The rapid change in online consumer trends and how this has impacted in most parts, the positive delivery of pharmacy professional services and products by methods of telehealth and remote care was the subject of my article in the February issue of Retail Pharmacy.
Telehealth is just one great example of a service facilitated outside the four walls of a pharmacy that requires multiple technology factors to deliver an efficient and streamlined service to maintain consumer connection with the pharmacy business. Aside from the interactive technology (e.g. video conferencing) there are many other digital components which supplement the delivery of remote care which have potential crossover with other services of the business. This includes, but is not limited to; integrations with the dispense practice management system, booking platforms and reminder services. As well as something that often gets overlooked – Payment methods.
Remote payment solutions are becoming an important factor of doing business for many community pharmacies in Australia with a huge uptake and effort being focussed on the use of delivery, third-party applications and contactless services.
Many in-market digital solutions now provide pharmacies with options for third-party payments such as PayPal, Stripe and even ‘buy-now, pay later’ services such as AfterPay or Zip. However reliability can be hit and miss for community pharmacy businesses where regulatory and compliance risks often prevent onboarding when used for prescription or regulated device sales.
Another huge burden is the handling of these sales via debtor accounts, bank files or non-integrated methods requiring hours of administrative time, money and effort. Incorrect reconciliation may then also require follow up via snail mail, phone calls or chasing of accounts where some pharmacy’s 90 day debt positions will often be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Therefore, whilst these solutions might make life easier for the consumer and resolve some workflow capabilities for pharmacies they can still be moderately time consuming and difficult to manage when not directly integrated with existing point of sale systems.
This is why Scrypt is working with a number of leading dispense and point of sale vendors to pilot an integrated solution for pharmacies to send remote payment requests, directly from the point of sale. This means direct and automatic reconciliation of receipts without the need to create and manage debtor accounts or bank reconciliation.
A stepping stone to future capability will also assist with automated monthly account payments, including alternatives to direct debit. Making the management of debtor accounts an almost autonomous process and much less risk especially for nursing-home and large dose administration aid (DAA) businesses.
With consumer demand for e-commerce, paperless prescription and online services growing in Australia, it is anticipated that up to 64% of pharmacies will use some form of mobile app ordering by the end of 2023. When a high percentage of these sales are either click & collect or facilitated by delivery, pharmacies should ensure their solutions support not just accurate remote payments options but the ability for that to link with their existing infrastructure and point of sale systems.
Australia for a while now has been at the forefront of innovative payment methods, both domestically and internationally due to a number of government initiatives, wide adoption of digital and fintech offerings. As we move toward a more cashless society it is important for community pharmacy to stay ahead of the curve of disruption and continue to innovate in this space.
(2023, March). Making It Pay with Digital Payments. Retail Pharmacy – Page 28.