Ragland Pharmacy, based in Ragland, Alabama, is seeing the results of 2-way messaging in its local community. A “modern pharmacy with old school values,” according to their website, they pride themselves on playing an integral and supportive role and customizing their services to meet patient needs.
“We were hoping that staying off the phone would help us communicate with patients more easily, so we were really motivated to try 2-way messaging,” said co-founder Kaylee St. John-Bean, PharmD. St. John-Bean originally heard about our messaging solution through a Facebook group for independent pharmacists.
According to her, Ragland Pharmacy has slowly been ramping up their messaging in the pharmacy, often reaching out to patients 20 times a day and taking full advantage of Digital Pharmacist’s customized message templates. Using 2-way messaging has not only helped them “stay off the phones,” but also reduced their number of refill pick up issues. This new line of communication has streamlined the insurance update process for them as well, as patients can now send images of their insurance cards straight to the pharmacy.
“So far our community really likes the messaging tool,” St. John-Bean said, “Our younger patients especially! We were even surprised to see our older patients using and enjoying it, too.” While she’s aware that many older patients have their own cell phones, St. John-Bean didn’t expect to see them checking and responding to messages from the pharmacy.
In fact, Digital Pharmacist’s 2-way messaging tool is being used more and more frequently by pharmacy clients’ senior patients. Recent data revealed that the overall number of senior patient messages has accelerated since the launch of our messaging product in October 2019. According to our findings, over 10,400 messages have been viewed and sent by patients 65 and older, including two from a 100-year old patient, totaling 14% of all conversations.
The number of messages has also increased sharply since the beginning of the year, likely due to the need for older, high-risk patients to stay in contact with their pharmacy during COVID-19. A total of 7,500 secure messaging conversations have taken place between pharmacists and older patients in 2020 so far.
To learn more about our secure, 2-way messaging can help you connect with older patients, visit our product page.
