Short Cycle Dispensing Survey (six questions):

To help assess the needs of pharmacies providing long term care services, RXinsider has developed the following six-question survey. Begin survey by clicking below:

http://rxinsider.net/jump_page/index.php?8485

CMS released its proposal for short cycle dispensing of prescription drugs in long term care facilities.

• All pharmacies serving long term care facilities have to dispense brand name drugs in no greater than 7-day increments; exceptions are drugs that are difficult to dispense in 7 day increments, such as drops, sprays, etc, as well as that are dispensed for acute illness such as 14 day antibiotics.
• Part D plans must collect information on the dispensing method used for each dispensing event and on the nature and quantity of any unused drugs returned to the pharmacy. Part D plans must allow for pharmacy to receive credit for unused returned drugs where permitted.
• CMS revises it definition of Part D dispensing fee as follows: "Dispensing fees should take into consideration the number of dispensing events in a billing cycle, the incremental costs associated with the type of dispensing methodology, and with respect to Part D drugs dispensed in LTC facilities, the techniques to minimize the dispensing of unused drugs. Dispensing fees may also take into account restocking fees associated with return for credit and reuse in long-term care pharmacies, when return for credit and reuse is permitted under the state in law and is allowed under the contract between the Part D sponsor and the pharmacy." However, there are no requirements on Part D plans to pay additional dispensing fees to account for the increased frequency of long term care dispensing.
• The proposed rule allows some exceptions for "independent community pharmacies", who can dispense up to 14 day supply through December 2013 if the independent serves one or more facilities with fewer than 80 beds, and primarily serves LTC facilities in rural areas.

Rx Care Asssurance has been providing Short Cycle Dispensing Solutions for over 30 years. The OPUS Medication System is valued by both facilities and pharmacies for the many effiencies it provides. Pharmacies work hard to earn the business of the facilities they service, in turn they want to offer a system that provides added value to their facility clients – OPUS does just that. OPUS Medication Systems help you strengthen existing customer relationships and create new ones by offering products and services that differentiate your pharmacy from others in today's marketplace. Not only is the ease, accuracy and efficiency of the OPUS system a sure selling point, its characteristics can also increase your pharmacy's working capital and reduce labor costs.

As your medication systems partner, our goal is to help you uncover business efficiencies and deliver care facility relationships that produce long-term growth opportunities and profitability.

Short Cycle Fill - Created by a Pharmacist for Pharmacists

OPUS Medication Systems were created by a pharmacist for pharmacists, giving you the flexibility to meet the diverse needs of your facility clients. Choose from 7, 14 and 31-day single-dose and multi-dose systems, all available under one brand.

Long-term Growth

With Rx Care Assurance, we can assist you in tracking and understanding the satisfaction of your care facility clients. We deliver the ongoing expertise and tools you need to ensure high levels of long-term satisfaction and profitability.

Accuracy

Accuracy and organization starts with the OPUS System. Easy-to-handle cassettes are divided into multiple, sealed airtight compartments. The tamper-evident cassettes are color-coded for time of administration and labeled according to dosing schedules and day of the week for increased accuracy. The cassettes are organized in bins, by resident, for easy identification and administration.

Ease of Administration for the Facilities

The OPUS system minimizes effort and stress on the care facility staff. In fact, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) recognizes two critical design features: (1) the airtight cassette is easier to manage than foil packets, because it doesn’t take strong finger force or a sharp object to release the pill, and (2) the low-profile cart with easy-open drawers reduces fatigue.

Short Cycle Solution - No More Lost Orders

Are you tired of managing errors in the reorder process? The OPUS system uses automatic reordering, saving time for both you and your clients. Planning for the scheduled reorders allows you to efficiently manage your staff and accomplish all tasks in a timely manner.

Strategies to Better Your Bottom Line

OPUS offers the latest products to help make our pharmacy partners as efficient as possible. This includes the newly developed EZ Filler,™ as well as Mobile Storage Carts, pharmacy stations and a host of other products.

