Telepharmacy Overview

In response to the national shortage of registered pharmacists, some states - including Texas, Alaska, Kansas, Maine, Utah and Montana - passed legislation to allow secure, controlled dispensing of prescription drugs at remote sites under supervision of a licensed pharmacist.

To help meet the need for affordable remote pharmacy services, EPS^™ - Extended Pharmacy Services, a telepharmacy solution was developed. The EPS telepharmacy system integrates with HCC's  central pharmacy configurations and remote workflow technologies.

Turn-Key Solution

This turn-key solution provides the means to perform several key functions:

• Operate a central retail pharmacy store
• Maintain sales records/inventory count
• Maintain electronic signature records
• Ensure correct dispensing of medications at multiple remote pharmacy sites via Internet and video phone.

In addition, the central pharmacist can use the Accounts Receivable module included in the software for the central pharmacy's and remote sites' monthly statements, aged trial balance reports, multiple account groups, user-defined transaction codes and multiple billing cycles.

The Process

Preparation

• The central pharmacy can maintain individualized remote site drug formularies established by the central pharmacist and/or a formulary committee.
• The central pharmacist ships pre-packaged drugs to remote pharmacies where they are inventoried and stored in secure, approved medication carts.

Dispensing

• As a prescription is filled or refilled, drug utilization review is performed and the prescription label is printed at the central and remote sites.
• During the dispensing process, the central pharmacist validates the drug to be dispensed via electronic barcode scanning and visual imaging to verify accuracy of the filled or refilled prescription.
• The central pharmacist provides remote site counseling via video phone.

Reporting and Quality Control

• Inventory is tracked for each remote site; re-orders for remote inventories are handled electronically at the central pharmacy.
• Pharmacy transaction reporting includes refills due, third-party audits, IRS summaries, patient profiles and optional point of sale cash receipts.
• A digital image is obtained of each drug and is compared with a digitally stored image from the system's database for quality control.
• The digital image of the medication is stored on an HCV Rendezvous Image Server. The quality control report identifies the user and the time of visual verification and approval by the central pharmacist.
• Quality control for central and remote sites is enhanced with EZ-Vue, HCC's  digital video recording (DVR) security system.