Pharmacy Automation Firm Making Indiana Move
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowNew York-based pharmacy automation company iA is moving into its new global headquarters in Indianapolis this week with plans to create more than 400 jobs in Indiana over the next two years. The company announced in March plans to locate its corporate HQ in Indiana while keeping its national office in New York state.
The company has created a software-enabled pharmacy fulfillment platform, which handles routine refills of prescriptions to allow pharmacists to spend more time with patients.
In an interview with Business of Health Reporter Kylie Veleta, iA Chief Executive Officer Marvin Richardson said the company is placing a big bet on Indiana’s tech sector to power its business.
“The Indiana economy is vibrant. And we have a great opportunity to build a very vast and diverse pool of talent, particularly in software technology, engineering, pharmacy in customer service,” said Richardson.
The company’s proprietary software powers automated systems that can fill almost a quarter-million prescriptions per day. Richardson says the platform allows pharmacists more time for patient care including COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, decreases the cost of filling prescriptions and improving the quality and safety of prescriptions.
“I’m a pharmacist by training. I can tell you that pharmacists today are inundated because they’ve got paperwork, they’ve got prescriptions they’re filling,” said Richardson. “On top of that now they have COVID testing, COVID vaccinations are rolling out across the country, and they need time to patient-face.”
He says the technology can handle refilling prescriptions that patients may have for long-term care, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Richardson says they filled in centralized fulfillment centers, like what is used by Florida-based retailer Publix.
“Those are being filled centrally in Orlando, Florida, they are trucked back overnight to the store, to the pharmacy so that the patient can pick them up the next day,” said Richardson. “That work coming out of the store has enabled them to vaccinate more frequently.”
Richardson says the national office has been in New York for a half-century, but the company needed to shift its base further west to be closer to its customers.