As your revenue continues to grow, OPUS works with you to explore pharmacy efficiency strategies you can use to help your bottom-line grow. Our consultants work with all types of pharmacies on a daily basis and have amassed a wealth of knowledge on efficient operations in long-term care pharmacies.

Everything from new pharmacy layout, to efficiency of tech fill teams, to fill station setup is covered when OPUS provides a Pharmacy Efficiency Study. Have one of our Consultants come for a visit or attend one of our upcoming classes.

At this very moment, care facilities across the country are looking for quality local pharmacy providers. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Find out how Rx Care Assurance, powered by OPUS, can help connect you with these facilities and fuel your growth.

Offer the Competitve Advantage

OPUS provides facilities with improved efficiency and error control which gives you a great competitive advantage. We can help you improve workforce management and reduce labor. Maintaining the OPUS system requires less labor than conventional systems. And, the new OPUS EZ Fillers™ can help reduce fill time by over 90 percent. Simply place over an OPUS cassette and fill up to 14 doses in a second!

It's time to find out how we can help you build your business.

InSiteRx Remote Dispensing System:

The InSiteRx Remote Dispensing System is changing the way medications are dispensed in long-term care facilities. The InSiteRx system places a secure, automated remote dispensing unit at the long-term care facility. Medications are on-hand and accessible to nurses 24/7 for improved quality of care. The process is automated, accurate, and can quickly package pharmacist-approved medications before each medication pass, or on-demand to facilitate new residents, First Doses, STAT orders, and PRNs.

For more information on automated medication packaging, please contact us using the links below...

Operating a safe and efficient pharmacy is always top priority to the thousands of pharmacies AmerisourceBergen services every day. And with legislation in place that requires pharmacies to reduce the per fill quantity of medications dispensed to Long Term Care customers, the pressure on pharmacies continues to mount.

Your pharmacy is unique so, offering a one-size-fits-all solution to help you meet the shorter dispensing requirements could have devastating consequences. Our consultants will work to uncover your specific needs and offer solutions that focus on key areas of your pharmacy that we both agree will help your pharmacy operate with maximum efficiency.

It is our mission to look at the many layers of your pharmacy, from pharmaceutical distribution to your pharmacy layout, i.e., intake, data entry, filling, checking, delivery and facility storage. At each step, we will ensure you are adequately prepared to support a shorter cycle fill.

Accommodating a shorter dispensing cycle may require an investment in technology to support dispensing processes that don’t compromise safety. With compliance packaging solutions and automated dispensing cabinets from AmerisourceBergen your pharmacy will benefit from solutions flexible enough to accommodate any fill cycle.

AmerisourceBergen customers know that access to operational expertise is at their fingertips. Because we run the safest, most efficient distribution network in the country, our expertise is uniquely positioned to help you reach the operational excellence you strive for every day. From experienced pharmacy consultants to world-class technology, we'll help you meet the changing demands of the complex healthcare marketplace.

Parata Max®: Next-generation pharmacy automation

Parata Mini®: The Power of Simplicity

Parata offers the industry's leading technologies to enhance safety and convenience at key touch points in the circle of pharmacy care^TM: Fill, Serve and Adhere.

FILL

Parata innovated the first and only next-generation solutions in the nearly 50-year history of pharmacy automation:

Parata Max
Automate up to 60 percent of your total prescription volume with once-daily upkeep that takes just minutes to complete. Increase your prescription capacity and minimize labor in dispensing to lower cost/script and redeploy staff to customer-facing activities that improve patient care and service. Parata Max is the only solution that caps to protect the integrity of completed scripts.

Parata Mini
Where do you keep your fastest-moving drugs today? Parata Mini clears your counter and your mind. It automates counting for your top 49 drugs, up to 30 percent of total prescription volume, eliminates cell exchanges and scales to Parata Max as you grow.

SERVE

Set your pharmacy apart with Parata APM®: convenient, secure 24-hour self-service pickup of finished prescriptions, even when the pharmacy is closed.

