New Affordable Technology Launched To Enable Smaller Pharmacies To Adopt Automation And Drive Patient Medication Adherance

As part of our press office programme of activity for Omnicell UK, a leading provider of medication management solutions and adherence tools for health systems and pharmacies, the agency supported the launch of the JVM 208 to specialist trade media.  This new medication dispensing and packaging automation solution is set to help address the need for monitored dosage systems (MDS) to encourage greater patient medication adherence. Medication non-adherence is a serious public health issue costing lives and money; in England alone, between a third and half of all medicines prescribed for long-term health conditions are not taken as recommended by patients.

The addition of the JVM 208 aims to build on Omnicell’s portfolio of solutions to provide pharmacy owners with a wider range of cost-effective and smaller options to help drive efficiencies and gain a competitive advantage via increased customer loyalty. Automation frees up pharmacy time to allow staff to spend more time with customers as well as exploring additional clinical services and revenue streams.

The accurate packing and filling of blister cards and pouches takes up considerable pharmacy time yet is essential to support patient medication adherence and ensure that the right medication, of the right dose, reaches the patient at the right time. The JVM 208 is the perfect starting point for MDS pack filling automation and comes at a lower price point than other MDS pack filling solutions on the market. It’s ultra-compact, at less than 1 meter wide, and available in two models (Blister or Pouch). The JVM 208 fills up to 10 cards unsupervised.

The JVM 208 works by automatically sorting, distributing and packing medications into monitored dosage system (MDS) blister cards or pouches based on customised specifications and removes the need for retail pharmacies to manually handle adherence packaging, enabling pharmacists to focus more on face-to-face patient care. The automatic filling of medication adherence packs creates a seamless workflow with zero errors, sorting medications. The JVM 208 has a throughput of up to 40 filled blister cards per hour, or 50 pouches filled per minute, which is scalable with multiple machines.

The easy to open MDS packs, available as blister cards or pouch formats, are safe and simple to use. Customised printing allows for the pharmacy logo, medication name, dose, barcode and date to be included on the pack. The cards also feature clearly marked days-of-the-week and printed dosage instructions, helping patients to feel informed about the medications that they are taking.

Kath Hughes, Senior Sales Manager, Retail Pharmacy & Medication Adherence, Omnicell UK & Ireland comments; “With an aging population, and patients living with a range of long-term health conditions, medication regimes are becoming ever more complex which is why automation support in pharmacy is so vital to help fulfil MDS blister cards or pouches.

We have also seen across the UK that there is increasing pressure on pharmacies to deliver additional clinical tasks, while still maintaining their prescription and medication adherence services.  The last 18-24 months have placed immense pressure on the retail pharmacy sector and there doesn’t seem to be any let up any time soon.  In December 2022 NHS England’s priorities and operational planning guidance for 2023/24 was published setting out amongst others, that one of the key tasks and ways to support the NHS to recover in the coming months was ‘the essential and increasing use of the community pharmacy’.

Ultimately, pharmacies can only survive by harnessing new technology and the introduction of automated solutions. The JVM 208 is one such step in helping to make the day-to-day working lives of pharmacists easier and more efficient.  New technology should be there to help pharmacists to keep on top of new medication trends and policies and even potentially to take on more community patients and care homes, without the need to increase headcount.”

Why not talk to Omnicell to find out how solutions could help your business?”

email: UKMASales@omnicell.com visit: Omnicell.co.uk