Every business needs to operate effectively and efficiently in today’s fast paced business world. However, most businesses including pharmacies don’t put enough value in their technology maintenance and operation.Every day pharmacies rely more and more on technology. Ensuring that critical IT services and hardware are working as intended is key to a successful pharmacy workflow. Often an IT issue will arise that brings the pharmacy to a standstill, creating angry patients.
Most pharmacies can’t afford to hire a full time IT person to manage their critical IT resources. A full time IT employee can cost the pharmacy $40,000 – $65,000 a year. So pharmacy owners look for a managed IT services company.
What is Managed IT Services for Pharmacies?
Not to be confused with managed pharmacy services. Managed IT services is a proactive way of monitoring your pharmacy technology for the following reasons:
- Catching an IT issue before it happens usually through warning signs gathered through IT monitoring
- Ensure your technology pieces are performing at peak levels
- Preventing pharmacy downtime
- HIPAA and PCI compliance
- Software patches/updates
Essentially pharmacy managed IT services is delegating your IT to a third party provider who can monitor your technology. Ensuring your pharmacy stays working at peak efficiency on the technology side.
What pharmacy technology devices are usually covered in managed IT services?
Almost all devices are managed in the pharmacy and monitored. Especially key pieces of hardware like your pharmacy network, workstations, printers and servers. Let’s go over some of the pieces and understand how each piece of equipment plays a vital role in a pharmacy.
Workstations/computers – These devices are used more than any other IT hardware in the pharmacy. I don’t need to explain what happens if one of the main workstations has an IT issue on a Monday. Keeping your pharmacy computers updated and efficient is key to a successful pharmacy day.
Managed IT Service role: Monitor, protect (anti-virus), patch, repair and ensure the workstations are running at a level of performance sufficient to the needs of the pharmacy staff.
Printers – Everyone’s favorite piece of technology in the pharmacy (that’s a joke!) Printers print vial labels, monographs, RX images and more. They always have been important devices in the pharmacy. However, as we all know they can easily have issues. And if the printer isn’t working often the pharmacy is in trouble until it’s fixed.
Managed IT Service role: A printer can be monitored to catch issues before they happen. For example: after a certain amount of pages printed the printer will need a new imaging kit or maintenance kit. The pharmacy is then notified to purchase the item needed.
Essential devices
Pharmacy network – Often overlooked in the pharmacy is the network. This is a critical component connecting the devices of the pharmacy including: computers, printers, servers, phones, WIFI, tablets, ISP modems and more. Oftentimes slowness in the pharmacy system can be caused by faulty, outdated or bad networks.
Managed IT Service role: Monitoring your network for errors or dropped packets can often lead to a more efficient workflow. Having a fast network connection to your devices and servers often speeds up workflow in the pharmacy.
Servers – Probably the most important piece of technology in the pharmacy. This is where all your pharmacy data is. Ensuring this device is online and functioning properly is very important. Servers must have availability and security built in.
Managed IT Service role: Monitoring servers and services on the server, backup of data on the server and patching the operating system and pharmacy system.
A new way to deal with technology
Before managed service companies were a thing, pharmacies would use a break/fix model. That means once something breaks you call an “expert” and hope for the best. Those days are no more with new developments in technology and remote monitoring.
Now more than ever pharmacies need to be avoiding downtime due to technology issues. The need for adequate IT support and prevention of downtime is critical. Managed IT Services are the perfect fit for any business including pharmacies.
Managed IT Services and Pharmacy systems
At ConfigRX we have been working in the pharmacy IT world for 10 years now. We have worked with most of the pharmacy systems available including: McKesson Enterprise RX, Pharmaserv, QS1, PioneerRX, ComputerRX, RX30 and more.
Let our pharmacy experts help you use your pharmacy software the right way. We understand how technology interacts with each pharmacy system. It is our job to ensure our clients are using the right technology based on their pharmacy system.
The cost of a managed IT service company
There are a few pricing models for managed IT services. The model we use at ConfigRX is based on the number of devices supported. For example: if you have a small pharmacy with 1-3 workstations we place you in our small pharmacy tier. 4-7 workstations are in our medium tier and 8+ in the larger tier.
Managed service companies usually try to lock you in a contract for a few years. We do not do this, we use a month to month service plan. All of our packages include monitoring, repair, anti-virus, network administration & security, data backup and more. Our lowest tier packages start at $349/mo with no contracts.
Let the pharmacy IT experts handle your technology to bring you peace of mind
Enjoy not having to worry about your pharmacy IT and focus on running a successful pharmacy. With ConfigRX your pharmacy will run effectively, efficiently and compliantly. Our staff is here to provide high level guidance and support for your pharmacy. No longer do you need to rely on a full or part time IT employee. ConfigRX has developed our pricing model to a fraction of what an IT person on staff would be.
Who is ConfigRX? We are a team of technology experts with a focus on the pharmacy industry. We actually own and operate our own independent pharmacies in the midwest including: retail, compounding, long term care and specialty pharmacy. In addition help owners who are looking to start or buy pharmacies on the IT side.
Interested in our managed services? See our pharmacy managed services page here.
Resources:
https://www.comptia.org/content/guides/comptia-buying-guide-for-managed-service
