When Brockton Neighborhood Health Center was constructing a new in-house pharmacy, they sought best-in-class technology to interface with their Epic Willow PMS. Less than six months later, scripClip has become their ‘favorite vendor.’
Rebuilding a Pharmacy
Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (BNHC), part of the Community Care Cooperative (C3) accountable-care organization (ACO) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, opened its new pharmacy in March 2023.
An independent pharmacy had long operated in the health center before it was bought out by a well-known retail chain across the street a few years ago. Mike Berube, Director of Pharmacy, has been in the mix since 2011.
Building a new pharmacy within BNHC enabled Berube and the team of nearly 60 people, including 13 pharmacists and 42 technicians, to design the space and bring in the latest technological tools to help them best serve their patients.
Collaboration with BNHC’s point-of-sale (POS) solution provider, RMS, led them to scripClip. Having worked in large pharmacies for years, Berube was no stranger to will-call automation and had used other pick-to-light bagging systems in the past – to keep the will-call area organized and avoid wrong-patient delivery errors at the POS.
Berube knew scripClip was the optimal choice. “The software looked really good,” he said. “It has more safety features built in. And it was easier to move around than [another option] that required all kinds of wiring, then you have to have it just right on the rail…”
The question was: Would it also be compatible with BNHC’s pharmacy management system (PMS), Epic Willow?
The Answer Was “Yes!”
BNHC was scripClip’s first of several client integrations with Epic Willow, and it went smoothly.
“We had Epic people here for implementation and one of the guys was like, ‘this software is amazing!’” Berube recalled. “It seems pretty customizable too, within reason, which has been really nice.”
“The second we were able to look up prescription orders and find them – instead of rifling through a bunch of bags – you could see a huge difference in the pharmacy,” Berube said.
“Trailblazing work!” one of BNHC’s chief executives wrote, upon implementation.
Meeting Growing Patient Demand
BNHC Pharmacy is focused on reengaging the Brockton community and earning back patients’ trust. “Many orders come directly from the health center and we’re right here when you walk in, which is cool,” Berube said.
“There’s definitely a ‘wow’ factor when visitors see all the scripClip bags hanging… [and] it lets us get our customers in and out easier, which is the key. You don’t want people waiting too long because [if] the first impression is bad, they’re not going to come back.”
Within weeks of opening, BNHC far exceeded initially anticipated volumes, and the numbers keep climbing. Their goal is to continue growing from now 5,000 prescriptions per week to the previous independent pharmacy’s weekly peak of 8,000.
They now have space for patient consultations and will start offering immunizations this Fall. scripClip affords the pharmacists time to focus on value-added, revenue-generating clinical services like these.
Meanwhile, home delivery has always been a strong focus for Berube and BNHC’s pharmacy team. They use scripClip in the process and are working closely with InterLink AI to further streamline it.
“What’s really great is your team is very accessible; very reasonable; so responsive and willing to listen,” Berube said. “You know, we’ve probably asked for some outrageous stuff here and there, but you guys take it seriously and say, ‘we’ll give it a shot.’
“You’re our favorite vendor by far.”
