CASE STUDY
noritsu-rx.com
we won’t meet our commitments.” This often meant added stress for pharmacy techs and
extra overtime expenses to ensure medications are delivered on time.
Accessing dispensing data was also a challenge, says Medrano. “With our legacy
system, if I wanted a count of a particular medication across the four machines we were
running, I’d have to go to each machine and pull the data individually.” That’s because
each machine ran on its own server. The process of compiling data could take up to 30
minutes — or longer if a machine was in use and he had to return. After running reports,
he’d have to export them into Excel and manually reformat the data. “There was no way
for the system to put all that data in one place for us. Getting the information I needed
for inventory was just cumbersome.”
Aside from the four legacy systems, one of UnitedRx’s pharmacy locations was using a
Noritsu strip packager. “When we started exploring other options, it occurred to us that
the Noritsu machine rarely needed a service call,” Medrano says. Benain, familiar with
Noritsu from other companies, decided to learn more about their solutions. “I went to
St. Louis and visited a pharmacy that was running one of their machines, and they really
liked the product,” he says. “I also met with the engineers who designed the system, and
it was just a great experience, so I decided to try them out in one of our pharmacies.”
THE SOLUTION: A SYSTEM PURPOSE-BUILT FOR
PERFORMANCE AND INTELLIGENCE
UnitedRx implemented Noritsu’s NX4000 strip packaging system, the NexusRx
software, and the automated visual verification solution. “We noticed a difference
right away,” says Benain. “These machines are built like tanks. We weren’t having daily
breakdowns or any weekly problems.”
As a result of that initial experience, the company has since installed a total of six
NX4000 machines. “What we found from the outset is that Noritsu was very responsive
to our needs,” Medrano says. “I didn’t want to move too quickly. It was important that all
our employees felt comfortable with the new system before we moved facilities over.”
They began with weekly phone calls for about six months leading up to implementation
to go over each step and identify potential challenges. Then they transitioned one or two
facilities to the new machines.
“An implementation like this is a fine balance,” explains Benain. “You can’t just stop
everything and switch over to a new system. On the other hand, I was eager to get
producing because I knew what a difference it would make for us.” Medrano agrees,
saying that once they realized how much better the Noritsu system was, they ramped up
quickly. “I’d say we went from zero facilities onboarded to 100 in about a month.”
THE RESULT: OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, LOWER ERROR
RATES, AND EASIER ACCESS TO DATA
Medrano says the Noritsu system operates similarly to their previous technology, but its
speed and efficiency are unmatched.
“A large medication roll of 1,000 might have taken us a couple of hours to process before.
Now that same 1,000 takes less than 10 minutes.” He also notes that it’s easy to deploy a
facility onto the system when switching from bingo cards to strip
packaging. All they need to do is set the facility up in the system,
“
“
A large medication
roll of 1,000 might
have taken us a couple
of hours to process
before. Now that
same 1,000 takes less
than 10 minutes.”
If there’s a broken
tablet or if it’s not the
right shape or color
of the medication
that’s supposed to
be in the package —
the system tells us to
check the pouch.”
Jeffrey Medrano
Director of Operations
~ UnitedRx LLC
Chuck Benain, RPh
CEO
~ UnitedRx LLC
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