Not many pharmacists know that the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is growing to become more important over the past few years and has eventually become a needed service in pharmacies. Why? It has a lot of advantages knowing that the world is connected digitally in many means possible.

Unfortunately, a lot of pharmacies are still thinking backward by having the perception that IVR is just an automated attendant that can contact a pharmacy make requests, however, little do they know that ivr systems for pharmacy have a lot of benefits.

These benefits are 24/7 accessibility to pharmacies, it is also a good tool for marketing purposes by providing the pharmacy the ability to have contact from both inbound and outbound communications especially to their customers and patients. It can refill directly into the pharmacy’s system that can be both used in printer and faxes to contact suppliers and manufacturers of medicine and medical equipment. It also enables patients to view and hear real-time statuses of the prescriptions they are purchasing, it also cuts down the phone calls to the pharmacy’s staff in a clearer and quieter environment that results in an improved pharmacy workflow.

This also provides real-time notification to patients and customers if their prescription is already prepared either through email, text message or phone call. This also integrates the pharmacy’s website and the mobile application.

An IVR system helps a pharmacy, or your pharmacy in particular by providing more convenience to your customers and patients through a wider array of options through a caller menu where they are directed to different services. Also, it integrates the pharmacy system directly by pulling and inputting data into the pharmacy’s system in an automated way.

An IVR system for a pharmacy works in three different tiers; inbound communication, outbound communication, and cloud communication.

For inbound communication, it is the patient that contacted the pharmacy where the IVR will be picking up the call and provide the patient or customer with a wide array of options and service. The outbound communication, meanwhile, provides real-time notifications to the patients and customers either through text, phone call, or email that their prescriptions are already available.  Cloud communication, on the other hand, is the online services available for patients and customers like the mobile application that provides a more convenient service for the patients.

Your pharmacy should look into the possibilities of investing in an IVR system because it will surely streamline the services and operations that are geared towards better service for the patients, and an easier workflow for the entire pharmacy.