CASE STUDY
noritsu-rx.com
A MISSION ROOTED IN INNOVATION AND CUSTOMER CARE
Founded in 2008, UnitedRx LLC is a long-term care pharmacy serving nearly 30,000
patients across more than 300 skilled nursing facilities, primarily located throughout
the Midwest. Their mission from the start has been to provide state-of-the-art
pharmaceutical services combined with the personal touch of a local pharmacy.
According to Chuck Benain, RPh, UnitedRx’s CEO, the company has remained true to
that mission over the years. “We focus on putting our customers first — and everything
we do is with the intention of supporting them as best we can. That’s really how we’ve
built our business.”
That’s why UnitedRx has consistently invested in the latest technologies to add automation
and efficiency in its processes. “We were one of the first to put automated dispensing
cabinets in facilities so nurses had instant access to medications,” says Benain. They were
also an early adopter in offering unit-dose strip pouch packaging over punch cards in a
skilled setting.
“One of the challenges in skilled nursing facilities is that medications can change
frequently,” he explains. Strip packaging is ideal in this situation because it allows
pharmacies to run shorter cycles — bi-weekly or even weekly. Additionally, since
packages are unit dose, when there is a change, only one pouch needs to be swapped
out, not the entire strip. The result is less medication waste overall.
“When we began offering strip packaging, probably only about 10% of our skilled nursing
facilities were using the service,” says Benain. Today, Jeffrey Medrano, director of
operations for UnitedRx, says that number is closer to 60%.
THE CHALLENGE: AGING TECHNOLOGY AND LIMITED
ACCESS TO DISPENSING DATA
As their original strip packaging machines were nearing the end of life, Benain says they
began exploring alternatives. “Machines were breaking down all the time, and I was
constantly on the phone working on a resolution or waiting for someone to come onsite
to do repairs.” His pharmacy technicians were frustrated and many times brought to tears,
he says. “What we do every day is almost like an orchestra of how we get medications to
our customers. When a machine is down, there’s always a risk that
How UnitedRx Doubled
Packaging Efficiency
and Cut Downtime
Chuck Benain, RPh
CEO
~ UnitedRx LLC
Jeffrey Medrano
Director of Operations
~ UnitedRx LLC
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