executive summary and background

Business Plan: RX Direct Pharmacy

Business Plan: RX Direct Pharmacy

Executive Summary

The healthcare sector's ever-changing dynamics call for constant improvement in the quality of care and treatment services. The current changes in care delivery, application of technology, and increased healthcare demands have resulted in the revolving and growing roles of professional nurses in administering medical care services(Anderson & Amar, 2017). Trends of that sort demand the implementation of effective strategies to address such changes. Healthcare providers are in direct contact with their patients, thus, play crucial roles in enhancing the attainment of improved patient and organizational outcomes(Anderson & Amar, 2017).

Rx Direct Pharmacy is the future of pharmacy care. An online pharmacy was created in 2021 by six eager and ambitious student pharmacists from Notre Dame of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Rx Direct Pharmacy is a healthcare company designed to provide all pharmacy needs directly to the patient in the comfort, convenience, and privacy of their own homes. We have a mission of providing affordable and accessible quality health care safely and directly to our patients whenever and wherever. More than ever, with the COVID-19 pandemic unwaning, there is an increased need for virtual health care services. Rx Direct Pharmacy aims to help minimize the unnecessary visits to the nearest local pharmacy for the average individual, lower transportation costs to pharmacies, and increase the ease with which prescription medications reach patients. Rapid technological advancement is presenting both challenges and opportunities in the administration of care and treatment services. The migration from the traditional manual system to electronic health record (EHRs) management systems has led to improved medical services administration(Jetley & Zhang, 2019). Strategies of that sort aresignificant in enhancing patients' experiences and satisfaction as far as the provision of care and treatment services are concerned (Jetley & Zhang, 2019). Various EHRs systems are now available, including the Kareo software application. As Jetley& Zhang (2019) stated, EHR is a digital version of the manual paper. The software is critical in managing the day-to-day aspects of patient care such as patient records, prescriptions, diagnosis, billing, treatment, etc.Besides, it offersvital portals for ensuring direct communications with the relevant stakeholders such as patients and professional healthcare workers. The patients may be interested in booking appointments, accessing the diagnostic outcomes, making payment, or even filling in some electronic forms. EHR systems tend to be broad-based and cover all aspects of administering patients' logistics within the pharmacy. At the moment, various software application platforms such as theKareo software system, which is widely used in nursing practice, especially in primary care settings, are existing.

In Rx Direct Pharmacy, the functional features of the Kareowill be vital in the administration of healthcare services. Loading the patients' data into the Kareo software will enable thehealthcare providers to track individual patients' health records, including the management of their bills (Jetley & Zhang, 2019). The administrator of Rx Direct Pharmacy will determine each patient's outstanding dues hence facilitating appropriate action. Other than tracking the patients' health records and data, the softwarewill be utilized in analyzing and reporting, a feature that enables the healthcare providers to generate different kinds of reports(Jetley & Zhang, 2019). It will also be utilized in sorting outpatients with payment dues to avoid running into a liquidity crisis.

Besides, multidisciplinary collaboration and teamwork are critical components of an effective healthcare delivery system. The Kareo has a built-in feature that will enablethe healthcare providers to communicate with each other in a timely fashion(Jetley & Zhang, 2019). The approach is critical in the improvement of medical services, thus, enhanced patient and organizational outcomes. Due to the ever-increasing cost of the medical services, the installation of Kareo software will allow the pharmacyto avoid non-payments arising from the health insurance companies' rejection (Jetley & Zhang, 2019). The software tool can enable the administrator to communicate with the health insurance companies to ascertain patients' eligibility for insurance cover before administering medical services(Jetley & Zhang, 2019). Performance is a vital indicator in assessing the quality of care and treatment services. Kareo has a customizable dashboard that aids the healthcare providers in displaying, tracking, and analyzing the patients' data. It also facilitates the creation of performance and productivity regulations within the primary care settings(Jetley & Zhang, 2019).

Background Information

Our virtual pharmacy's target population can be global potentially, but to start, we would like to focus on various parts of Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore city is one of the cities with a high population of underprivileged communities. Baltimore city is at position 87 out of the 100 major cities in terms of median household incomes. Approximately two out of every ten residents live below the poverty line. The low-income earners whose residence is in rural areas are factors associated with various adverse health outcomes. Finding time and means to focus on healthcare can be a luxury that some residents can not afford. For the elderly or impaired, traveling back and forth between healthcare facilities can be an overwhelming task. Rx Direct Pharmacy can make pharmacy services more accessible, which will positively affect the city's residents' overall health. Rx Direct Pharmacy will be providing services where vital will be performed, such as pulse, blood pressure, and blood glucose. Besides, we will provide vaccinations, education on medication usage, and medication adherence by providing pillboxes to patients in need.

We chose the Baltimore, Maryland area as our fulfillment center location because of Maryland's patient demographic. Maryland's population is predominantly adults ages 33-54, children ages 0-18, and elderly patients ages 65 and up. Since the population is very diverse, there will be a need for pharmacy services regularly. With the current healthcare issues Americans are facing; this population will benefit significantly from the pharmacy expertise that Rx Direct Pharmacy can provide. Rx Direct pharmacy will offer many unique services to its patients. For instance, it will provide a wide drug formulary with medications that cater to patients of all ages, especially the elderly patients with hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and other common chronic medical conditions in the population. Rx Direct Pharmacy will provide traditional prescription filling services. Our patients will have access to licensed pharmacists that will assist patients on how to best use their medications, provide counseling, perform medication reviews, give vaccinations and perform blood pressure checks. Rx Direct Pharmacy will also establish a working relationship with our patients, other healthcare providers and recommend any possible medication changes directly to the patient's primary provider. Rx Direct Pharmacy will offer a mobile app for patients to track their prescription information, prescription delivery updates, medical information. Also, they will be able to request virtual consultations other services that our on-call pharmacist can provide to the patient in the comfort of their home. The ever-increasing technological reality makes it possible for families to utilize the mobile app to request prescription refills or other pharmacy services for their not-so-tech-savvy elders, which will help minimize medication adherence issuesthat arise if this population were to use the local neighborhood pharmacy.

References

Anderson, C. M., & Amar, A. F. (2017). Overview of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program: A Commentary. Nursing outlook, 65(3), 265-266.

Jetley, G., & Zhang, H. (2019). Electronic health records in IS research: Quality issues, essential thresholds and remedial actions. Decision Support Systems, 126, 113137.