SaaS-Based Solution Helps Bring Telemedicine To Pharmacy
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
New Telepharmacy Information System Platform can help improve clinical workflow.
Pipeline RX has developed a new TPIS SaaS platform that can be used by hospitals to help improve clinical workflow in their pharmacies, according to a press release. The PipelineRX Telepharmacy Information System (TPIS) platform provides a remote platform to facilitate consolidation and offer cost reduction opportunities to hospitals and health systems while maintaining and supporting a higher quality standard of care.
According to the release, Pipeline RX’s capabilities “make it easier for hospital pharmacies to consolidate pharmacy operations by reducing complexity of interoperability, treatment variation, and formulary deviation within a health system, all while driving clinical priorities to ensure economic viability as the market moves from a ‘fee for service’ to a ‘fee for value’ based reimbursement system.”
Pipeline RX was started four years ago by CEO Brian Roberts, who told MedCity News the company has integrated telemedicine with a model from the staffing industry to make the drug delivery system in hospitals more efficient by filling labor shortages with remote pharmacists. According to Roberts, the concept was inspired by teleradiology, which electronically transmits medical images like CT scans to experts who can analyze and share ideas from thousands of miles away.
“We figured we could do the same with pharmacies because of the technology and create an environment and monitor prescriptions in the hospital and allocate it to home pharmacists,” he said, adding that it can both trim costs while ensuring adequate monitoring for patient safety.
Roberts told MedCity News there is vast potential with telepharmacy in areas such as post-discharge medication monitoring from skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, retail clinics, and other care centers – especially with growing pressure on hospitals to prevent readmission rates.
“Anywhere you need to have a prescription verification, that’s where this can be plugged into,” he said.
Pipeline RX has approximately 150 current employees, including 120 telepharmacists, and it operates in 27 states. More than 30 hospitals have adopted its SaaS approach, while more than 200 hospitals of various sizes have used the company’s pharmacists.