For physicians & practices
Point-of-Care Dispensing: A New Way to Serve Your Patients
More practices are exploring in-office medication dispensing as a way to improve patient care and open a new revenue stream. Here’s what it is, and how to know if it fits your practice.
The basics
What Is Point-of-Care Dispensing?
Point-of-care dispensing lets a physician provide certain prescribed medications directly to a patient during the office visit, instead of sending that patient to an outside pharmacy to pick them up later.
In practice, it removes an extra trip and an extra wait. That matters most for elderly patients, patients dealing with acute symptoms, and patients with limited transportation — the people for whom “stop by the pharmacy on your way home” is the hardest part of the plan.
Why now
Why More Practices Are Looking Into This
Medication adherence is a persistent problem. A meaningful share of patients do not take their medications as prescribed, and a portion of prescriptions are never filled at all — both of which quietly contribute to avoidable complications and unnecessary cost further down the line.
In-office medication dispensing is one way practices are working to close that gap: fewer handoffs between the exam room and the pharmacy counter means fewer places for a treatment plan to fall apart.
For your patients
What This Means for Your Patients
Convenience
No extra pharmacy stop and no additional wait. Patients leave the visit with what they were prescribed.
Savings
Medications can often be priced at or below what patients already expect to pay at a retail counter.
Privacy
Care and medication happen in one visit, in one place patients already know and trust.
Adherence
Patients are more likely to start — and stick with — treatment when there is no extra step involved.
For your practice
What This Means for Your Practice
A complementary revenue stream
A new revenue stream for your practice that sits alongside the services you already provide.
Clearer follow-through
Better visibility into whether patients are actually following the treatment plan you set.
A fuller service offering
One more way to round out your services, much like practices that already offer lab work or imaging in-house.
For your staff
Less Back-and-Forth, More Time With Patients
Fewer phone calls chasing down pharmacies on a patient’s behalf, and a process that fits inside a normal patient visit without adding real time to your day. The work your team already does simply has fewer loose ends to follow up on.
Common questions
Common Questions
Next step
Is This Worth Exploring for Your Practice?
Every practice is different — size, specialty, and patient population all affect whether this makes sense. Tell us a bit about your practice and we’ll help you think through whether it’s worth a closer look.
Prefer to start with your coverage instead? Review your practice coverage.
Healthy Wealthy Solution is not affiliated with, and does not resell, any dispensing software or vendor. This page is informational only.