You know that doing what is best for your customers must always be at the forefront for you, the independent pharmacist. That is just one way that makes you better than retail chains.
However, you also have to keep abreast of new regulations and industry challenges that can affect how you serve your customers. These new challenges and regulations may even mean that you need new pharmacy shelving. How so?
New pharmacy shelving may be needed to give your customers required protections in regard to privacy
In September of 2013, stricter HIPAA regulations went into effect. Their purpose is to protect patients' personal health information, also known as PHI. Now, patients can restrict who sees their PHI. Security regulations are much stricter, as well, and every breach must be reported to patients, not just those that pose significant risk. Anything allowed under the privacy rule is still accepted.
What today's HIPAA regulations require
- Workstations must be centralized, with policies that restrict when those workstations can be accessed
- Personnel access is restricted with formal protocols for hardware and electronic media that store personal health information
- Authentication measures must be implemented with every login
- PHI must only be accessed in specific locations, with additional specific protocols used to eliminate, move, or reuse components
New pharmacy shelving can help provide or foster these protections by introducing added security measures such as locking cabinets and "behind the counter" device storage.
New pharmacy shelving may help you branch out into new – and needed – areas of profit
Today's healthcare industry is sorely overburdened, and has become even more so with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Today's patients need cost effective, expedient care that is not best served by traditional avenues.
For example, even though emergency rooms and urgent care centers exist, not every patient needs this level of medical attention. Where do patients with non-urgent medical needs go?
While the traditional answer has been to the family practitioner, this is still an out-of-reach option for many. But you can help. You may be able to serve these patients with a clinical pharmacy.
Your pharmacy layout will include a waiting area with examination rooms, but you can do this very cost-effectively with new pharmacy shelving and other fixtures as needed.
What your clinical pharmacy can offer patients
Should you as an independent pharmacist decide to offer clinical pharmacy to your patients, keep in mind that you do not have to handle emergency situations to do so. Instead, you can hire nurse practitioners to the job of primary care physicians for patients with non-urgent medical needs.
When you branch out into clinical pharmacy, you give your patients access to badly needed services, and this benefits them -- and increases your profit.
Patients can:
- Schedule appointments at their convenience, with very little notice; no need to wait for an appointment
- Have their needs met thoroughly. They get to spend significant time with qualified nurse practitioners who can diagnose and treat them without having to rush; need for patients to feel anxious or hurried as can happen in traditional settings
- Have non urgent medical needs taken care of in a cost-effective manner; clinical pharmacy is usually less expensive – sometimes much less – when compared to other options like the emergency room or urgent care
You have always been known for customer service and personal attention, but when you ensure that you can meet new pharmacy and industry challenges, you can rest assured that you have kept compliant with the law; you can also serve a patient population that badly needs your services – and improve your own profits at the same time.
