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Technology is bringing help to the traditionally over-worked pharmacist by taking some of the demands of filling scripts out of the store and transferring them to a central pharmacy fulfillment site.
Duane Reade, for example, just expanded its central fill facility and has plans to take the concept even further in its operation.
Millard Nance, director of pharmacy at H.E. Butt, told attendees at the recent National Association of Boards of Pharmacy annual conference that central fills are "a win-win situation" for patients and pharmacists.
He said that while the procedure is virtually transparent to the patient, who still picks up the script at the retail site, the process saves the pharmacist valuable time while providing "an extensive computer audit trail for safety checks."
According to Nance, 20 percent of a pharmacy practice can be handled at a central fill.
Essentially, a central fill facility is simply a pharmacy that consolidates prescriptions received from remote sites, such as stores, mail order or Web sites.
At Eckerd Drug, Dilip Sedani, vice president of pharmacy operations, said he believes central fills "will become more important in the future as the prescription volume growth outpaces the availability of pharmacists required to meet the increased demand.
"The growth of managed care and the expanded role of pharmacists, as dispensers of medications and patient care will put more pressure on the drug store industry to find ways...