Pharmacy Improvement Services at Cvs
The Service Process at (CVS)
The process consisted of five basic steps (refer to Figure 1), the first being the drop off. A customer would drop off a script and write the requested pickup time on the script itself, then put it in a box that was divided into a number of slots. These slots were assigned to a specific time period and the tech would put the script into the slot corresponding to the hour before the desired pickup time. The busiest times at the drop- off were before work, lunchtime, and after work. Regardless of when they dropped them off, more customers wanted to pick up their filled prescriptions after work than at any other time.
The next step would be the data entry. Each hour, a tech would take the hour’s scripts from the box and entered all required data about them into the pharmacy information system, an application used by all locations and connected to CVS’s central databases of drug, prescription, customer, payment, and insurance information.
After which is the drug utilization review. As soon as data entry was complete, the system performed an automated “drug utilization review” (DUR). The DUR checked the scripts against all other prescriptions in the database for that patient to see if there existed any possibility for harmful drug-drug interactions. The DUR also checked to make sure that the drug was appropriate for the patient, given the patient’s age, gender, and other demographic data stored in the system. Should there be any potential problems. The systems would come to a “hard stop” and the DUR would require the need for review by a pharmacist. The DUR was considered an essential part of good pharmacy operations and customer service and that the automated review should be a very careful and conservative one.
Figure 1 – CVS Service Process
When the DUR was complete and any hard stops reviewed, the system would perform an insurance check. About 90% of CVS’s pharmacy customers had their prescriptions paid for by a third
The process consisted of five basic steps (refer to Figure 1), the first being the drop off. A customer would drop off a script and write the requested pickup time on the script itself, then put it in a box that was divided into a number of slots. These slots were assigned to a specific time period and the tech would put the script into the slot corresponding to the hour before the desired pickup time. The busiest times at the drop- off were before work, lunchtime, and after work. Regardless of when they dropped them off, more customers wanted to pick up their filled prescriptions after work than at any other time.
The next step would be the data entry. Each hour, a tech would take the hour’s scripts from the box and entered all required data about them into the pharmacy information system, an application used by all locations and connected to CVS’s central databases of drug, prescription, customer, payment, and insurance information.
After which is the drug utilization review. As soon as data entry was complete, the system performed an automated “drug utilization review” (DUR). The DUR checked the scripts against all other prescriptions in the database for that patient to see if there existed any possibility for harmful drug-drug interactions. The DUR also checked to make sure that the drug was appropriate for the patient, given the patient’s age, gender, and other demographic data stored in the system. Should there be any potential problems. The systems would come to a “hard stop” and the DUR would require the need for review by a pharmacist. The DUR was considered an essential part of good pharmacy operations and customer service and that the automated review should be a very careful and conservative one.
Figure 1 – CVS Service Process
When the DUR was complete and any hard stops reviewed, the system would perform an insurance check. About 90% of CVS’s pharmacy customers had their prescriptions paid for by a third