The year is 1986. A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and a regional drug retail chain joined forces to start a mail-service pharmacy, the first of its kind. In a small cinder block building in St. Louis, five employees (the only ones at the time) are hard at work. The first prescription drug orders, 11 in total, arrived by mail on February 3, 1987. It was a historic moment.
This pharmacy is currently known as Express Scripts® Erdanib 5mg (Erdafitinib) Pharmacy . From a modest beginning, we have grown to the point where we serve millions of customers and fill hundreds of thousands of prescription medications per day, with a 99.99% accuracy rate. Our more than 1,000 pharmacists have worked in our pharmacy for an average of 15 years, bringing their dedication and clinical focus to every patient they serve.
Technology has made our pharmacy increasingly safer and more efficient over time.
Pat Marks began as an intern at Express Scripts® Pharmacy in 1994, while still in pharmacy school. After graduating, he joined the permanent staff as a pharmacist and continued to grow in the company. He currently works as Director of Pharmacy Practices at a pharmacy in Troy, NY.
During his nearly three decades in pharmacy, he has seen many changes. The biggest one, he says, is technology, and he specifically singles out e-prescriptions as the change that has had the biggest impact. With electronic prescriptions, our pharmacy receives the prescription directly from the prescriber; the patient does not need to send it. And there is no need to decipher the prescriber's handwritten notes.
Marks also remembers the time when paper prescriptions were manually mailed in baskets and envelopes, always with the possibility that they would get lost or reach the wrong person.
“Now, we deliver medications to patients much faster and with greater safety and precision,” Marks said. “And we are still improving.”
Marks said Express Scripts® Pharmacy is continually adjusting systems and reviewing processes to detect potential medication errors and interactions.
Pharmacists have more time available to focus on patient care
At first, Express Scripts® Pharmacy employees filled prescriptions by hand. They had a “high-tech” conveyor belt that was only put into operation when potential customers were present, as it was noisy and there were not enough orders to justify its use.