REVENUE LOSS IN A HOSPITAL PHARMACY AND HOW TO AVOID IT
Pharmacy forms a critical part of a hospital. Almost 30-40% of the cash flow happens through the pharmacy and it forms an integral part of the patient service delivery. But at the same time, pharmacy is also one of the most difficult areas to manage in a hospital because of the many moving parts from stocks to hundreds of invoices generated every single day.
In this blog, we will discuss some of how hospitals lose money while running a pharmacy which includes pilferages, internal theft, and improper stock management.
1. Expiry Drugs
While hospitals deal with large volumes of drug purchases and sales, some purchases are made without a proper understanding of the drug movement. This is primarily because of the lack of product sales data and understanding of the demand. Both these could result in wastage in the form of expired drugs.
Mostly, hospitals tend to realize the wastage only when it has occurred. A systemized audit of the drug movement can solve this issue. Hospitals can do so by having the right tools that can help them order efficiently. By dispensing drugs based on the first in first out principle and with the information of upcoming product expiry dates and timelines.
2. Theft of medicines
It is estimated that theft forms almost 2% – 5% of the total sales in retail outlets of pharmacies. This number could be even higher if the pharmacy is not managed right. There are multiple ways the theft could happen in pharmacy to list a few it could be from :
- Tampering of invoices to make extra bucks from each bill.
- Theft of sample drugs provided by the manufacturer to the doctor.
These types of thefts could be avoided if there are proper access controls and regular audits. Also, not to forget, making data accessible anytime, anywhere for administrators is the strongest weapon against internal theft as it makes it difficult for pilferage.
3. GST Billing
Theft and pilferages also result in additional losses due to taxation. When there are high pilferages and a lack of transparency, it becomes difficult to keep track of the goods. This in turn also affects the GST reports of the medical center.
4. Poor Patient Experience
Many times, the pharmacist might provide medicine from a different brand than what the doctors have prescribed citing the lack of stocks. This could result in loss of patient trust and poor experience. This could be avoided if the prescribing doctors have visibility into the stocks of the pharmacy.
Without any doubt, pharmacy is one of the most difficult entities to manage in a hospital but with the right set of tools, you could manage the pharmacy better. If you are looking for a system that can help you avoid pilferages and revenue leakage in your pharmacy, get in touch with us today at support@bewelldigital.com to request a free trial of our pharmacy software.
Read about how you can use ABC Analysis to reduce losses in the pharmacy.
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About Author
Alagiri Senthilkumar is the CEO & CoFounder of BeWell Digital. Alagiri is passionate about digitising patient information as he strongly believes that this could remarkably change the way healthcare is approached. Prior to BeWell Digital, Alagiri was part of a product manager at a rocket ship startup and has also consulted Fortune 500 companies on Data, Analytics, and AI.
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