crafted terminal-stage capitalism's intellectual rationalizations claimed the reason Americans paid so much more for health care than their socialized-medicine using cousins in the rest of the world had nothing to do with the fact that America treats health as a source of profits, while the rest of the world treats health as a human right.

No, the actual root of America's health industry's problems was the moral defects of Americans. Because insured Americans could just go see the doctor whenever they felt like it, they had no incentive to minimize their use of the system. Any time one of these unhinged hypochondriacs got a little sniffle, they could treat themselves to a doctor's visit, enjoying those waiting-room magazines and the pleasure of arranging a sick day with HR, without bearing any of the true costs:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/the-doctrine-of-moral-hazard/

"Cost sharing" was supposed to create "skin in the game" for every insured American, creating a little pain-point that stung you every time you thought about treating yourself to a luxurious doctor's visit. Now, these payments bit hardest on the poorest workers, because if you're making minimum wage, at $10 co-pay hurts a lot more than it does if you're making six figures. What's more, VPs and the C-suite were offered "gold-plated" plans with low/no deductibles or co-pays, because executives understand the value of a dollar in the way that mere working slobs can't ever hope to comprehend. They can be trusted to only use the doctor when it's truly warranted.

So now you have these high-deductible plans creeping into every workplace. Then along comes Obama and the Affordable Care Act, a compromise that maintains health care as a for-profit enterprise (still not a human right!) but seeks to create universal coverage by requiring every American to buy a plan, requiring insurers to offer plans to every American, and uses public money to subsidize the for-profit health industry to glue it together.

Predictably, the cheapest insurance offered on the Obamacare exchanges – and ultimately, by employers – had sky-high deductibles and co-pays. That way, insurers could pocket a fat public subsidy, offer an "insurance" plan that was cheap enough for even the most marginally employed people to afford, but still offer no coverage until their customers had spent thousands of dollars out-of-pocket in a given year.

That's the background: GWB created high-deductible plans, Obama supercharged them. Keep that in your mind as we go through the MEGO procedures of the PBM sector.

Your insurer has a list of drugs they'll cover, called the "formulary." The formulary also specifies how much the insurance company is willing to pay your pharmacist for these drugs. Creating the formulary and paying pharmacies for dispensing drugs is a lot of tedious work, and insurance outsources this to third parties, called – wait for it – Pharmacy Benefits Managers.

The prices in the formulary the PBM prepares for your insurance company are called the "list prices." These are meant to represent the "sticker price" of the drug, what a pharmacist would charge you if you wandered in off the street with no insurance, but somehow in possession of a valid prescription.

But, as Stoller writes, these "list prices" aren't actually ever charged to anyone. The list price is like the "full price" on the pricetags at a discount furniture place where everything is always "on sale" at 50% off – and whose semi-disposable sofas and balsa-wood dining room chairs are never actually sold at full price.

One theoretical advantage of a PBM is that it can get lower prices because it bargains for all the people in a given insurer's plan. If you're the pharma giant Sanofi and you want your Lantus insulin to be available to any of the people who must use OptumRX's formulary, you have to convince OptumRX to include you in that formulary.

OptumRX – like all PBMs – demands "rebates" from pharma companies if they want to be included in the formulary. On its face, this is similar to the practices of, say, NICE – the UK agency that bargains for medicine on behalf of the NHS, which also bargains with pharma companies for access to everyone in the UK and gets very good deals as a result.

But OptumRX doesn't bargain for a lower list price. They bargain for a bigger rebate. That means that the "price" is still very high, but OptumRX ends up paying a tiny fraction of it, thanks to that rebate. In the OptumRX formulary, Lantus insulin lists for $403. But Sanofi, who make Lantus, rebate $339 of that to OptumRX, leaving just $64 for Lantus.

Here's where the scam hits. Your insurer charges you a deductible based on the list price – $404 – not on the $64 that OptumRX actually pays for your insulin. If you're in a high-deductible plan and you haven't met your cap yet, you're going to pay $404 for your insulin, even though the actual price for it is $64.

Now, you'd think that your insurer would put a stop to this. They chose the PBM, the PBM is ripping off their customers, so it's their job to smack the PBM around and make it cut this shit out. So why would the insurers tolerate this nonsense?

