Urgent care facilities, also known as walk-in clinics, provide treatment of illnesses or injuries outside of the scope of a traditional emergency department. They handle medical cases that aren’t critical but may still need immediate medical attention, such as casting injuries, concussion screenings, joint injections, physical therapy, and occupational medicine.
There are at least 8,774 urgent care facilities in the United States as of 2018 and their growth is still progressing. Urgent care centers that use an in-office dispensing program can improve patient care, develop trust, and cut costs while providing the best health care service to patients.
What is an In-Office Dispensing System?
Point of care medication dispensing, or on-site pharmacies, provide urgent care patients with the means to pick up their medication and treatments immediately following their visit. Such service brings utmost convenience at the point-of-care since the patient may easily fill their prescription after receiving medical attention without having to make a second or third trip to the pharmacy.
The traditional practice of medicine requires that a prescription be written by the provider, given to the patient or emailed to their pharmacy of choice, after which, the patient must find a means of transportation to get to the pharmacy for their prescriptions which, many times, can take an hour or even days to fill if the medicine isn’t in stock. With an in-office dispensary, patients leave the urgent care facility with the actual medicine, not just the doctor’s prescription.
Benefits of In-Office Dispensing System
Convenience is not the only benefit to having an in-office dispensing program at an urgent care facility. Here are some of the other benefits a medication dispensing system can offer:
Patient’s adherence to medication
The Journal of General Internal Medicine cites that 28 to 31 of patients’ new prescriptions are usually never filled for many reasons, including the patient’s lack of understanding of why the medication was prescribed in the first place.
However, healthcare professionals at urgent care facilities may easily counsel, educate, and inform the patients on the importance of taking their medication and sticking with the prescribed dosage as the drug is being dispensed. Patients are much more likely to ask their primary care physician questions about their medication regimen than they would a stranger at the pharmacy.
Prevents errors and improves compliance
At a typical pharmacy, pharmacy techs and support staff only contact the physician’s practice for verifications and authorization whenever a patient needs to fill out a prescription. They don’t usually inform the doctor if a patient fails to pick up their prescription(s) or if there are open refills pending pick-up. This causes a pretty significant gap in the total wellness and care of the patient.
Urgent care facilities can easily identify these cases by having their own in-office dispensing system, which includes state-of-the-art software designed to monitor medication dispensing and adherence. In this way, patients’ medication records are better monitored, which can boost the health outcomes for the patient.
Improves the quality of patient care
Urgent care facilities with an in-office dispensing system can provide better patient care, thus increasing their number of patients. Business-wise, a facility with better access to medication, proper monitoring, and counseling by the doctors, will greatly appeal to patients. In fact, dispensing has consistently ranked in the top 3 services offered by clinics in patient satisfaction surveys ranking ahead of services such as: in-office labs, in-house diagnostic equipment, physical therapy, procedure financing, etc. A facility that provides such a high-quality professional service can be extremely successful.
Point of care medication dispensing solutions at DirectRX
DirectRX offers one of the best, full-service, in-office dispensing programs complete with point-of-care pre-packaged medication and customized dispensing solutions to healthcare providers.
Whether you are an urgent care, on-site clinic, hospital, offering work-comp services or primary care physician practice, DirectRx can meet your specific practice needs related to an in-office medication dispensing system.
Get in touch with us to find out how our expertise as one of the best, pre-packaged medication providers can serve your medical practice.
The material contained on this site is for informational purposes only and DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE PROVIDING OF MEDICAL ADVICE, and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your health.