ADHERE

Parata onePAC® packaging is unit- and multi-dose packaging prepared using Parata PACMED®. Each dose is custom-printed with details that help patients take the right dose of the right medications at the right times, every time.

onePAC packaging improves safety and adherence in long-term care settings and for the more than half of Americans who take medication daily.

Pearson Medical Technologies provides safe and efficient bar coded unit dose packaging equipment and bar code labeling software to hospitals and long term care pharmacies for packaging and labeling of tablets, capsules, oral solids, liquids, ampoules, vials, and syringes. Pearson Medical's mission is to enhance patient safety and increase pharmacy productivity by providing innovative, efficient, and affordable medication delivery systems. Pearson Medical's vision is to help hospital, long-term care and retail pharmacies improve patient safety by providing cost-effective bar coded unit dose and labeling solutions that will help institutions become 100% barcode compliant.

Adding any one or a combination of Pearson products to your existing or new unit dose packaging and labeling operations will allow you to achieve a higher level of safety standards for your patients and increase your efficiency by reducing labeling or packaging errors.

Our core product, m:Print® Bar Code Labeling Software, should be an essential piece to any pharmacy packaging program because of its versatility and universal compatibility with any unit dose packaging system you may already use.

m:Print® Bar Code Label Printing Software

m:Print is stand alone software, that allows users to begin the labeling process within minutes of receiving m:Print.

m:Print allows every pharmacy to increase efficiency and accuracy of its unit dose labeling. Because m:Print is a standalone software and because m:Print has the ability to label virtually everything in the pharmacy, any pharmacy can instantly become bar code compliant.

m:Print is available in three editions: Premium, Basic, and Academic. Please visit our website to determine which edition is right for your pharmacy.

m:Print Premium features include:

• Three databases from First DataBank, including:
  • NDDF database with over 134,000 records;
  • Drug Image database with over 34,000 records; and,
  • Tall Man lettering database for look-a-like/sound-a-like drugs.
• Pre-designed label templates or create your own templates to meet your pharmacy’s specific need.
• Print labels in color with any inkjet printer.
• Print drug images on label to reduce medication errors.
• Import your own drug images.
• On-screen Pharmacist Approval tracking of all labels.
• On-screen Reports which can be modified for you facility.
• Export Reports to Excel spreadsheet for analysis.
• Print on sheet labels or roll labels.
• Use with your existing manual packaging material.
• Quarterly updates to software and First Databank Databases.

IP128APS Automated Packaging System

¼ THE SIZE AND ½ THE PRICE!!!!

Pearson Medical Technologies introduces the latest addition to its line of bar coded unit dose and multi-dose solutions. The IP128APS is the most cost-effective fully automated high-speed unit dose and multi-dose packaging system available with the smallest footprint available. Increase patient safety by reducing medication administration errors, while improving pharmacy efficiency.

The IP128APS increases pharmacy productivity and efficiency by reducing staff requirements and optimizing workflow and inventory through unattended packaging operations.

The IP128APS is an automated canister system that creates packaging in single unit dose or multi-dose packages for patient specific and unit dose package runs. This automated system is ideal for long term care pharmacies for short cycle filling as well as hospital pharmacies for unit dose packaging. The IP128APS packaging unit is perfect for any pharmacy because of its compact size and its low price.

