Prescription filling process

What steps should be followed during the prescription-filling process to prevent medication errors ... 

PBMs offer analysis of drug utilization patterns at both individual and group levels. From these analyses, they may recommend an intervention, education, or course of action to ensure appropriate utilization and outcome. DUR/DUE edits also occur online as the prescription is processed. If the prescription information does not match program criteria for appropriateness, an edit message is generated to the filling pharmacy. 

The processes used by the pharmacy to create goods and provide services have specific capacities. For example, technicians can enter only so many prescriptions into a computer in an hour, and pharmacists can fill only so many prescriptions in an hour. Capacity is... 

A pharmacy needs to be designed to maximize the efficiency of the processes conducted to create the goods and services. For example, when filling a prescription, the path that the prescription takes from the patient to the pharmacist who will fill it needs to be efficient. A layout that decreases efficiency is likely to contribute to decreased profitability. Steps that require the prescription to backtrack in the process need to be eliminated or minimized by designing an efficient layout. The layout can also affect the efficiency with which services are provided. Having a counseling area that is readily accessible to the pharmacist and patients will increase the efficiency of providing information to patients. And it even may increase the likelihood that patients will ask for information when they need it. 

The customer is a participant in the service process. With rare exceptions, the customer is always present, at least for some part of the process. Although a patient may not be on site when a prescription is filled,... 

IVR system designed to handle electronic prescriptions and interface with centrai-processing and central-fill systems... 

Direct order entry, or electronic prescribing, is not limited to the inpatient setting. Electronic prescribing encompasses till computer-driven automated processes used to write a prescription for a patient. Within the past few years, technological advances have allowed electronic prescribing to be performed in an ambulatory setting. This process is executed in many ways. Early versions of electronic prescribing devices consisted of a stand-alone computer terminal located at fixed points in physicians offices. These fixed terminals have expanded to use Internet web-based interfaces to access patient level information from a health plan, write prescriptions, and send prescriptions to a pharmacy to be filled. 

The NCPDP helps PBMs standardize online pharmacy claim adjudication. Online adjudication of claims is a key revenue generator for many PBMs. When prescriptions are filled at the pharmacy level, the claim for payment is transmitted electronically to the PBM. At the PBM, computers interface with eligibility data, plan design, and a set of rules that process the claim and send notification back to the pharmacy that the claim is processed. In the case of a rejection, the reason for rejection in the form of a rejection code is sent to the pharmacy. The NCPDP helped the PBMs standardize the data files used to adju-... 

Central fill pharmacies process requests from another pharmacy to fill or refill prescription drug orders. The central fill pharmacy may also perform drug utilization reviews, claim adjudications, refill authorizations, and therapeutic interventions. The prescriptions may be controlled substances. There must be a contract... 

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