Batch/Central Fill

Because of the current prescription growth and a widespread pharmacist shortage, pharmacy operators are searching for innovative ways to handle prescription fulfillment. Centralized prescription processing or central fill refers to a service where a central fill pharmacy is deemed authorized by a retail store to prepare controlled substances requests for dispensing under a valid prescription. Using central fill, retail chain stores can aggregate prescriptions from multiple locations and funnel them to centrally located prescription fulfillment center. Once there, orders are assembled, verified, packaged and delivered back to the originating pharmacy or mailed directly to patients.

Automated compounding machines can replace this outsourcing. The emergence of automated technology as an alternative approach to parenteral admixture compounding has led to potentially improved compounding accuracy. Compared to manual compounding, automation is favored because sterility assurance and capacity are exponentially higher, calculation of cost-benefit is easy, and there is an overall reduction in labor and material cost.