INNOVATIVE PRACTICE FORM

Name Gary Bolton

Address Oklahoma

Phone # 405-933-4214

Briefly describe innovation

Gary Bolton has been an independent pharmacist in Oklahoma for over 27 years. In June 1995, he integrated his dispensing computer with a new pharmaceutical care system called CareStream. This system checks for drug interactions, age interactions, disease states, and allergies. Mr. Bolton runs his pharmacy by the "basket method." This only requires 2 technicians, a bookkeeper, and the pharmacist. The first tech. is called an intake tech. This tech. takes the prescription from the patient and takes down the patient history. The intake tech. puts this information into a basket and sends it to the dispense tech. Then, the dispense tech. puts the information into the dispensing computer and fills the prescription. The dispense tech. puts the prescription into the basket and sends it to the pharmacist in the counseling booth. This allows the pharmacist to double check the medication and spend more time counseling the patients. Mr. Bolton allows each patient to purchase a CareStream membership card when they come into the pharmacy. This card allows them to receive the benefits of CareStream each time they come into the pharmacy. Every patient gets counseled , even if they are not a card member, but if you are a member, you get extra care. This includes follow-up care, blood pressure checks, and hopefully in the future, blood sugar tests. The receipts are color coded to identify a new prescription from a refill. This system allows Mr. Bolton to concentrate on the patient and provide them with the proper pharmaceutical care. He believes in educating the patients about their disease states and medications. He fills about 80 prescriptions a day and claims that anything over this amount is hard to do. He is currently collecting documentation for the third party insurance companies in order to prove that this system works. He has found that this system saves time, money, and also cuts down on visits to the emergency room.

Method of Reimbursement

Payor(s) Patient

Reimbursement rate Not Available

Is documentation required? Yes

Specialized training required? 3 day seminar

Software/instrumentation required? CareStream

Interviewed by: Lisa Fowler