Chain Drug Review, June 4, 2018

Chain Drug Reviews Question and Answer Forum Mark Rinker is vice president of sales at Synergy Medical The company manufactures SynMed an automated system for preparing and dispensing solid oral medications in blister cards SynMed offers a complete range of functions that provide many competitive advantages Rinker is a 30 year veteran in the pharmacy industry and has central fill expertise in both the Canadian and U S markets He is a graduate of Western University Mark Rinker Vice President of Sales Synergy Medical Automated technologies speed up the process Q Tell us a little about your company A With over 10 years experience and 350 plus installations in North America Synergy Medical is the market leader in pharmacy automation for dispensing solid oral medication in blister packs The Synergy Medical team is focused on the design manufacturing service and support of the SynMed system Our engineers are continuously working to expand the versatility of the technology allowing SynMed to interface with virtually every software system and to interchangeably fill over 40 different types of single and multidose blister packs Q How are automation and robotics changing the landscape of pharmacy operations A There was a time pharmacies focused on dispensing prescriptions today we are witnessing a transformation to a pharmacy practice model focused on providing clinical services to patients Automation and centralized filling of prescriptions is freeing up time in pharmacies to enable this transformation With regard to blister pack fulfillment Canadian pharmacy chains are moving at light speed to remove labor associated with manual blister pack production from the store level and sending this to a central fill location The found hours at retail are now driving fee based revenue and expansion of the blister pack service In the background of this transformation is the SynMed technology SynMed is the backbone to virtually every single multidose blister card central fill operation in Canada and the U S Q Can you discuss any recent product introductions and the new options they provide A The central fill growth previously described has created the demand 2017 The ULTRA can package 700 prescriptions per hour in MD blister packs with unmatched accuracy and has satisfied central fill operators need for production density The ULTRA has been well received by the market and demand is robust Q What does the future hold for this product category A Regarding central fulfillment of MD blister packs we see growth ahead U S pharmacy chains are in varying stages of evaluating the introduction of blister packs as part of their prescription packaging offering Clearly the need for more patient adherence is driving this evaluation In Canada we see the continued rollout of centralized production with the chains and this is starting to create a feedback loop where independent pharmacies are looking at third party fulfillment centers to keep pace and stay competitive Q How are CMS Five Star ratings impacting your business A This is certainly having an impact and I think it will grow In my opinion proportion of days covered PDC is a loose definition of adherence Its like claiming your car is efficient because it has gas in the tank 90 day fulfillment in vials and med sync may enhance dispensing measures but it does not address the very real problem patients face at home to accurately selfadminister their meds In contrast MD blister packs are a low tech low cost way for the pharmacy to accurately dispense medication by day and time of administration The recently published Study to Measure the Impact of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Services STOMPP contrasted the two dispensing methods and reaffirmed that the highest adherence measures and improved patient outcomes were in the group of patients who received medication in blister packs and received medication therapy management services Concurrently it is interesting to note there is a health plan that now provides monthly compensation to pharmacies for blister pack and MTM services to patients that the plan has identified to be a nonadherence risk This plan has raised the patient adherence bar on their own and I think this is a trend that will grow A d v e r t i s e m e n t moddemand for a high speed blister pack robot and Synergy Medical has answered this need with the introduction of the SynMed ULTRA in