A pharmacy information system or a pharmacy management system is used in pharmacies. This system provides basic to advanced pharmacy functionality. After verification, the system can store data and have features that support safe medication delivery.
Pharmacies can use this technology independently or as a larger hospital administration system module. Pharmacy management software can have a user interface, automated data entry, data retention, strong encryption for data privacy.

Pharmacy management software can either be commercial off-the-shelf software or customized. Most pharmacies are turning to customized software to build custom pharmacy software system. This is because it enables pharmacies to prevent functional wastage. Pharmacies are also using cloud apps more because of their flexibility and scalability.

What are some of the features of a pharmacy management system?
Listed below are four significant features of the pharmacy management system.

Managing prescriptions
Prescriptions are sometimes misinterpreted and can even lead to pharmacy billing errors. They are difficult to read for patients, and it can create confusion, especially during teleconsultations, when patients read out their prescriptions. Instead of paper-based prescriptions, digital prescriptions are a better option. A pharmacy can generate digital prescriptions and upload them to a central repository, such as a cloud storage system. The prescription list is available for all systems, including eHealth, mHealth, and telehealth systems to use.

Alerts, reminders, and SMS
Patients might need to replenish their stock of medicines on time, and any lack in administering medicines could cause a delay or slowdown in the progress of a treatment plan. A pharmacy management system can be configured to send alerts and reminders to patients regarding this. The notifications can also be sent whenever a medicine is nearing its expiration. This is beneficial with medicines that could have short shelf lives.

Reporting
A pharmacy management system’s reporting module assesses the supplied, requested, and unavailable medicine stocks. It helps to estimate the inventory and forecast supplies. Such a feature assists pharmacies, especially those aligned with hospitals. Reporting also enables pharmacies to determine the medicines and other stock units that could be phased out or replaced with better alternatives.

Commission management
Doctors sometimes agree with pharmacies on commissions for every prescription fulfilled by the pharmacy. But in a high throughput environment, with thousands of patients visiting the doctor or hospital and purchasing medicines from a pharmacy, it is difficult to compute commissions manually. A pharmacy management system or an electronic pharmacy software with a bar code scanner, for example, can be pressed into activity for this. Presenting the bill’s barcode will identify the prescription and doctor and compute the commission every time.

What are some of the benefits of a pharmacy management system?
Some of the many benefits of a pharmacy management system are:
Automated medicine delivery
Prescription management system
Patient relationship management
Patient medical history management
Inventory management
Medicine expiry management
Categorization and classification of medicinal supplies
External vendor integration and supply chain management

Conclusion
A customized pharmacy system presents innumerable opportunities for efficient pharmacy operations, especially if the pharmacy is operating in a healthcare organization. Using the services of a custom healthcare software development and services vendor for building pharmacy management software systems will yield sustainable short and long-term benefits.