You already know that improving adherence is a win-win for patients and for your pharmacy, but how exactly do you improve adherence?
One way is to offer a medication synchronization program at your pharmacy. By synchronizing all of a patient’s refills to a single day each month, you can make his or her medication pick-up simpler, and boost your total number of fills.
This beneficial process comes with its own unique set of challenges. Here’s a look at the hurdles you may face when implementing a medication synchronization program, and ways to overcome those hurdles.
Challenge: Starting a program
Instituting any new process can be difficult. It demands time and effort, and time-consuming day-to-day tasks can get in the way.
Plus, starting from scratch means you have to devote even more time and money to creating a system that works for you.
Solution: Use a tried-and-tested program
Choose a medication synchronization program that already works for other independent community pharmacies, such as the Simplify My Meds® program from the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).
Implementing a reliable out-of-the-box program can make the start-up process much smoother. Plus, you can use the program’s support materials, including the Simplify My Meds’ webinars, videos and research, to educate patients and employees about the program.
Challenge: Difficulty enrolling patients
Some patients might be skeptical about enrolling in a new medication synchronization program.
Perhaps they already have a routine for picking up their prescriptions, or maybe they don’t see the benefit of participating. Regardless of their reason, some patients will be hesitant to enroll.
Solution: Start with patients who will benefit the most
Start your program by enrolling patients who have the most to gain from synchronizing all of their medications.
Patients with three to five medications who are making several trips to your pharmacy each month, or patients who require lots of counseling, would see the largest benefit from medication synchronization. Start your program by targeting your promotion to those patients.
Challenge: Lack of time
Implementing any new program, recruiting patients and adjusting your workflow requires more time; time that you may not have to spare.
Solution: Train your employees
Train your employees to take over as many of the day-to-day tasks of running your medication synchronization program as possible.
They can educate patients about the benefits of medication synchronization, enroll patients in the program and make reminder calls to patients.
When you empower your employees to do more, you’ll free up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
Challenge: Determining success
It can be difficult to determine if your medication synchronization program is succeeding, especially when you’re just starting out.
If you can’t measure how the program affects your business, it’s difficult to determine if it’s successful.
Solution: Set goals
Establish concrete, measurable goals for your pharmacy’s medication synchronization program to help you determine if the program is succeeding.
Set targets for the number of patients or scripts you want enrolled in the program, and keep raising the bar as your program grows.
Once you’ve started a medication synchronization program, be sure to continue to promote it to get new patients enrolled.