Some of the IP128APS features include:

• Footprint:  2' x 2'
• Fill multiple canisters with fast moving drugs.
• Multiple package sizes.
• Print Linear (1-D) bar codes and 2-D bar codes such as Aztec or Data Matrix.
• Up to 20 tablets or capsules per package.
• Refill Canisters while packaging is in progress.
• Manual Tray Unit for overflow drugs.
• On-board Dehumidifier keeps pills dry.
• m:Print® Bar Code Labeling Software for label design.
• Canister design prevents canisters from being loaded into wrong slot.
• Quick and Easy Print Ribbon Cassette Replacement
• Auxiliary label printer for use with clearTag® labels and other manual labels.

intelliPack®2 Automated  Unit Dose Packaging System

The intelliPack®2 is a semi-automated bagging system used to package oral solids and over wrap exception items. This bagging system allows pharmacies to:

• Package oral solid tablets, capsules, and fish oils with the automated intelliCount® Universal Feeder.
• Manual tray for exception items.
• Robot-Ready bags for filling robotic systems.
• Over wrap bags for larger items.
• Over Wrap only units available.
• Auxiliary label printer for use with clearTag® labels and other manual labels.
• m:Print® Bar Code Labeling Software for label design.

iPack® T60 Unit Dose Blister Packager

The iPack®T60 is the first tabletop thermoform machine built specifically for pharmacies. The iPack® T60 allows pharmacies to package oral solids or liquids with custom designed tooling for each pharmacy. This thermoform system allows pharmacies to:

• Package tablets and capsules in blister at 60 per minute.
• Package liquids in up to 25ml units.
• Auxiliary label printer for use with clearTag® labels and other manual labels.
• m:Print® Bar Code Labeling Software for label design.

clearTag® Bar Code Labels

clearTag® Labels were designed to allow pharmacies to put bar code labels on syringes, vials, ampoules, and other small surface items that are difficult to bar code. The clearTag® label design ensures:

• Complete access/readability of manufacturer's label, including dosage, instructions for administration, expiration date, and other warnings.
• Use with any thermal transfer printer.
• Clear stem ensures ability to affix label to any unique surface.
• Freezer grade labels will not degrade integrity of the label or the bar code when exposed to freezing temperatures or condensation.

safeSealRx® Blister Card Heat Sealer

The safeSeal Rx® is a unit dose heat press currently used for packaging 30, 60, and 90 day heat seal blister cards for the long term care market. The automatic release feature on this unit is unique and allows pharmacy technicians time to prepare for their next packaging run during the seal time. The auto release also prevents over heating/sealing which could damage medications. The features of the safeSealRx® include:

• Automatic release so pills will not get overheated
• Digital setting and display of seal time
• Digital setting and display of temperature.
• Improved heating elements to improve sealing process.
• Pressure adjustment to improve sealing process.
• Floating upper platen to improve heat seal.
• Lifetime warranty on certain parts.

Short Cycle Dispensing Solutions

ShortCycleRx - THE SHORT CYCLE DISPENSING SOLUTION THAT SAVES YOU MONEY

PACKAGING COMPONENTS

• AUTOMATIC TABLET PACK¬AGER AND AUTOMATIC SPOOLER
• NON-FORMULARY HANDLING WITH FULLY INTEGRATED “SMART TRAY” PRODUCT
• POUCH DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, FULL LINE OF SPOOLS AND STANDS
• BULLSEYE TABLET CUTTER

SIMPLE INTERFACING FEATURES

• Interface for auto-generation of short cycle batches
• Auto-replenish med cabinets and electronic E-Kits
• EMAR compatible

FLEXIBLE DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS

• SECURE, AUTOMATED MEDICATION CABINET
• PATIENT MEDICATION CART - HANDLES UNIT DOSE STRIPS, BOXES, AND MULTI DOSE STRIPS
• REMOTE TABLET PACKAGER TABLE TOP SPOOLER - CART FILLING AT EITHER THE PHARMACY OR AT THE FACILITY
• REMOTE TABLET PACKAGER

Workflow - Efficiency - Compliance

Our decades of experience, world class customer service, and world class automation products provide our customers a complete solution they can count on today, and for many years to come. We look forward to working with you to offer you and your customers the most reliable, accurate, cost effective, and depend¬able products on the market.

At TCGRx we provide industry leading technology solutions for:

• Pharmacy automation
• Automatic tablet packaging
• Pharmacy fixtures
• Pharmacy design
• Vial filling robotics
• Refrigeration

Short-Cycle Dispensing and Your Pharmacy.

