This case study was written by Bruce Kneeland. Click here to view the original article, published in 2020.
Brighton, Colorado is a rapidly growing community about 20 miles north of Denver and is the home of Platte Valley Pharmacy. One unique aspect of this busy retail pharmacy is that it is located in the Platte Valley Medical Center, a modern medical complex that includes an acute care hospital along with a campus filled with doctor’s offices and other medical services providers.
Tom Gierwatoski, R.Ph. owns the pharmacy and leases space in the medical office complex. This provides him with some unique marketing opportunities. One that he speaks of with enthusiasm is the transition in care program they provide in concert with the hospital. Its goal is to make sure patients are discharged from the hospital with the medications they need.
But, Gierwatoski is quick to add that other than being in a medical complex the pharmacy is pretty typical. They fill a lot of prescriptions, do some compounding, have a delivery service and carry a nice assortment of home medical equipment.
Like most pharmacy owners he is always looking for ways to be more efficient, improve customer service and make sure every patient gets the right medication. It was those goals that caused him to agree to meet with Lori Lewonski, Senior Account Manager with PerceptiMed and investigate the company’s scripClip™ automated will-call system. “As soon as I saw the flashing LED lights on the clear plastic hanging prescription bags, I knew this was something I wanted.” Says Gierwatoski.
The system was installed in July of 2018 and he says it was the first piece of technology he has ever bought where no one on his staff pushed back.
So, after nearly 18 months of operation I asked him what he liked most about the system. He identified five key things:
- It saves us time on every prescription they fill. Because the hanging bags go on the rack in random order there is no lost time trying to find the right spot to place the bag.
- It saves us time on every patient pick-up. Patients simply give us their name or phone number; it is typed into the computer and the system tells us how many bags we need to retrieve and what color flashing light to look for.
- He really likes knowing the system makes sure they won’t give out the wrong medication.
- Customers are impressed. The flashing lights just have a sort of – WOW – factor.
- The work environment is so much better. Employees love how scripClip makes the filling of prescription so fast and accurate.
When asked if he’d recommend scripClip to others there is no hesitation as he says, “Absolutely,” he says, “The system pays for itself in time savings, the team loves it and customer are impressed. That is pretty good cost justification to me.”
