Kelly Durian is executive director of the Iowa City Ambulatory Surgery Center, managed by Surgical Management Professionals.
Q: How does the InstyMeds drug vending machine work?
Kelly Durian: It is about the size of a soda pop vending machine and operates a lot like the Pyxis dispenser that many healthcare professionals use for drugs. It is loaded with pre-packaged doses of medications, mainly antibiotics and pain medications. The patient can pay with a credit or debit card. When the credit card is swiped and a bar code from the prescription slip is read, the machine labels the pre-packaged doses with the patient's information and dispenses the medication.
Q: How can this machine help an ASC?
KD: Automatic dispensing is convenient for patients and therefore helps increase medication compliance. The whole process takes two minutes for one prescription and less than five minutes for several prescriptions. Compare that with having to drive to the pharmacy and wait for 20 minutes or so to get the prescription filled. According to InstyMeds, 20-30 percent of prescriptions that physicians write go unfilled, partly due to the inconvenience.
The machine is placed right off the post-op area in the ASC, so that patients can fill their prescriptions on the way out. If they have any questions, we have an RN nearby who can help them, or they can call InstyMed on a direct line at the machine. The machine uses a triple barcode check system to ensure accuracy.
Q: How many patients use the machine?
KD: We tell patients about the machine before surgery and ask them if they want to use it, and about three-quarters of them do so. The machine averages 300 prescriptions a month. However, it only processes the initial prescription and won't do refills. We are not in the business of being a retail pharmacy. We are simply interested in compliance.
Q: What is your relationship with InstyMeds?
KD: We lease the machine from the company and pay for the inventory upfront. Our RNs are involved in filling the machine, stocking it with generic drugs as much as we can, so that patients don't have to pay as much. The company collects the payments and forwards the money to us.
Learn more about Iowa City Ambulatory Surgery Center.
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