A pharmacy inventory system or pharmacy management software stores data and systemizes and controls the pharmacy’s medication process. Its importance in today’s US healthcare ecosystem is multi-faceted. Pharmacies are no longer normal shops dishing out medicines. From contributing hugely against the opioid crisis in the country to providing medicines to patients for minor illnesses and storing information in respective patients’ medical histories pharmacies have come a long way. This is all because of pharmacy inventory management software. In this blog, we will talk about the top 7 features that you should have in your pharmacy inventory system. Next time you talk to a healthcare software development company, add these features for a higher turnover.
Top 7 Features of Pharmacy Management System for Improved ROI
- eRx or electronic prescriptions: Prescriptions can often be challenging to decipher, leading to potential patient confusion and medication errors. To combat this, e-prescriptions have become a crucial component of pharmacy inventory systems, offering patients with better UI options and reducing the likelihood of errors. With the help of prescription management software, pharmacies can utilize the electronic prescription feature to streamline refill management. This system enables doctors to send new refill requests directly to the pharmacy’s operating system, allowing for rapid dispensing of medication. By leveraging the e-prescription feature within a pharmacy database management system, the analysis of data eliminates confusion and ensures the accurate delivery of prescription medication.
- Alerts and reminders via SMS: Pharmacists can plan text messages to be sent to patients informing them before their prescriptions expire thanks to electronic pharmacy systems. Patients can then notify the pharmacist if they need a refill by replying to the message using pharmacy inventory software. Both practice management and patient engagement are improved by it. The ability to stay in touch with patients is made possible by status updates, which improves patient satisfaction.
- Support for anywhere and any store: A special feature of pharmacy inventory software enables business owners or service providers to easily manage many shop locations via a prescription management system. Via a single inventory management software created for hospitals, users may access and communicate electronic information on stock levels, sales, and returns by combining data from numerous stores. This sophisticated inventory management system creates compact data for the entire chain of stores, giving users a thorough understanding of profitability, stock levels, and other crucial criteria.
- User Management: Pharmacy management solutions come equipped with user management features that enable the control of access rights to different users. To simplify management processes, the software allows for the restriction of access to multiple features based on user roles. Authentication is usually categorized into administrator user and administrator authentication user. The former can perform essential tasks such as managing the purchase and sale of medicines, listing medicines, and viewing stocks. On the other hand, the latter can view all processes, including selling reports, and transactions, and manipulate the medicine list and medicine stock.
- Expiry Management: An essential feature of integrated pharmacy management solutions is expiry management. Expired products can cause significant losses to pharmacies, making it critical to keep track of the expiry dates of medications. Typically, medicines are purchased in bulk with varying MRP and expiry dates, making it easy for pharmacists to lose track of which products are about to expire. To avoid such situations, healthcare-based pharmacy management systems offer an expiry management feature that can notify pharmacists of medicines that are nearing their expiry date. This helps pharmacists to sell such products before they expire or return them to the supplier.
- Stock Management: A pharmaceutical inventory management software can send out important data points, such as, when to restock items and which products are performing well. This information is crucial for pharmacists to stay organized and informed. The pharmacy inventory management system allows pharmacists to set minimum and maximum stock levels, and the software can indicate when the stock reaches the minimum level and requires replenishment. Additionally, this feature of the inventory system can suggest the best buying options with the nearest supplier schemes, helping pharmacies to save money.
- Reporting: Since pharmacies often deal with large numbers of patients, the computerized inventory system houses a sizable amount of health data. The information in a pharmacy inventory system may be used for certification or inspection purposes, or it may be used to enhance company strategy. A cloud-based pharmacy inventory system’s reporting function provides useful information on the business’s operations, including a list of customers who frequently come in for refills. The pharmacy can meet the needs of its customers by using this information to stock products appropriately.
- Data integration with third-party software: Integrating pharmacy management systems (PMS) is critical, particularly for mid-to-enterprise level pharmacies operating at scale. By enabling seamless data exchange with systems like electronic health records (EHR), prescription drug monitoring programs, point of sale software, interactive voice response systems, logistics services like DHL, and medical insurance verification platforms, pharmacies can automate tasks such as billing and inventory management, reduce errors, and ensure real-time updates. This integration centralizes patient data, allowing pharmacists to access comprehensive profiles that aid in managing medications and providing personalized care.
- Advanced Analytics and Machine Learning: Implement machine learning algorithms to analyze historical data and predict trends in medication usage. This can help in forecasting future demand accurately, optimizing stock levels, and minimizing waste. Additionally, analytics can identify patterns in medication adherence, enabling targeted interventions for better health outcomes.
- Customizable Alerts and Notifications: Develop a system that allows pharmacies to set up customized alerts for stock levels, expiry dates, and regulatory compliance updates. This feature ensures that pharmacies can proactively manage their inventory and maintain compliance with health regulations without manual monitoring, thereby reducing risks and operational overhead.
- Mobile Management Capabilities: Create a mobile app that empowers pharmacists to manage inventory, access patient information, and communicate with other healthcare providers on the go. Such mobility enhances operational efficiency and improves service quality by allowing pharmacists to make informed decisions and promptly respond to patient needs regardless of location.
- Sustainability and Waste Management: Incorporate tools that help pharmacies manage and reduce pharmaceutical waste. This could include features for tracking medication disposal, recycling programs, and sustainable sourcing options. By focusing on environmental impact, pharmacies can not only comply with regulatory requirements but also position themselves as responsible community health advocates.
Benefits of these Novel Features
- Better identification of expired items: A pharmacy inventory management system is developed in such a way that it will not create bills of expired products. It will also notify about the expiry dates of medicines and help owners systematically purchase new items.
- Improved registry and subfolders management: These types of software are usually called drug inventory management software. These types of software can store details of all the drugs in the inventory. They keep track of the composition of these medicines and can also suggest alternatives in special cases. These solutions facilitate automatic inventory management for pharmacies.
- Easier access to patient medical history: Pharmacy inventory management systems in hospitals allow pharmacists to monitor patients’ treatment plans and check if standard medical practices are being followed.
- Major impacts against the opioid crisis: America is going through one of its worst phases of the opioid crisis. Inventory management in hospital pharmacies will allow them to check up on the patient’s history and track any cases of opioid overuse. Moreover, some states have made it mandatory to keep records of opioids on the state PDMP database. This software when connected with the PDMP database can store such information automatically and prevent opioid overuse.
- Automated delivery management: Pharmacy inventory systems come with features that can access the patient’s history and assign orders automatically to various channels.
Conclusion
For a pharmacy inventory management system to achieve high patient engagement and higher revenue production, these features are a necessity. We can help you develop one that will increase your ROI and have huge benefits in your day-to-day work processes. Experts at Nalashaa have the experience and expertise to guide you as your on-stop solution partner. Connect with us at info@nalashaa.com
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Mitrajit Das
A writer with a keen interest in the Healthcare domain and B2B content marketing. He enjoys writing and creating pieces around the latest Healthcare IT trends using the simplest of words.
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