SPOTLIGHT
SCRIPT PICK-UP Remote delivery kiosks provide a cost-effective and profitable expansion for this pharmacy then the unit acts as an ATM for prescriptions,” Smiley said. Patients have a unique login, and they can choose which prescriptions they want to pick up that day. Patients can also get counseling from the pharmacist when they come to pick up their prescription. The kiosk is open the same hours as the main pharmacy location, which ensures that patients can reach the pharmacist if they have questions about their medications. Although Shawnee doesn’t utilize the service, Asteres offers an afterhours counseling option through a third party that allows clients to utilize the kiosks after the pharmacy has closed. GETTING STARTED Getting the ScriptCenter kiosk up and running was simple. “We were given specs so we would know what kind of utility connections and internet access we needed to have,” Smiley said. They had the location scouted to ensure everything was compatible, and then the Asteres
A
s a federally qualified health center serving patients from 10 clinics
team managed the delivery and installation process. Smiley estimates
over a 25-mile radius of southern Illinois, Shawnee Health Center
that the physical installation took about a day for each machine, but
Pharmacy needed a way to get prescriptions to patients near and far
the Asteres staff members spent additional time on-site training staff
while keeping costs low.
and even interacting with patients.
“In 2016, we were looking for a way to extend the pharmacy in a
The biggest challenge on the pharmacy end of implementation
cost-effective way,” said David Smiley, director of pharmacy services.
was finding a way to deal with the distance. “Our most remote kiosk
The first thought was to expand to a second location, but the price
is 25 miles away from our pharmacy, so we had to tailor our training
added up quickly. Mail order helped some patients with access
to the needs of employees at both ends of the operation,” Smiley
to medications, but with so many patients experiencing housing
said. While the workflow of filling prescriptions stayed the same,
insecurity, it was difficult to reach people with 90-day supplies.
pharmacy staff had to learn how to link ScriptCenter prescriptions
Then, Illinois revamped its telepharmacy laws, opening up
to the pharmacy management system, perform video consultations,
a whole new set of options to increase pharmacy accessibility.
and come up with a system for physically delivering medications to
“We started looking at some out-of-the-box, technology-based
the kiosks.
solutions, and we came across Asteres,” said Smiley. Asteres provides
A different set of training tasks had to occur on-location with
pharmacy kiosks and lockers called ScriptCenter that deliver patients
clinic staff. “That role is more patient-facing, and they would get lots
specific prescriptions.
of questions from patients in the waiting room, which is where the
Shawnee Health Center Pharmacy has two ScriptCenter kiosks
machine was located,” Smiley explained. “We spent a couple of hours
located inside clinics within their network. For Smiley’s team, the
doing hands-on training with our clinic staff to get them comfortable
kiosks were a great fit because they allowed them to fill prescriptions
with the machine.” ScriptCenter also provided training modules to
within their traditional workflow and then deliver them securely to
help employees get familiar with the technology.
patients. “Everything gets bottled just like if they were going to pick it up at our pharmacy. The difference comes in with the packaging,”
INCREASING ADHERENCE AND ACCESS
Smiley said. The prescriptions headed to ScriptCenter kiosks are
Having staff members on-site was also helpful when introducing
packaged with a bar-coded bag or clamshell container. When they are
the ScriptCenter kiosks to patients. Though Smiley said that the
placed inside the kiosk, it’s assigned a location within the machine.
ScriptCenter interface is relatively intuitive, some patients still need
“Once that’s done, everything is synced up with our records, and
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additional help getting started. “People who are less technical tend to
