July 16, 1999

Lisa Franchi, MGH Outpatient Pharmacy manager

It has been almost a year and a half since the MGH Outpatient Pharmacy opened its doors to the public. Located on the first floor of the WACC, the pharmacy offers prescription medications and personalized pharmaceutical counseling. Some over-the-counter products also are available at the pharmacy – including cough and cold preparations, pain medications, antacids and laxatives. Hotline recently had the opportunity to interview Lisa Franchi, manager of the MGH Outpatient Pharmacy, about the pharmacy's progress since its opening in March 1998.

Q: About how many patients go through the pharmacy daily?
A: The pharmacy sees about 400 patients on a day-to-day basis, which comes to about 50 visitors per hour.

Q: What is the standard waiting time for a prescription?
A: There usually is a 15- to 20-minute wait in the morning. However, from noon until closing, the wait can be more than 40 minutes because of all the patients being discharged.

Q: What kind of information does the pharmacy need?
A: In order to fill a prescription, the pharmacy must have accurate and complete insurance information. Sometimes we only receive a portion of the information that we need, and we are unable to fill the prescription.

Q: Is there anything you can advise to decrease the wait patients and employees have at the pharmacy?
A: The best thing to do is call the day before the prescription is needed. Then patients should call two hours before they plan to pick it up to make sure that the prescription is there and that the pharmacy has all the correct information. In addition, when employees call in a prescription, they can ask the pharmacy staff to call their office or page them when the prescription is ready. This helps the parmacy to facilitate the pickup process.

Q: What if a patient or employee has an emergency?
A: In case of emergency, the pharmacy is able to fill medications and prescriptions much faster. If there was an emergency, the pharmacy will try to expedite the prescription as quickly as possible.

Q: What improvements has the pharmacy made since its opening?
A: We have added more staff to assist patients and employees. We have added a new automated phone system so that patients and employees can simply call up and dial in their prescription number for a refill.

Q: Any future plans?
A: We are hoping to get a web site up in the next year, so that MGHers can refill their prescriptions from their computers.

The MGH Outpatient Pharmacy is open 9 am to 5:30 pm weekdays and 9 am to 12:30 pm on weekends and holidays. For more information, call the pharmacy at 4-3100.