For those of you that provide ambulatory prescription services, CMS is testing its eligibility and verification system in the month of December. Check the CMS website for more info. I attend an online seminar today, and was intrigued to discover that the pharmacy has to pay $0.015 per eligibility request. Also, if the patient says they are enrolled, you submit the claim and get reimbursed; you could end up having to recover lost funds if the person turns out not to be eligible.

There are a number of technologies for the Ambulatory Pharmacist. These include automation and robotics, information systems, software, and hardware technologies. The objective of this book is to provide the reader with some general insight into various technologies.

Pre-filling Medications

This kind of operation always leaves me with questions. I am curious to know how many return to stocks the pharmacy ends up doing with this type of process. Some patients do not pick their meds up even when they call it in themselves. I am not sure a reminder will help.
I would like to see a simple time study analysis that takes into consideration the time it takes to fill and return those prescriptions to stock the patient forgets to pick up. Of course, we would compare this to the current baseline and add in any gain in business for consumer convenience.