QS/1 Partners with TeleVox to Provide New Telephone Refill Reminder Service
Mobile, Ala. – October 10, 2005 – QS/1 has partnered with TeleVox to provide a new Telephone Refill Reminder Service to help pharmacists remind patients about maintenance medications. Studies show that medication non-compliance causes 125,000 deaths annually and up to 25 percent of hospital and nursing home admissions.
QS/1’s Telephone Refill Reminder Service will help patients reduce the health risks and potential costs associated with not taking prescribed medications. Powered by TeleVox’s automated messaging technology, the service will deliver an automated personalized call to those who have not refilled a prescription according to their medication schedule. If a patient does not answer the phone, the system will recognize an answering machine and leave a HIPAA-secure message to remind them about the refill.
Failure to refill prescriptions has become increasingly widespread. According to the NCPA nearly 50 percent of all prescriptions are for refills, and the Consumer Health Information Corporation states “nearly 30 percent of all refillable prescriptions are never filled.” Preliminary research has proven the Telephone Refill Reminder Service to be an effective tool in reversing this trend.
In a test of this service on 1,000 patients who were late in refilling their prescription, a telephone refill reminder call increased prescription refills by 12 percent. Assuming the average pharmacy refills 95 prescriptions per day, this would result in an additional 3,400 refills per year. With the average price of a prescription at $63.59 (NACDS 2004), this service could potentially generate an additional $200,000 or more annually.
QS/1 recognizes the importance of medication compliance and is offering this new service to complement its Email Refill Reminder program, which is provided free-of- charge to CornerDrugstore customers. Pharmacies with a CornerDrugstore website can automatically send registered patients an email reminder a few days before their prescription runs out. Taking advantage of both email and telephone refill reminder services from QS/1 will result in even more patients refilling their prescriptions in a timely manner.
Pharmacists have complained that previous medication compliance programs only sent messages to patients who were using drugs from certain manufacturers. Thus it appeared that the pharmacy was more concerned with the profitability of the drug manufacturer than with the patient’s health.
About QS/1
QS/1, a complete pharmacy automation solution provider, serves independent pharmacies, chain pharmacies, institutional pharmacies and pharmacies with HME and nursing home departments. QS/1 is a division of the J M Smith Corporation; the third largest privately held company in South Carolina. For additional information, visit the QS/1 web site at www.qs1.com, or call 1-800-231-7776.
About TeleVox
TeleVox is a leading provider of patient communication and messaging software applications. Headquartered in Mobile, AL, TeleVox designs software applications for healthcare practices, clinics and hospitals that want to improve patient communication and relationships while increasing profitability. TeleVox offers a full suite of high-quality, accurate patient-communication products, including outbound message delivery, inbound inquiry, Web design, Web hosting, and on-hold messaging products. Through extensive partnerships with practice-management companies in every medical sector, only TeleVox can provide a seamless interface with more than 1,000 different practice management systems. TeleVox provides unparalleled customer support in every area critical to the success of the system, beginning with the system installation and implementation, all the way through technical support and system upgrades.