Does your pharmacy phone system take refills and tell callers if their prescription is ready?

A pharmacy IVR or AI phone agent linked to your pharmacy system handles refill requests and status checks, and passes clinical questions to staff.

How to automate it

How to automate “transfer prescriptions in and out by phone or fax”

Here are 2 ways to spend less time on this, best first. Each comes with steps you can follow today.

30 min

typically, every day

50%

of the time can be automated

Easy

to set up

Fix 1 of 2

Software featureBest fix

Use electronic refill, change and transfer requests instead of fax and phone

Most prescribers can receive electronic renewal (RxRenewal), change (RxChange) and cancel requests through Surescripts, and many pharmacy systems support electronic transfers. Fewer faxes to send, retype and chase.

Typically saves about 40% of the time1 h to set up

1Check that electronic renewal, change and transfer requests are turned on in your pharmacy system.
2Send refill requests electronically by default; fax only prescribers who cannot receive them.
3Work the pending-response queue once or twice a day instead of chasing each one.
4Keep a note of prescriber offices that respond faster to a particular route.
5Only use tools your organization has approved and covered by a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA) for anything with patient information.

Tools: Surescripts RxRenewal and RxChange · Your pharmacy system (PioneerRx, PrimeRx, Liberty, BestRx or similar)

Fix 2 of 2

Software feature

Let the phone system and an AI agent take refills and status questions

A pharmacy IVR or AI voice agent connected to your pharmacy system takes refill requests by prescription number, tells callers whether their prescription is ready, and passes clinical questions and transfers to staff. Techs stop being pulled off the counter for every call.

Typically saves about 45% of the time3 h to set up

1Pull a week of call reasons (most pharmacies find refills and "is it ready?" are the majority).
2Ask your pharmacy system vendor which IVR or AI phone partners integrate with it (for example VOXO for PioneerRx, Lumistry, or your chain's system).
3Turn on refill-by-phone, status lookup and text-back of the pickup time.
4Route anything clinical, controlled or upset straight to staff.
5Only use tools your organization has approved and covered by a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA) for anything with patient information.

Tools: VOXO · Lumistry · Your pharmacy system's IVR · RevSpring

Quick wins

Have you tried…

Does your pharmacy phone system take refills and tell callers if their prescription is ready?: A pharmacy IVR or AI phone agent linked to your pharmacy system handles refill requests and status checks, and passes clinical questions to staff.

Who does this task

Roles in our library that list this as one of their common tasks. Each guide covers the rest of that role’s week.

Pharmacy technician

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