The world of chain pharmacy data management is complicated. It’s much different from independent pharmacies. That’s because chain pharmacies have multiple locations, often across numerous states. They also are more likely to acquire other pharmacies, meaning they have transition needs. So, what are these unique data management needs?
They Have More Data and Require Sharing Across Locations
The sheer amount of data is one big difference for chain pharmacy. The largest chains in the country have thousands of locations. That data also must be shareable. If a patient has a prescription at one location but moves or needs a refill while away from home, they need to be able to do this at any site. It’s a lot of moving pieces that require standardization.
More Patient Records Means Lots of Data to Store
The pharmacy management systems for chains are always expanding. However, not all this data is active. Even though it’s not active, you still have to retain it for periods of time per state laws. Instead of overburdening systems, many choose to archive pharmacy records on a cloud-based platform.
Doing so makes your software less bulky, but you can still access it. Further, anyone within your network can when you select a web-based option. So, if pharmacy A needs records for a patient from pharmacy B, it’s easy to find and doesn’t require lots of legwork.
Chain Pharmacies Are Acquirers
The pharmacy industry experiences acquisitions and closures every year. Chain pharmacies are top acquirers. They may either keep the location but rebrand or close it and just buy the patient data. In either case, they need a variety of pharmacy transition services, including:
- Data conversions from the existing pharmacy system to their system.
- Data archiving of older patient records that they don’t want to migrate but still must keep to adhere to record retention requirements.
- Print and mail services to inform patients of the change, rebrand locations, or provide signage announcing the pharmacy moved.
Custom Data Needs Are Common
This subset of pharmacy can also have specialized data needs. Those look different for every pharmacy but could include analytics, reporting, PHI data transfers, data cleaning, data aggregation, and data warehousing.
For these customized processes, you may look to firms that have deep experience working with pharmacy data. Your internal IT teams may not have the capacity or expertise, and that’s where a partner like InfoWerks makes achieving data-related goals pain-free.
The Chain Pharmacy Data Experts
InfoWerks has over two decades of pharmacy data experience. We’ve completed tens of thousands of projects and archived billions of records. We are the partner of choice for the biggest chains in the country, and we’re always adapting to changing needs of the industry. To learn more about our solutions, contact our pharmacy experts today.