Our First Robot

Over three years ago, Northeast Valley Health Corporation (NEVHC) became the Technical Service Organization’s (TSO) first partner in our hosted CarePoint Guardian Rx system. Guardian Rx is CCHN's recommended pharmacy/dispensary information system. 

Since then, NEVHC has experienced fast growth in its pharmacy and dispensary operations and have worked with the TSO and CarePoint to meet its Technical needs. 

NEVHC has been on the forefront of customizing Guardian Rx to meet the specific needs of Community Health Centers and implementing innovative technology solutions.  Among them is an integrated voice response system where patients can call from home for prescription refills, using their language of choice.  They also started refill hotlines in their waiting room. 

On January 10, 2010, NEVHC deployed a robotics system to further enhance their service.

Rosie Jadidian, Director of Pharmacy at NEVHC, explains her motivation for implementing the robotics system:

“Over the past 5 years, prescription volume at NEVHC Pharmacy has increased on an average of 6% annually, growing to over 180,000 fills in 2009.

With limited physical space available to hire additional staff and plans for adding another new clinic, we needed a solution to allow us to keep pace with our growing prescription demand. We had researched other types of automation in the past, but we weren't convinced that those solutions would provide the help that we needed.

After seeing the robotic solution implemented in pharmacies similar to ours in terms of volume and physical space, we determined that robotics would provide the automation solution that we needed.

We looked at 3 different robots from 3 different manufacturers and visited facilities using each of these models. Considering the cost, size, capabilities and interface requirements from all the systems, we decided on Innovation's Robotx.

Although we are still in the early phases of implementation, we feel that this technology will help us to continue to keep pace with our growing clinical demands without having to add additional staff or relocate to a larger location.”

The TSO provides comprehensive support for CarePoint Guardian Rx including project management, system implementation, training, system hosting and ongoing application support. For more information, please contact Joey Manansala joeym@ccc-sd.org.