There are so many pharmacy rules and regulations that it's daunting to stay on top of everything you need to know. As a pharmacy owner, compliance may seem like the last thing you want to think about while running your business. But staying in compliance is absolutely critical to the success and life of your pharmacy.
Accepting and preparing for audits is a critical and necessary step your pharmacy must take to survive.
Many pharmacies prefer to run in the opposite direction when thinking about an audit, instead of accepting and preparing for them. It's no longer an option to think your pharmacy won't get audited or that the repercussions for non-compliance won't affect your business. Fear and procrastination only make matters worse. Preparing for audits and staying in compliance are much more about staying stress-free than you may think. The key to making compliance stress-free is breaking down the overwhelming task of compliance into manageable action items you can control.
So let’s figure out how compliant your pharmacy is...
“There is an old saying that "by the yard it's hard; but inch by inch, anything's a cinch!” ―Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
The first step is understanding what the requirements are for your pharmacy and then seeing what you have and what you are missing. We've created a series of assessments from general pharmacy compliance to specific topics such as HIPAA and Fraud, Waste, and Abuse prevention. Click here to take a free assessment and learn how compliant your pharmacy is right now.
The second step is to highlight your gaps and pitfalls and clearly see what actions steps you need to take next. After taking one of our assessments, I recommend getting started with the Pharmacy Compliance Assessment, review your results. Not only will you see what your pharmacy needs to work on but also why it matters and how it can affect your pharmacy business overall. Compliance isn't easy to seperate into one simple department of your business, compliance deals with many aspects of your pharmacy such as personnel management, employee training and patient care. Again take the quiz and make sure to review your results and action steps.
If you find yourself stuck on any of the questions in these quizzes, don't worry. That's exactly what we're here for! Give us a call at (724) 357-8380 or email us at compliance@rjhedges.com. For our clients, being prepared for audits comes stress-free because staying in compliance is made very easy through our Compliance Portal®. Pharmacy owners that use our portal to stay in compliance breath a sigh of relief at how easy and quick the process is. Find out where you stand in each topic and let us know if we can be of any help in preparing your pharmacy for success.
CONCLUSION:
The risks of not preparing and not being in compliance could unfortunately cost you your pharmacy. Preparing for audits and staying in compliance can keep your entire pharmacy stress-free and even more efficient. Getting to that state of feeling confident your pharmacy is in compliance all begins with the first step of knowing where you stand right now.