News

July 27, 2011

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The fully automated ATM-like machine at Iowa City Ambulatory Surgical Center dispenses prescription medications, without having to make a trip to a pharmacy.

The medical provider enters a prescription electronically and gives patients a voucher with a security code. Using the touch-screen of the InstyMeds dispenser, the patient enters the code and their date of birth. The patient can use an insurance or prescription card and swipes a debit or credit card to pay for the prescription or co-pay. After the machine performs a triple bar code safety check, the pre-packaged, labeled product is dispensed from the machine to the patient.

Learn more from KCRG-TV9.

July 27, 2011

Latest Comments

  • dispensing with no patient counseling

    What happened to the concept of "pharmaceutical care"? This is probably ok for a few basic short-term therapy meds like after surgery but not for other drugs that require MTM, instructions for use of an inhaler and verifying patients' understanding of how to use the medication. How is it to screen for drug interactions from a patient's chronic medication profile and make sure there are no further drug-induced disease? I think the formulary in the machine should be very limited for only post-op meds and not for chronic ones or complicated ones or regimens and keep pharmacists in the regular dispensing loop.

    Posted by Mark McClain August 04, 2011 09:41:47

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