What a pharmacy system costs?

Pricing can vary greatly. It is probably best to check with the vendor for hardware requirements. The cost for a new retail pharmacy system with the minimum configuration can range from $7,500-$10,000. The cost increases when the pharmacy system is configured with signature capture, e-prescribing capabilities, thermal printers and other features. All pharmacies have to pay for software and drug database maintenance and which is typically paid monthly and can range from $200-$450+. Some vendors offer hardware support others do not. Switching and adjudication fees can vary from $0.07-$0.15 per claim. Beware of vendors offering lower switching rates and low maintenance fees since many of these vendors have limited support services or are struggling to stay in business.

Higher end dedicated hardware and software systems for institutional customers such as hospitals can range in price from $10,000 to more than $15,000.

Over the years drug wholesalers have gotten in the business of selling pharmacy software in order to lock in pharmacy customers to exclusive wholesale deals. In many cases aligning with your wholesaler can lower drug costs in the short term but remember the wholesaler core business is selling drugs and wholesalers have kept increasing drug prices. Moreover, the pharmacy software business for the drug wholesalers is generally a tiny part of their business and does not get the kind of attention and investment that it would from vendors who are solely focused on providing pharmacy software.

Users will also want to understand how the pharmacy vendor is lowering total cost of ownership or increasing pharmacy profits through revenue enhancement programs. Scale is important in this area since the larger vendors tend to have the scale necessary to negotiate directly with third parties for such program allowing them to pass on savings on to pharmacies by not increase maintenance prices or lower switching costs.

Pharmacy vendors pricing for maintenance, switching and other support services has be declining or stayed constant for the past several years despite rising expenses in their businesses. It is important for pharmacists and pharmacy owners to remember that pharmacy system costs in general represent a small percentage (less than 3%) of a pharmacy’s monthly expenses. Pharmacists should be working with their pharmacy software vendors to use technology to lower bigger expense items (that have been increasing over time) such as inventory/drug and staffing costs. Almost every pharmacy and pharmacist is trying to lower expenses and many are pressing vendors for price reductions (making it harder for the vendor to stay in business). This is why pharmacists need to be working with vendors who are offering capabilities to increase revenue and lower costs. Too often, we hear of pharmacists selecting low cost vendor solutions which is unsustainable over the longer term and can put pharmacies in the precarious position of having to change vendors if their pharmacy vendor goes out of business. Pharmacists have to ask the question if I buy a low cost solution today – what vendor is going sell me a low cost solution the next time I need to reduce costs. For longer term success pharmacists and pharmacies will need to team up with vendors focused on providing software at good value and who are completely focused on helping pharmacies stay in business and growing their revenue.