BOOSTING AGED CARE VIABILITY

Welcome to Pharmacy Daily’s weekly comment feature. This week’s contributor is Gerard Stevens, Managing Director at Webstercare.

SOMETIMES solutions to problems aren’t as far away as they seem.

Many pharmacies view aged care home (ACH) services as a commercial risk. And there is no doubting the challenges.

The margins for medication supply to residents of ACHs continue to erode, yet most effort involves a professional obligation behind the actual supply - reconciling medication profiles. These significantly successful pharmacy services are largely unseen, yet remain virtually unfunded.

The current Commonwealth proposal to implement 60-day dispensing presents another commercial challenge. It also has serious clinical implications, with experiences from overseas demonstrating poor patient outcomes (PD 3 Feb).

These commercial and clinical pressures emphasise the onus on seeking ongoing efficiencies and reductions in patient risk. Yet it is easy to access market solutions that combine superior technology and dispense design for a highly standardised and predictable packing process.

Medication is tracked individually for full accountability of every single action. It also cuts back on stock and space, further boosting efficiencies and the viability for in-house packing.

In many cases only one or two new customers are needed to generate a massive boost in productivity and accuracy.