How Vision Technology & Image Verification Can Help Your Pharmacy Business

Are you confident that your customers receive the right medications every time? In today’s pharmacy environment, medication errors constitute a rare yet persistent challenge, representing not just a patient safety concern, but also a significant business risk for pharmacy owners. Using advanced imaging and verification technology in your adherence packaging process can streamline pharmacy workflows, improve accuracy, and decrease labor costs.

As the pharmacy market continues to expand at a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.28% through 2030, it becomes increasingly important to streamline pharmacy workflows and ensure accuracy. This growth is driven by a higher demand for specialty and personalized medicine, the growing prevalence of chronic diseases and an aging population.

Maintaining accuracy while managing increasing prescription volumes has become more difficult than ever. Many pharmacies still rely on burdensome unit dose packaging systems that increase labor costs, create inefficiencies and leave operations vulnerable to medication shrinkage and administration errors. Advanced vision technology, like that offered by JFCRx, addresses these issues in multiple ways:

• Each image can be retrieved and shared to help caregivers and patients understand which medications were changed or discontinued during a cycle.
• Digital images can be used to perform an audit against any perceived “shrink” in any healthcare facility.
• Audit risk is reduced as accurate and documented images can be produced to show what was actually dispensed against what was reported.
• Adherence packaging, such as adherence pouch packaging or multi-dose blister card packaging, allows for more flexibility of days’ supply and creates a manageable workflow in the pharmacy.

How Imaging and Verification Technologies Work

Knowing imaging and verification technologies play a critical role in automated pharmacy solutions is all well and good, but how exactly do they work? Here’s a rundown of existing technologies.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Machine Vision:

• These systems capture high-resolution images of medication labels, barcodes, and packaging.
• OCR reads text on labels, ensuring the correct drug name, dosage, and patient information are printed accurately.
• Machine vision systems analyze pill shape, size, color, and imprint to verify that the correct medication is dispensed.

Barcode and RFID Scanning:

• Multi-dose packaging systems often integrate barcode or RFID technology to track medications at every stage of packaging.
• Barcodes on medication bottles are scanned before dispensing to ensure correct selection.
• Final packaged doses have scannable identifiers for verification before patient delivery.

Automated Pill Recognition:

• Algorithm-driven image recognition technology compares dispensed pills with a database to confirm they match the intended prescription. Advanced systems can identify patterns in dispensing and incorporate agitators to shake pills loose for easy identification.
• This is particularly useful in multi-dose blister packaging, where multiple medications are packed together.

Photo Documentation for Audit and Compliance:

• Many systems take real-time images of packaged medications before they are sealed. This helps to avoid rework after pouches are sealed.
• An image-based electronic record serves as proof of accurate dispensing and can be used for audits or resolving disputes.

Integration with Pharmacy Management Software (PMS):

• Verification technologies sync with electronic health records (EHR) and PMS, ensuring accurate record-keeping. Drug-specific reporting is important in identifying medications that typically result in medication alarms.
• These systems alert pharmacists if discrepancies are detected, reducing medication errors and protecting patient safety.

Modern pharmacy verification systems form an interconnected digital safety net that transforms medication dispensing. By combining visual recognition, scanning technologies, and data integration, these systems create multiple layers of verification that work together to catch potential errors before they reach patients. Beyond just accuracy, these technologies provide documented proof of dispensing activities, streamline workflows and enable pharmacies to efficiently manage higher prescription volumes while maintaining safety standards. These integrated systems represent a significant advancement in how pharmacies balance patient safety with operational efficiency.

Protect Pharmacy Businesses and Bottom Lines

Utilizing vision system technology has been proven to be an impactful tool for pharmacy marketing teams to build and retain customers across all pharmacy segments.

For example, dispensing medications directly to end users at home, in applications like Independent Developmentally Disabled (IDD) and Pharmaceutical Assistance Contracts for the Elderly (PACE) environments, can be very challenging as there is typically a lack of skilled caregiver intervention to assure safety.

As a result, this market has historically turned to burdensome unit dose packaging, which takes more time and is more susceptible to shrinkage and medication administration errors. Multi-dose adherence packaging is a great solution for these segments.

Multi-dose packaging solutions with vision technology not only reduce the amount of time spent passing medications but also provide significantly more accountability and reduce waste. This represents an opportunity for pharmacies in adherence packaging for new market segments such as IDD and PACE.

Here’s how adherence packaging with vision technology can benefit your pharmacy:

Reduce Dispensing Errors & Enhance Patient Safety: Automated verification promotes accurate medication packaging, reduces liability risks, and minimizes human error in high-volume pharmacies, improving patient trust and safety.

Increase Efficiency & Scalability: Automation speeds up the filling process for adherence packaging, allowing pharmacists to serve more patients with fewer resources. This reduces the need for manual double-checking, freeing staff for patient counseling and clinical services.

Improve Compliance with Regulations: Documentation and digital verification help pharmacies comply with FDA, DEA, and state regulations. It also ensures accurate tracking and reporting of controlled substances.

Enhance Competitive Advantage: Multi-dose adherence packaging improves medication adherence, a key differentiator for pharmacies offering long-term care and specialty services. The ability to provide multi-dose adherence packaging solutions can attract partnerships with healthcare providers looking for pharmacies with adherence-focused solutions for new markets such as LTC at home and others.

Support Remote and Central Fill Operations: Pharmacies with high patient volumes can use automated verification in central fill models, reducing costs and improving turnaround times.

How Can Verification Technology Help You?

Multi-dose packaging solutions with vision technologies help improve accuracy, efficiency, and regulatory compliance while reducing errors and ensuring patient safety. They serve as a guardrail for your pharmacy—an extra set of “eyes” that never tires, blinks, or misses a detail. In today’s challenging labor market and with increased demands for specialized medicine and the complications this adds to precise and accurate dispensing, these systems represent more than technology. Automated, multi-dose packaging with vision technology acts like a reliable team member available around the clock to eliminate waste, build patient confidence and protect your pharmacy’s reputation and bottom line. works around the clock to eliminate waste, build patient confidence, and protect your pharmacy’s reputation and bottom line.

If you’re interested in learning more, contact us to schedule a consultation today.