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Pharmacy First: How can service management be more cost-effective?
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Kevin Noble, Director of Professional Services, reflects on the significant impact Pharmacy First has had on community pharmacy and shares a simple way to make service management more cost-effective.
There’s been a lot in the press recently around the Pharmacy First scheme. As community pharmacy begins to play a more proactive and integral role in the delivery of patient care, we've seen a significant month-to-month increase in referrals from NHS 111, emergency departments and GPs into pharmacies. In the three months since the launch, we’ve already recorded over a million interventions in PharmOutcomes®.
The exciting part is that if the current level of activity remains the same (and we’re currently seeing an upward trend), this could mean an additional £60m in professional service fees being paid to community pharmacies by the end of the first year, which is fantastic news in the current climate.
Supporting a streamlined referral process
As part of the Pharmacy First initiative, EMIS technology has been supporting referrals from GPs to community pharmacy via our Local Services and PharmRefer solutions. To date, more than 350,000 patients have been referred to pharmacies by GP practices, in addition to referrals for other clinical services such as Hypertension Case Finding and Contraception. All referrals use the same EMIS solutions, which is a great example of how system integration and interoperability can improve access to services for patients.
Our multidisciplinary team of clinicians at EMIS understand service delivery and the pressures pharmacists face. We’re always looking for innovative ways to make patient engagement and service delivery more efficient and less time-consuming for pharmacy teams.
How EMIS can help
Contractors can reduce their service management fees and make service delivery more cost-effective by joining one of EMIS’ affinity groups.
Since our service management fees are based on activity, with lower charges applied to higher transaction numbers, joining an affinity group ensures you pay a much lower transaction rate because your service charges are based on the recorded activity of the entire group, not just your own. This means you will almost certainly pay the lowest transaction fee for your recorded interventions.
As pharmacies continue to grapple with rising operational costs, it’s imperative that contractors explore ways to reduce their service management fees. You can learn more about joining an affinity group and how it can help minimise your service costs here.