As part of providing family planning services, local health community health centers dispense medications to patients. However, this comes with added responsibility to track the pharmaceuticals. For example, in the case of a recall: one needs to be able to track a dispensed medication through specific lot numbers, to a patient. Similarly, clinics need to be able to track and reconcile inventory.

For local health departments, medications are dispensed under standing orders from a medical doctor and a part time pharmacist is responsible to ensure compliance. Having an in-house pharmacy is an added benefit for the patients they serve.

Hoke County Health Department (HCHD) looked at purchasing a pharmacy software to automate dispensing and tracking. Instead of purchasing and managing a separate pharmacy software, HCHD decided to use Patagonia Health’s integrated Pharmacy App. “Ultimately, we chose Patagonia Health’s Pharmacy App because of the ease of documentation of dispensing pharmaceuticals from the pharmacy through the patient’s electronic health record” said Helene Edwards, Health Director, Hoke County Health Department.

High Level Functions

• Automate pharmacy workflow – medication dispensing, tracking, audit and inventory control
• Eliminate paper processes and tracking
• Print medication labels via EHR (eliminate manual typing)
• Ease of documentation of dispensed medications
• Electronic inventory tracking and alerts – built in audit trail
• Integrated Family Planning Annual Report (FPAR) reporting
• Integrated with the Electronic Health Record (EHR) patient record
• Integrated with EHR Billing sliding fee scale
• Easy to get comprehensive reports showing a complete view of the agency
• Improved access to prescriptions for patients through the electronic Prescriptions feature.

“I like how we are able to remotely access the system from another site since we are only physically in the pharmacy 4 to 5 hours each week” adds Kathryn Hostetter, RPh, Pharmacist/Manager, Hoke Pharmacy.

Read the full Hoke County Pharmacy App Case Study to learn more.