As short-cycle dispensing poses additional demands on pharmacies, MTS Medication Technologies remains dedicated to bringing quality adherence packaging and automation to long-term care pharmacies. We would like to reassure you that your investment in MTS Medication Technologies products are safe, and with slight modifications MTS Medication Technologies equipment and packaging will continue to meet your needs in the short-cycle dispensing environment.

Currently, we are working alongside trade organizations to stay informed, and we are developing
products that will help your pharmacy adhere to the new dispensing legislation.

MTS Medication Technologies standard heat seal and cold seal cards can be reconfigured for a 14-day supply, as well as our reclaimable packaging, which also allows for the recovery of unused medications. 14-day packaging options will be compatible with existing MTS Medication Technologies equipment and automation. In addition, optimizing your current MTS Medication Technologies automation and adding additional automation will help to offset increased labor demands due to short-cycle dispensing.

We know that every pharmacy is different, so solutions for short-cycle dispensing should address
the needs of your pharmacy.

About MTS Medication Technologies:

MTS Medication Technologies is the leading provider of automation and compliance packaging and systems to institutional pharmacies that provide medications for long-term care, assisted living and correctional facilities. Our products are designed to improve medication dispensing and administration processes, promote quality and enhance patient adherence to medication regimens.

MTS Medication Technologies produces a wide range of high quality compliance packaging supplies to complement our pharmacy automation solutions. Compliance packaging systems represent a cost-effective, high quality method of delivering prescriptions to patients in a package that helps improve adherence to medication regimens.

Metro’s MedDispense Series

Metro's MedDispense Series provides decentralized automated medication dispensing systems for health care facilities nationwide. Our systems are known for their low cost and high-capacity yet compact design.

The dispensing automation that most facilities desire is simply out of their price range. The MedDispense Series delivers an affordable, robust system that even the smaller hospital can afford. Our systems use the latest interface technology, ensuring revenue capture as well as JCAHO compliance at a surprising low cost.

Compared to other vendors, our systems are undoubtedly the most affordable on the market today as well as the simplest to use.

• allow nursing access to medications with pharmacy control via centralized server
• reduce medication errors
• eliminate missing doses
• eliminate manual charge functions with interface functionality
• ensure accurate dispensing with profile interface
• enable freestanding functionality when network connectivity not feasible

Our software is the most intuitive dispensing system software available on the market today. Our systems were developed by healthcare professionals committed to keeping training simple while delivering extensive functionality. Nurses can typically be trained on our systems in less than 5 minutes.

Full interface functionality is also available through the HL7 standard, including ADT, billing, profile, inventory, and formulary.

Because implementation issues that are involved with HL7 interface projects usually require custom development and extensive site analysis, MedDispense employs a team of analysts to serve as HL7 interface implementation specialists. These specialists will work with the medical facility and third party vendor developers on HL7 interface projects from the initial design phase until the interface is installed and in production.

Medical Packaging Inc. (MPI) is one of the leading manufacturers of unit-dose packaging solutions with over 35+ years of experience in providing packaging solutions to acute care and long-term care pharmacies, repackaging and specialty markets. MPI continually stays abreast of the ever-changing packaging needs of the pharmacist and develops the solutions that provide the latest technology and compliance to drug packaging guidelines. Additionally, MPI’s unit-dose packaging solutions are uniquely positioned to assist the long-term care (LTC) and extended care (EC) pharmacy in transitioning to the shorter cycle dispensing model recently mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This mandate, which was announced on November 22, 2010, will require the dispensing of medication in cycles of seven (7) days or less instead of the thirty (30) day model traditionally used in these care settings and will support nation-wide efforts to reduce medication waste.