Here's why: the PBMs are divisions of the big health insurance companies. Unitedhealth owns OptumRx; Aetna owns Caremark, and Cigna owns Expressscripts. So it's not the PBM that's ripping you off, it's your own insurance company. They're not just making you pay for drugs that you're supposedly covered for – they're pocketing the deductible you pay for those drugs.

Now, there's one more entity with power over the PBM that you'd hope would step in on your behalf: your boss. After all, your employer is the entity that actually chooses the insurer and negotiates with them on your behalf. Your boss is in the driver's seat; you're just along for the ride.

It would be pretty funny if the answer to this was that the health insurance company bought your employer, too, and so your boss, the PBM and the insurer were all the same guy, busily swapping hats, paying for a call center full of tormented drones who each have three phones on their desks: one labeled "insurer"; the second, "PBM" and the final one "HR."

But no, the insurers haven't bought out the company you work for (yet). Rather, they've bought off your boss – they're sharing kickbacks with your employer for all the deductibles and co-pays you're being suckered into paying. There's so much money (your money) sloshing around in the PBM scamoverse that anytime someone might get in the way of you being ripped off, they just get cut in for a share of the loot.

That is how the PBM scam works: they're fronts for health insurers who exploit the existence of high-deductible plans in order to get huge kickbacks from pharma makers, and massive fees from you. They split the loot with your boss, whose payout goes up when you get screwed harder.

But wait, there's more! After all, Big Pharma isn't some kind of easily pushed-around weakling. They're big. Why don't they push back against these massive rebates? Because they can afford to pay bribes and smaller companies making cheaper drugs can't. Whether it's a little biotech upstart with a cheaper molecule, or a generics maker who's producing drugs at a fraction of the list price, they just don't have the giant cash reserves it takes to buy their way into the PBMs' formularies. Doubtless, the Big Pharma companies would prefer to pay smaller kickbacks, but from Big Pharma's perspective, the optimum amount of bribes extracted by a PBM isn't zero – far from it. For Big Pharma, the optimal number is one cent higher than "the maximum amount of bribes that a smaller company can afford."

The purpose of a system is what it does. The PBM system makes sure that Americans only have access to the most expensive drugs, and that they pay the highest possible prices for them, and this enriches both insurance companies and employers, while protecting the Big Pharma cartel from upstarts.

Which is why the FTC is suing the PBMs for price-fixing. As Stoller points out, they're using their powers under Section 5 of the FTC Act here, which allows them to shut down "unfair methods of competition":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

The case will be adjudicated by an administrative law judge, in a process that's much faster than a federal court case. Once the FTC proves that the PBM scam is illegal when applied to insulin, they'll have a much easier time attacking the scam when it comes to every other drug (the insulin scam has just about run its course, with federally mandated $35 insulin coming online, just as a generation of post-insulin diabetes treatments hit the market).

Obviously the PBMs aren't taking this lying down. Cigna/Expressscripts has actually sued the FTC for libel over the market study it conducted, in which the agency described in pitiless, factual detail how Cigna was ripping us all off. The case is being fought by a low-level Reagan-era monster named Rick Rule, whom Stoller characterizes as a guy who "hangs around in bars and picks up lonely multi-national corporations" (!!).

The libel claim is a nonstarter, but it's still wild. It's like one of those movies where they want to show you how bad the cockroaches are, so there's a bit where the exterminator shows up and the roaches form a chorus line and do a kind of Busby Berkeley number:

https://www.46brooklyn.com/news/2024-09-20-the-carlton-report

So here we are: the FTC has set out to euthanize some rentiers, ridding the world of a layer of useless economic middlemen whose sole reason for existing is to make pharmaceuticals as expensive as possible, by colluding with the pharma cartel, the insurance cartel and your boss. This conspiracy exists in plain sight, hidden by the Shield of Boringness. If I've done my job, you now understand how this MEGO scam works – and if you forget all that ten minutes later (as is likely, given the nature of MEGO), that's OK: just remember that this thing is a giant fucking scam, and if you ever need to refresh yourself on the details, you can always re-read this post.

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/23/shield-of-boringness/#some-men-rob-you-with-a-fountain-pen

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