Drug shortages have become all too common and affect all aspects of the health care delivery system. In a pandemic like situation, we all have seen the increased number of drug shortages that have negatively impacted patient care and costly financial implications.
The causes of drug shortages are multifaceted, leading to safety and costly financial implications. But when you adopt a pharmacy software solution, you will have a system that lets you know your stocks availability in real-time. Its inventory management feature prepares you to eliminate any shortage in stores.
With reporting & analysis, you will make a strategy that will never fall into a situation like a drug shortage.
This blog aims to identify the problems and adverse outcomes drug shortages have caused. The blog also prepares your retail pharmacy for the best and combat future needs.
Also, it prepares you to protect your pharmacy store against growing industry challenges.
Content…
- Pharmacy management software market overview
- Increasing demand for Pharmacy management software
- What is a pharmacy management system?
- When do businesses need a pharmacy management system?
- How pharmacy software integration ensures there will be no drug shortage in your store
- Role of Inventory Management System in avoiding drug shortage
- Role of POS System in avoiding drug shortage
- Wrapping Up
Pharmacy management software market overview
- In 2019, the global pharmaceutical market reached 1.25 trillion dollars. With a 40% market share, the United States will surpass $685 billion in growth by 2023.
- According to The American College of Clinical Pharmacy, prescriptions are administered online, which is predicted to reach 5 billion by 2021.
- During the projected period, the Pharmacy Management System Market is expected to develop at a CAGR of 10.73 % (2021 – 2026).
- Vendor lock-in is a crucial constraint to pharmacy management system adoption. It generates reliance; acquiring another provider is a complex operation for pharmacists.
Increasing demand for Pharmacy management software
Being one of the most highly profitable niches in the world, the pharma sector needs facilitation in business process management no less than in other industries.
This is why the pharmacies market has now primarily switched to pharmacy software. The software enables easy collaboration with manufacturers, distributors, drug stores, logistics, warehouses, pharmaceuticals, and patients.
To cope with the increased demand for medicine, pharmacy retail software automates workflow, inventory, and sales process management with those in the chain.
What is a pharmacy management system?
The pharmacy store management system is opted by independent pharmacies or pharmacy chains. It effectively handled the retail pharmacy processes from drugs order to their final delivery.
Within pharmacies and pharmacy chains are having trading medicines, dietary supplements, hygiene items, medical supplies, and other items. The software is designed to automate routine processes related to medication use, patient care, billing, document management, relationships with suppliers, prescription processing, and others.
When do businesses need a pharmacy management system?
However, this is when the need for software is specific and should be accepted by all types of businesses.
But after COVID-19, it is a must for pharmacy businesses to better manage the complex drug inventory, drug shortage, contactless ordering/delivering, billing, and more.
Manually handling pharmacy data is more prone to errors. You can’t manage retail sales of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs. Also, you feel helpless to control stock and dispensing estimate demand.
Pharmacy store management software offers a complete picture of business performance with analytical insights and reporting. Some of its key considerations are as follows-
- The key roles of pharmacy software are prescription filling and processing, inventory keeping, and point of sale.
- It keeps track of important information about drugs and patients to ensure that prescriptions are issued at the right amount.
- Refill requests, verification, and analysis are all automated with pharmacy management systems.
- It adheres to applicable industry norms and respects the guidelines.
- Reminders for stock availability, order delivery, invoices, bills, and other items may be sent using the software.
- It offers an automated workflow that speeds up time-consuming tasks like stock management and medication eligibility verification.
- It ensures that in-demand items are in stock, keeps track of all medications, and manages expired drug management.
How pharmacy software integration ensures there will be no drug shortage in your store
The World Health Organization (WHO) characterizes drug shortages as a critical global health problem. Drug shortages are caused by factors –
- Raw material shortages
- Regulatory influences
- Manufacturing difficulties
- Financial implications
- Logistics issues
- Not aware of stocks availability
- Sudden increase in market demand
The above are the causes that maybe the reason behind drug shortages. But what we need to do is to pre-identify your pharmacy store drug requirement and know the real-time drug inventory status.
This is the shortest path you will take to avoid drug shortages.
The pharmacy inventory management solution can help pharmacists with this. The software comes with features that automate decision-making processes, electronic health record-keeping, and inventory management practices.
In a national study of pediatric hematologists/oncologists, approximately 65% of respondents claimed that medicine shortages directly impacted their patients. However, one-third of respondents were unaware of their institution’s medication shortage program or policy, and one-fourth were unaware of who handles drug allocation choices.
This demonstrates that there maybe a lack of visibility inside institutions.
Thus, every pharmacy store, medical/chemist shop needs to have effective drug shortage management. This will ensure that your store has an infrastructure that proffers a well-defined management strategy before a shortage occurs.
An inventory management system and reporting & analysis feature of pharmacy retail software gives you a system for managing/avoiding drug shortages.
Role of Inventory Management System in avoiding drug shortage
Drug shortages are always a key inventory management issue in healthcare systems since they can have several serious consequences. Optimization and inventory control go hand in hand in pharmacy supply chain management to handle drug supply, management, and usage concerns.
To minimize a shortage in a retail pharmacy, effective inventory management is essential. It operates the store in a sustainable manner and maximizes profits. Know why is inventory management a top priority in the pharmacy industry.
The following are some of the features of an inventory management system that pharmacists may use to help patients:
- To avoid a drug shortage, inventory management tools can automatically make a drug refilling decision.
- It provides min/max medicine stocks to help you determine which drugs are in high demand and which are not.
- It also provides real-time stock insight, allowing you to understand medicine availability better and avoid drug shortages.
- It maintains a sufficient supply of supplies and drugs.
- It prevents unexpected stock outs and short-term shortages, which can harm patient care.
- It lowers the financial investment in pharmaceuticals.
- It cuts down on how much time you spend on purchasing functions.
- It reduces the average inventory capital charge.
- It reduces inventory breakage and shrinkage.
- It helps you save money by choosing goods based on shop criteria and price.
Role of POS System in avoiding drug shortage
“POS” is the abbreviation for “point-of-sale.”
The Pharmacy POS system helps brick-and-mortar businesses increase sales. Inventory tracking, analytics, sales monitoring and reporting, customer data management, personnel management, mobile connection, and powerful integrations are all possible with POS systems.
It assists businesses in proper drug reporting, and it provides a robust analytics and reporting system that can extract essential data to highlight trends, vulnerabilities, and remedies. This way, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to avoid a medicine shortage.
As a result, it supplies you with essential information to help you make business decisions. Know more about how does the POS System Assure the Growth of the Retail Sector?
Wrapping Up
The COVID-19 pandemic results in various medication shortages and supply disruptions worldwide; additional factors contributing to drug shortages include natural catastrophes, manufacturing issues, and a lack of pharmaceuticals.
Whatever the cause, your pharmacy management software keeps track of your inventory and protects you against drug shortages. It uses artificial intelligence in pharmacy, predictive analysis, and real-time situational awareness in a pharmacy-focused workflow to control drug shortages proactively. If you are looking for the best pharmacy software, you need to concern SwilERP. SwilERP is pharmacy-specific software that can assist you in better navigating your pharmacy through the clinical, operational, and commercial implications of a scenario or epidemic.
