Patients come to your independent pharmacy to get their prescriptions filled. They come back for another reason: trust. They trust you and your pharmacy staff with their health journey’s trajectory.
The relationship between patient and pharmacist is sacred. Patients go to the same pharmacy for several years for many reasons: it’s close by, they don’t charge as much as the other pharmacy down the street, or their favorite technician works there.
Whatever the case, enhancing the patient-going experience ensures that they stick with your pharmacy. There are several ways to develop and maintain a strong customer base — and some of it goes beyond pills in a bottle.
Here’s how you can strengthen your patient relationships through technology.
More Automated Services
The pharmacy industry currently places a high value on automated services. Convenience is the name of the game for patients. They don’t want to spend too much time at the pharmacy after a long work day. Time is money, and it is a precious commodity for both you and your patients.
Automated services streamline the patient-going experience whether they’re in or out of your pharmacy.
Automated calls or texts inform your patient whenever a prescription is ready or out of stock. It provides them with an extra layer of communication while you focus on more urgent pharmacy tasks.
Auto-refill is a godsend for patients who take maintenance medications. Patients don’t have to phone in a refill or wait for the doctor to send in more refills.
A quality auto-refill program fills the prescription at the same time every month, ensuring that your patient never goes without their medication.
Auto-refill also improves medication adherence because you’ll fill the prescription, even if your patient forgets to request it. It gives the patient one less thing to think about and streamlines the fill process for your workflow.
Patients will love the streamlined fill experience. Automated services make the time-consuming process a little easier and more bearable. They strengthen patient relationships because patients can rely on your pharmacy to fill their prescriptions when the time comes.
There’s already enough headaches in life. Automated services give patients peace of mind as they progress through their health journey.
Patient Portals
Automated services like auto-refills give your patients peace of mind. Patient portals, on the other hand, put them in the driver’s seat (or at least passenger’s seat) in their pharmacy journey.
Patient portals give your patients access to their patient profile, letting them view their patient records, prescription information, and fill dates.
Have a patient portal that is intuitive and easy-to-use. This largely depends on your pharmacy software system, though you can use third-party patient portals.
Doing this is a bit risky since it can overcrowd your pharmacy’s technology and workflow. It will also result in other parties handling sensitive patient information (the fewer parties that handle that information, the better).
Nevertheless, patient portals strenghten patient relationships by giving patients a more active role in their prescription journey.
Automated services like autorefills can risk patients adopting a passive role, so strike a balance with patient portals. It inevitably helps the patient be more involved and informed of their health journey. It also makes pharmacy work a little easier.
Optimize Your Social Media
Pharmacy technology doesn’t only have to do with software. Technology is all around us, and it’s your job to embrace the new. Doing so will make your small business a shining example of the here and now.
Perhaps no better example of that is with social media. Just about everyone has some kind of social media profile, which presents an excellent opportunity for patient relationships.
Social media lets you establish your independent pharmacy’s brand. Patients want to go to a pharmacy they know and can trust. An active social presence will do exactly that: give patients a sense of what your pharmacy is.
Familiarity and dependibility strenghten patient relationships. Through the use of social media posts, pictures, videos, and reels/shorts (they’re all the rage nowadays), patients will want to go to your pharmacy.
They will think of your pharmacy the next time they need a flu shot or need an antibiotic. They will recommend your pharmacy to their friends because of its friendly and consistent online presence.
Word of mouth is a powerful tool in your pharmacy’s success. Use it to its full potential too strengthen patient relationships — even before they step foot into your pharmacy.
Your Pharmacy Software System
If a rug pulls the room together, then your pharmacy software system pulls your pharmacy together. As mentioned earlier, get a pharmacy software system that can act as a one-stop shop for all your pharmacy’s tech needs.
Let’s start with the basics: an efficient software system creates an efficient and streamlined work environment. It helps you focus on more pressing tasks while it manages other duties such as e-scribe processing and prior authorization requests.
Pharmacy work is often urgent, so an intuitive software system ensures you and your staff do not waste a second of time.
Then we get to the intangibles. What do you do with that free time? Enhancing patient relationships isn’t the worst option available.
Take advantage of your work efficiency by cultivating and strengthening your patient relationships. Ask them about their day, get to know them, or answer whatever questions they may have.
Communication is the ultimate antidote for strong patient relationships, which is also a huge appeal of independent pharmacies. You’re able to adopt a “patient first” mentality and put your own spin on patient relationships and care.
With the best pharmacy software system, you’re able to create strong patient relationships. All you need to do is have a little chat while getting work done.
Visit our Compare Software page to see how some of the top independent pharmacy software systems stack up with one another.
Conclusion
Strong patient relationships ensure your pharmacy’s long-term success. A strong patient base gives your pharmacy a steady cash flow, while opening the door to new patients.
Take your patient relationships to the next level through the use of automated services, social media, and your pharmacy software system.
