Brisson Drugs is an independent pharmacy located in St. Pauls, North Carolina.
Since its establishment 90 years ago, Brisson Drugs has evolved to meet the changing needs of patients and customers. Originally known as Grantham Drug Company, the independent pharmacy became Brisson Drugs in 1950. In 2015, Joe Williams acquired the pharmacy, transforming it into a leading healthcare resource for his community in St. Pauls, North Carolina.
As an independent pharmacy owner, Williams strives to make Brisson Drugs the leading pharmacy in his community. Williams is constantly searching for innovative solutions to improve the patient healthcare experience, including medication compliance.
I recommend the RapidPakRx to other pharmacy owners for a variety of reasons; improvements in efficiency, improvements in gross profit, better marketing tactics. It really helps bring our community into our stores so that we can better serve them.
Brisson Drugs was hindered by its inability to increase the number of patients on adherence packaging. Its previous packaging solution, blister cards, required a significant amount of technician labor, which limited the number of patients on the program.
“The biggest challenge we were facing was being able to scale the volume that we’d worked up to,” says Williams.“When you’re trying to manually check 300 patients in multi-dose blister packs, you really start looking for a better solution.”
Williams wanted to grow his adherence program, without increasing labor costs. “We were actually going to have to hire another pharmacist in order to be able to maintain the volume of patients that we had on blister cards,” says Williams.
Brisson Drugs also wanted an adherence automation solution that didn’t require canisters. “One of the things that mattered to us was the canisters that we were going to be using. With some machines, you have to use an NDC-specific canister that contains meds at all times, and that was going to be inventory tied up inside of that machine,” says Williams.
Williams identified the RapidPakRx™ as the adherence automation solution that would meet his requirements, due to non-NDC-specific cartridges, built-in cameras, and unmatched speed and accuracy. “The great thing about the RapidPakRx is you can go from one job to another, from the largest pill in your inventory to the smallest pill in your inventory, and the system can handle it,” says Williams.
The built-in inspection system quickly became a favorite feature at Brisson Drugs. Williams feels confident that every prescription is accurate because each pouch is screened as it passes through the built-in 3-step verification system.
Brisson Drugs also saw a change in its workflow. “By adding the RapidPakRx we were able to delay hiring another pharmacist, and we still have not grown to a point where we can’t handle the volume as part of our regular workflow,” says Williams.
“In the past, we were using multiple technicians, basically working wherever they could find a place to lay those blisters. Now in one small area, we can handle every one of our packaging patients right there,” says Williams.
Between the fact that it’s going to verify the med before it ever drops it, and then the wonderful verification screen at the end, I feel like it is so much more thorough than what we were doing before.
Speed & Accuracy. “Capacity is increased because you have a machine rolling out one adherence box every 10 minutes. You can take care of a lot more patients per day because the machine can handle a lot of volume.”
Adherence. “This service helps patients hold themselves accountable because they know exactly when they miss a dose.”
Patient Care. “Having a RapidPakRx in our pharmacy has been a game-changer. It’s helped us differentiate our pharmacy from the rest of the competition and improved compliance. Our patients are also happier because they love the packaging and feel it’s so easy for them and for their loved ones.”
Labor Savings. “As we’re increasing our volume, we haven’t had to add new staff. We can handle the increasing workload with the current staff. The efficiencies are there for us to ramp up faster with RapidPakRx.”
Differentiation. “We differentiate our pharmacy from our competitors by offering unique services such as compliance packaging and free delivery service. We’re seeing a lot of transfers from competitors like the chain pharmacies because patients are not getting the service that they need and deserve from them.”
Joe Williams, owner of Brisson Drugs in St. Pauls, North Carolina, is an experienced pharmacy leader. After acquiring Brisson Drugs in 2015, Williams became the owner of Clinic Pharmacy and Fairmont Drug Company as well.
Williams also serves as a consultant at Indy Rx Consulting, providing coaching services to other independent pharmacy owners who want to grow their business. Williams is dedicated to improving patient health care and bringing innovative services to his community.
