ADVANCED CLINICAL OVERSIGHT FOR COMPLEX MEDICATION NEEDS
Based in New Jersey, ChorusRx is a startup long-term care pharmacy focused on supporting PACE — Program for the All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly — participants. PACE, a Medicare- and Medicaid- based program, helps seniors who may need assisted living-level care remain in their homes and communities for as long as possible.

“Participants get everything they need in one place from PACE,” explains Joseph Filippoli, chief operating officer for ChorusRx. “Instead of living in a facility, they are picked up from home each day and taken to their local PACE senior center, where they have access to all the activities and services you’d expect.” The key difference from a traditional senior center is that PACE also has primary and specialty care providers, social workers, home healthcare specialists, mental health care, and more on-site.

“All a participant’s medications are administered through PACE, and that’s where ChorusRx comes in,” says Filippoli. “We partner with PACE to provide everything people would typically get from their local retail pharmacy.” That includes prescribed and over-the-counter medications, as well as urgent medication needs. However, he says what sets ChorusRx apart is its emphasis on clinical oversight grounded in science and technology.

The pharmacy’s Medication Use and Safety Interaction Compass (MUSIC) uses seven algorithms to evaluate multiple drug interactions simultaneously. This allows pharmacists to make recommendations to the prescribing doctor that take into account all the medications a participant might be taking. “This type of clinical oversight is critical for a patient population who may be taking anywhere from eight to 12 medications,” says Filippoli.

MOVING AWAY FROM AGING ADHERENCE PACKAGING TECHNOLOGY
As part of their mission to minimize drug interactions, ChorusRx also uses adherence packaging, which organizes each participant’s medications by date and time of each dose. This approach makes it clear which medications to take and when to take them — minimizing the risk of missing or doubling up on doses by accident. The combination of the pharmacy’s innovative medication analysis and adherence packaging helps reduce adverse drug events, leading to better patient outcomes and lower overall healthcare costs.

The challenge the co-founders faced when building out the technology behind ChorusRx was that they wanted to move away from previous adherence packaging systems. “We’ve set up pharmacies with a similar business model to ChorusRx before,” explains Filippoli. “Back then, we’d been early adopters of an automated adherence packaging system that worked well for us for many years.” Over time, however, the technology aged and service and support became an issue. “The systems and processes just became so riddled with problems that we knew it wouldn’t be sustainable for our new venture.”

AN INNOVATIVE EQUIPMENT ARCHITECTURE & SOFTWARE PLATFORM
In his previous roles, Filippoli served as chief information officer and chief technology officer and had a good idea of what ChorusRx needed. “I knew first and foremost, we had to have platforms in place that were flexible,” he says. That includes a pharmacy management system capable of supporting their very rigorous science and technology approach, tied together with a workflow system for the care center side of the business to reduce manual follow-up.

ChorusRx wanted more than a reliable packaging system — they needed software that would integrate easily with its other platforms. After weighing options, the pharmacy built its packaging operation on Noritsu’s NB200 blister card packager, along with the NX400 automated strip pouch packager and NV Pro medication verification system for strip pouch packaging, all running on the NexusRx platform.

“The machines we had experience with were based on pneumatic technology,” says Filippoli. “We liked that Noritsu’s approach was different.” Instead of using air to pick up pills and move them into wells, Noritsu’s blister card packager drops pills directly into a catcher that moves into the wells, then captures images of every pill in the package as it moves through the machine, alerting those overseeing the Pharmacist Verification 2 (PV2) process if there’s a problem. Noritsu applies the same verification approach to strip pouch packaging, imaging every pouch to catch issues before they reach a patient.

Noritsu’s NexusRx platform ties everything together — connecting pharmacy management, packaging, verification, and archiving into a single workflow. This helps pharmacies improve efficiency by reducing manual processes and improving accuracy.

“We liked Noritsu’s technology and thought it would integrate well with our systems,” says Filippoli. “But what really stood out to us was the feedback we received from every single one of their customers we visited. ‘It all just works.’”

SEAMLESS STEP-BY-STEP IMPLEMENTATION
Today, ChorusRx’s installation includes the NB200 blister card packager, along with Noritsu’s NX400 strip pouch solution and NV Pro medication verifier, all managed by the NexusRx platform. NexusRx keeps day-to-day operations simple, streamlines workflow across both packaging lines, and gives ChorusRx the flexibility to keep growing. “Overall, I would give Noritsu a 10 out of 10 for how they came through with their implementation,” says Filippoli. “We launched our first PACE program in June 2026, and they were right next to us the whole way.”

The implementation process took place in three waves, he says. First, an engineer set up the servers that power the technology behind the machines. A few days later, a technician came to assemble and configure the three NX400s. The final wave was software training. “We had the machines on site for a while, but once we were ready to implement them — I’d say the process took three to four weeks, no longer,” says Filippoli. When they were ready to go live, the trainer came back and sat with them for that first week in case they had any issues. “In the end, we really didn’t need to call on him for anything — but it was very helpful knowing he was there.”

ACCURATE AND EFFICIENT PROCESSES
“As we’d heard from other users, once the machines were up and running and the software was set up, it all just worked. We haven’t even needed a service call since launching,” says Filippoli. “We’ve found that the NX400’s architecture is much more accurate than that of other machines we’ve worked with — and we love that.”

The verification process is also much easier for those doing PV2 because the Noritsu system flags anything that needs attention. This might include a cracked pill, a pill on its side that the system couldn’t identify, or even a missing pill. At their previous companies, Filippoli says PV2 pharmacists had to manually check every single pill in each well. “Noritsu’s visual verification system is just a massive time saver.”

NexusRx has also been incredibly helpful in streamlining processes, he adds. “The software does a very efficient job of understanding how each machine is configured and ensures that orders from the pharmacy management system are sent to the right machine with the correct cassettes and medications.” At the end of the process, NexusRx sends completion data back to the pharmacy management system, creating a bidirectional workflow that keeps information consistent across platforms. “We really don’t have to think about the software at all. Like the machines, it just works.” Filippoli estimates that ChorusRx needs about half the staff to package medications and get them ready for delivery, compared with his previous experiences. “That’s a cost savings for us, of course, but the accuracy is really the key.” He says that while some machines might be technically faster at filling, he believes the accuracy of the NexusRx and the NX400s with visual verification ultimately saves more time by making the whole process much less labor-intensive.

LOOKING AHEAD
Beyond their current install, ChorusRx is already planning for what’s next. “We’re planning to build out additional pharmacy locations to keep pace with the growth we are anticipating,” Filippoli says. As ChorusRx adds new PACE facilities in the months ahead, Noritsu’s blister card and strip pouch packaging equipment — backed by the NexusRx platform — will remain central to how they scale. “We certainly appreciate that Noritsu’s software and adherence packaging help us deliver on our unique clinical approach,” says Filippoli. Aside from that, he says one of the most impressive things about the company is its commitment to helping ChorusRx succeed. “I feel like the Noritsu team is really interested in our story, and that doesn’t happen often. The partnership so far has been great, and we’re happy to keep them by our side as we continue to grow.”