Technology Partnership Expands to 16 Companies

06/17/96

Lexington, Kentucky - The American Phamacy Alliance (APA), a joint venture formed in April, has expanded its membership to include 16 leading U.S. pharmacy software suppliers. The new company is a technology partnership that will help facilitate access to products and services that are beneficial for its independent and small chain pharmacy customers.

This will help community pharmacies significantly expand their value to patients and the health care delivery system, and at the same time allow other members of the industry to achieve their pharmaceutical care and business goals. Drug manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacy benefits managers, managed care organizations, and others will be able to recruit and service independent and small chain pharmacies with the same efficiencies and economies as large chain, mail order, and HMO pharmacies.

"Community pharmacists are uniquely positioned to combine the power of their pharmacy computer systems, the intelligence of their patient information databases, and their face-to-face access to patients, to deliver a quality and breadth of service unavailable anywhere else. The American Pharmacy Alliance will team with other industry suppliers to help design and implement programs that will allow community pharmacies to take better advantage of these strengths in the marketplace." says Karl Steele, CEO.

Because virtually every pharmacy in the U.S. is highly automated in its prescription filling process, new initiatives generally must be integrated with these computer systems in order to be effective. Since a pharmacy could be dealing with any one of several dozen software suppliers, achieving integration on an industry-wide basis requires a coordinated effort. The APA will minimize the difficulty of coordinating development efforts with numerous software developers.

Lack of patient compliance represents an enormous cost to our health care system, and a significant danger to patients. Nearly half of all refillable prescriptions are never refilled, and industry figures indicate that 10-15% of all hospital admissions are the result of improper use of medications. One of APA's initial projects establishes an automated refill reminder program to help patients stay compliant in taking their medication, thereby receiving the full benefit intended. In addition, it provides an efficient means of channeling educational materials to defined groups of patients.

The member companies in this joint venture provide software to over 11,000 of the 24,000 independent pharmacies in the United States, representing the largest single body of independent pharmacies in the industry. Steele points out, "APA's purpose is not to reinvent technology, but rather to coordinate and apply existing, proven technology. This will be done by working with expert industry suppliers on product integration, and providing the efficiency of a single business and communication point through which to reach a significant portion of the country's community pharmacies. In this way, pharmacies and patients benefit from the industry's broad expertise, with the advantage of rapid implementation."

Member companies include: BSI Business Systems, Compute-Rx, Condor, Cost Effective Computer Systems, Digital Simplistics, Etreby Computer Company, Health Business Systems, Interactive Systems & Management, MedE America Systems, North American PACS, OmniSYS, Opus-Core, PharmAssist, QS/1 Data Systems, Transaction Data Systems, and VIP Computer Systems.

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"The American Pharmacy Alliance" and "PromptRx" are servicemarks of The American Pharmacy Alliance.

Updated: January 2001