Baker automation getting warmer welcome by retail

While hospital, managed care, and mail-service pharmacies have enjoyed a long-time romance with automated pharmacy systems, community pharmacies are only starting to show a strong interest in automation. And they are doing so with good reason, according to executives of McKessonHBOC's BakerAPS and SI/Baker units. Both chains and independents need help in managing "the constraints and challenges" that will come with a 40% increase in prescription volume and a 6% increase in available R.Ph. labor over the next five years, noted Mark Sakaniwa, national v.p. of sales and marketing for BakerAPS.

Adding to the heightened interest in pharmacy automation is the growing emphasis on reducing and preventing medication errors. "The more you can take human labor out of the actual filling or counting process, the fewer errors you're going to have," Sakaniwa continued. The bottom line is that automation allows a pharmacy to process the same number of prescriptions with fewer pharmacists or fill more prescriptions without adding staff, thus minimizing the potential for error. At the same time, it frees the pharmacist to do more patient counseling, he declared.

On the downside, the cost of some systems may be a deterrent to automation usage, conceded Michael L. Jordan, president-CEO of SI/Baker, which provides automated systems to managed care pharmacies, including mail-order firms. However, he thinks a bigger obstacle is resistance to change.

According to Patty Gunn, BakerAPS senior v.p. of retail sales, "sharing information up front" can overcome much of that resistance. She believes retail pharmacies are "more embracive" of automated systems than ever before because of the increased demands of the Rx marketplace.

Sakaniwa agreed that cost is an objection, at least initially, but "when we overlay the cost savings from our system, folks are very open" to the idea of adding automation. As for resistance to change, he said, "conceptual products," such as workflow software, have been more difficult for pharmacies to accept than machines and hardware systems, but the new demands of the marketplace are easing this.

It used to be that pharmacy owners and managers felt that, if they were automated, they would have to give up something—perhaps some of their labor force or a part of their budget, said Sakaniwa. However, Rx volume has been increasing so much that pharmacies "can't keep up with the demand," and they are looking at automation as "a way to plug in the holes and stop the hemorrhaging."

The newest product for pharmacies from BakerAPS is Productivity Station, a dispensing system positioned for stores with anywhere from 200 to 600 scripts per day. The Productivity Station features a modular cabinet that includes touch-screen technology, vial stock storage, instant-access Baker cells, and interfaced Baker cassettes and ties in with the Baker Universal 2000 and RxCheck counting scale. A split screen allows two technicians to work off the station at the same time; between 60 and 90 scripts can be handled per hour, said Sakaniwa. The station can be set up as an island, replacing a pharmacy bay, or it can be flattened out and placed against the wall. The Safeway chain is setting up the unit in three of its stores.

On the SI/Baker front, Jordan reported that the firm has signed contracts to install automated systems in central fill stations being set up by H-E-B Foods/Drugs Inc., starting last month, and by The Kroger Co., to start in July. According to Jordan, interest in automated central filling is rising sharply. He said that virtually every major chain has asked his company for information or proposals during the past year.

By Cheap Cialis

Lose Weight Fast & Easy
Lose Weight Fast & Easy