Secure data communication in healthcare: how EDI helps pharmacists to innovate

Secure data communication in healthcare: how EDI helps pharmacists to innovate

The pharmacy world has always been at the forefront of automation. The computer was already introduced in the 1970s for things such as medicine monitoring (can this patient take this drug safely?) And the registration of patient data. In this day and age, when pharmacies are faced with scaling up and minimal margins, digitization is more important than ever. For example, to meet the expectations of patients and suppliers, who rely on them to handle orders and payments electronically. In this blog you can read more about how electronic document exchange helps improve services.

Pharmacies supply medicines and provide guidance and advice to patients, for example on medication safety and prevention. The prices of medicines have been under pressure in recent years. This makes it difficult for pharmacists, even though the demand for medication is growing due to the aging population and the increase in chronic diseases. The number of pharmacies is declining and the branches that remain serve more and more people.

Innovation is a way to perform better. The pharmaceutical world is introducing e-health applications, for example, to provide patients with digital insight into their medication history. Services are also being introduced that make life easier for the patient, such as web shops and 24-hour medicine vending machines.

Inadequate integration stumbling block for efficient data exchange

Despite all the digitization, it is still difficult for many pharmacists to efficiently exchange electronic data with colleagues, general practitioners, hospitals and suppliers. This is because systems are limited or not linked at all. As a result, pharmacists are dependent on the use of fax or e-mail and a lot of data is transferred manually from one system to another. This is not only time-consuming but also prone to error.

The solution to this is electronic document exchange (EDI). This makes it possible to have systems work as a whole, which makes sending and receiving messages easy. Think of prescriptions from the doctor, letters from specialists or laboratory results. And distributors of packaged medicines deliver 24/7, but do require orders to be placed through the online ordering system.

Say goodbye to error-prone world with X4Connect

ECS International is a partner that offers EDI as a service. This means that all concerns about the electronic exchange of data are taken off your hands. The managed service that ECS uses for this is X4Connect. A cloud-based integration platform that converts data to any desired format. Systems that all know different file formats will therefore speak each other's language. It requires a one-off setup on both sides (for example at the pharmacy and medicine supplier), but after that you can say goodbye to faxing and printing within two hours.

Streamlined communication saves a lot of time and costs and offers all kinds of new possibilities. For example, by connecting the cash register to the ordering system, it becomes possible to automatically place a new order as soon as a product threatens to sell out.

Because the supplier can read the order directly into his systems, he can more quickly initiate processes that are necessary for on-time delivery. This also offers opportunities for optimization of stock management.

Furthermore, processing of processes surrounding an order can be automated with the solutions of ECS. Think of shipping confirmation, administration, invoicing and payment. Partly because of its scalable nature, X4Connect is a future-proof solution. ECS has experienced experts who can help with advice, implementation, management and maintenance. In this way, they help you to make an efficiency improvement that leads to more customer satisfaction.

Would you like to know more about the possibilities of X4Connect? Then view our X4Connect page or contact us.