MPI’s suite of pharmacy packaging solutions include state-of-the-art, affordable packaging systems to meet the bar coding, unit dose, and packaging needs of every type of pharmacy. MPI offers packaging solutions for oral solids, liquids, overwrapping and labeling systems, which are available either on an individual basis, a multi-product basis, or as a total solution dependent on the specific packaging requirements of each pharmacy. Coupled with MPI’s exclusive Pak-EDGE™ UD Barcode Labeling Software with access to First DataBank™ drug image and database library, MPI’s pharmacy packaging solutions assist pharmacies with Bedside Point of Care (BPOC) and Bar Coded Medication Administration (BCMA) initiatives.

MPI offers three (3) types of packaging solutions for oral solids. The Auto-Print™ II, which packages sixty (60) packages per minute (ppm), and the Auto-Print™ Express 90, which packages ninety (90) packages per minute (ppm), can produce either a 2” standard or 1.5” custom unit dose package, and the Auto-Print™ Punch Cut Machine (PCM), which produces a 2.5” unit dose package, packages thirty (30) packages per minute (ppm) and features a punched hole in the upper half of the package for use in conjunction with centralized, robotic systems. MPI’s oral solid packaging systems can also be customized to accommodate canister technology available with fully automated packaging solutions utilizing canister technology.

MPI’s offers the Fluidose™ Series 5 packaging solution for oral liquids providing the capability to package bulk liquid medication to unit dose. This high quality, affordable bar coding packaging system for oral liquids allows a pharmacy to increase their packaging speed to up to fifteen (15) packages per minute (ppm) and is offered with two (2) filling options, either the Syringe Pump or optional Baxa® pump to provide a single, bar coded liquid unit dose package to the bedside. An automatic low fluid detection feature is built into the machine controls which pauses liquid packaging when fluid level reaches a level preset by the pharmacy technician. Built-in purge feature cancels the bar code label and automatically clears the system for the next packaging job.

For your ancillary packaging needs, MPI offers two (2) types of overwrapping systems, the Auto-Print™ Bagging System and the Auto-Print™ Max Bagger for Robot Ready packaging, and the Pharmacy Accessory Label Printer labeling system to provide any pharmacy with the appropriate packaging or labeling solution for their parenteral medications.

For more information about the products and services provided by Medical Packaging Inc., please visit the links provided below.

The DOSIS L60 Meets Your Short-Cycle Needs

Did you know that an L60 can produce 60 fully ready (filled, sealed, and patient labeled) seven-day/count cards at 45 cards per hour? Yes, the same machine for 30/31 Day single medication blister cards is your answer to Short-Cycle Filling Staying with the standard blister card that you are utilizing today, means you can meet your needs without turning everyone's world upside down. The blister cards that are produced by the L60 are ready for the traditional secondary check by a pharmacist in your pharmacy; no rubber banding or boxing and labeling again! The L60 is truly a method for extending your staff to reach your short-cycle demands.

DOSIS® L60 is a robotic solution for completely automating prescription filling, sealing, and patient labeling of 30 or 31-Day single medication blister cards (a.k.a. bingo-cards) in a physically compact enclosure. This solution offers unbounded value to pharmacies in need of higher prescription throughput without extra staffing. DOSIS is the most cost effective automated prescription packaging of blister cards in the market. Blister cards, which typically hold a single medication 30-day supply, are preferred for use in Long Term Care facilities due to their ease of handling, inspecting, and administering to patients. DOSIS has the capacity to run continuously for up to four hours unattended before restocking empty blisters.

Don't let the competition fool you.

Dispensing seven pills into a 30/31 day blister card is not wasteful. Maintaining the same format makes everyone's lives simpler. Blister card cost has proven over the last few decades to be the most cost effective solution to deliver medications in the LTC marketplace. After all, can you glance at a roll or a box of unit dose pouches and validate that the correct medication is in each pouch and the count is correct? The manufacturers of the blister cards have optimized their business to be the most cost effective on the 30/31 day blister card production. Even going to a seven or a 14 day card will not reduce the cost of the 30/31 day blister card cost by half! So the best thing to do is to continue utilizing your existing material and just increasing your volumes for purchasing additional 30/31 day blister card materials.