Silverlink In the News

Farmington, CT - If you have taken two pills, it just might be the pharmacy that calls you in the morning.

FamilyMeds, Inc. is making great strides in patient safety by implementing a high-tech system that can contact patients within 24 hours to notify them of a drug recall.

"Patient safety is our number one priority," says Noreen Patterson, associate vice president of retail and marketing for FamilyMeds, Inc.

From the Vioxx recall last fall to the recent suspension of Pfizer's Bextra prescription drug, the pharmacy is going to great lengths in a short timeframe to keep their customers safe.

The Interactive Voice Response application, developed by Silverlink Communications, can contact patients to notify them of a drug recall just hours after the pharmacy itself has been notified.

When the popular arthritis drug Vioxx was recalled by Merck on Sept. 30, 2004, FamilyMeds, Inc., which has 80 stores, used an outside the box solution to notify their patients.

The IVR system they had in place was not intended for patient notification, but FamilyMeds, Inc worked with Silverlink to accommodate the Vioxx recall notification for clients and develop the system for future recalls or suspensions.

The system is programmed to confirm that the person on the other line is indeed the person taking the prescription. To do this, the system asks, "Are you John Smith?" If the person on the line says "no", a phone number and a pass code are left for the correct person to complete the call at a later time. If the person says "yes" - confirming they are currently taking the prescription - the system continues and explains the recall.

The system also allowed patients to have a FamilyMeds Pharmacy or Arrow Pharmacy and Nutrition Center contact their physician and discuss alternative prescriptions or other forms of treatment.

"This hi-tech solution beats our old method of calling customers one by one individually because it allowed us to notify our patients in just a fraction of the time," says Patterson.

For the Vioxx recall, nearly 3,000 patients had been notified within five hours of Merck's announcement. Customers received notice and an explanation of the recall, which helped reduce panic and confusion over the drug recall.

For more information, please call Noreen Patterson at (860) 676-1222 ext. 119.

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