Telepharmacy
Telepharmacy services can be delivered at retail pharmacy sites or through hospitals, nursing homes, or other medical care facilities.
The potential costs of telepharmacy are broadly the same as those associated with all forms of telemedicine: potentially decreased human interaction between medical professionals and patients, an increased risk of error when medical services are delivered in the absence of a registered professional,[3] and an increased risk that protected health information may be compromised through electronic information storage and transmission.
[7] Another application of telepharmacy in Queensland has been the provision of pharmaceutical reviews in rural hospitals that lack on-staff pharmacists.
A combination of factors, including changes in Medicare reimbursement for medications[10] and the recession of 2007–8, led to a decline in the number of independent pharmacies in rural areas.
In 2001, North Dakota became the first U.S. state to pass regulations allowing retail pharmacies to operate without requiring a pharmacist to be physically present.
A 2004 study of the program found that telepharmacy delivered the same quality of pharmacy services as traditional facilities,[13] and a study of the operation of one North Dakota telepharmacy business from 2002 through 2004 found that, while medication inventory turnover was lower than the industry average, the remote sites were able to be operated profitably.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists gave the program its 2006 Award for Excellence in Medication-Use Safety, concluding that the use of telepharmacy had improved access to pharmaceutical care and enabled pharmacists to monitor medication safety and encourage medication adherence, as well as making pharmacy care more cost-effective.
[21] Adoption and implementation of telepharmacy methods has been slow compared to the spread of the basic technologies involved (internet access, audio/video compression algorithms, microphones and video cameras), despite periodic predictions of a forthcoming boom in the industry.
[21][23] For some pharmacy facilities that might otherwise consider telepharmacy, the cost and complexity of the infrastructure needed to manage patient data across multiple sites can be prohibitive.
Thus telepharmacy support allows the on-site pharmacist to focus on the more sensitive and nuanced tasks for which physical presence is most helpful.
[27] After their success in Canada, remote medication dispensing machines were scheduled to be tested at several hospital locations in the United Kingdom beginning in 2010.
[26] In 2013, Maxor National Pharmacy Services, a U.S. company, reported that its remote dispensing machines for medication were being used in Bahrain, Belgium, Cuba, England, Germany, Guam, Italy, Japan, Spain and Venezuela.
[29] In Malaysia, a health startup called Esyms provides a telepharmacy service that has a live chat and video feature which allows you to speak to a licensed pharmacist.
