A Comprehensive Guide to Pharmacy Management Software Development

The pharmaceutical business is expanding at an unprecedented rate, especially after the pandemic. This sub-domain of the healthcare industry has further evolved after the integration of modern pharmacy software solutions.

Well-structured and full-fledged pharmaceutical software solutions can help pharmaceutical companies and medical shops with:

• Automating drug dispensation
• Serving more customers simultaneously
• Enhancing inventory turnover ratio

Witnessing these benefits of pharma software solutions, businesses now understand the importance of investing in pharmacy management software development. This is one of the primary reasons they look for an experienced and proficient healthcare app development company to develop an intuitive solution for their business.

This comprehensive guide will help you understand all the major aspects associated with pharma software development. Apart from the benefits of pharma information systems, we will also discuss the development process and the cost incurred in developing them.

How to Develop a Medical App for Pharmaceutical Businesses?

The global pharmacy management software market is projected to reach $87.53 billion by the end of 2024 at a booming CAGR value of 15.47%. Well, that clearly indicates why you need to invest soon in pharmacy management software development. So, let’s discuss how to create a medical app for your pharmaceutical business.

Phase 1: Conduct Research and Planning

The development process begins with defining the scope of your pharmacy management system project. In this stage, you need to figure out the features you want to implement in your software and outline the tech requirements needed for the same.

Phase 2: Identify Stakeholders and Create a Product Roadmap

The next step is determining the stakeholders who are looking for such pharmaceutical software solutions to streamline their pharmacy operations. Establish a clear communication channel with them and create a product roadmap accordingly.

Phase 3: Set Objectives, Goals, and the Project’s Timeline

Since you are getting a solution developed for your business, you must have identified certain objectives and goals for it. Based on that, you can create a product timeline to ensure every phase of the pharmacy management software development process is completed on time.

Phase 4: Work on Database Design

Once you are done with all the research planning and requirements gathering, it’s time to plan the UI and database design of your pharmacy management system. To ensure seamless operations of your pharma business, a well-structured database is a must.

Phase 5: Focus on Software’s UI Design

After structuring your database design, the next step is to work on the UI design of your pharmaceutical software. This is one of the crucial stages of pharmacy management software development as user experience and satisfaction depend largely on this stage.

Phase 6: Outline the System Architecture

Now comes the part where you need to focus on the backbone of your software — the technology stack. Create your system architecture by picking the right technologies and choosing between APIs and microservices architecture.

Phase 7: Develop the Software

Since you are done with database implementation, system architecture, and UI design, it’s time to move to the pharmacy management software development phase. Code the entire software and perform interim tests to ensure and maintain code quality.

Phase 8: Test the Pharmaceutical Software Solution

Before deploying your software, it’s crucial to test it thoroughly for quality assurance to identify bugs and ensure seamless performance. Using AI in quality assurance for automated testing can make testing easier, faster, and better.

Phase 9: Deploy the Software

When you are confident about the entire pharmacy management software development process, you can finally deploy the software. For a smooth installation process, you can create a customized SaaS launch checklist and stick to it until deployment.

Phase 10: Maintenance and Support

Although this is a post-development stage, regularly maintaining your software is crucial for enhanced performance and continuous improvement. This stage is also important as the staff of a pharma business learns about utilizing the solution with the help of customer support.

Benefits of Investing in Pharmacy Management Software Development

Collaborating with a professional pharmacy management software development partner ensures a plethora of benefits for pharmaceutical companies. Below are some of the significant benefits of pharma information systems.

Seamless Inventory Management

One of the most complex challenges that the pharmaceutical industry faces is managing inventory. Keeping a tab on the types of medications, their quantities, batch numbers, and expiry dates is an intricate task. However, a pharmacy inventory management system can streamline these processes. It will not only ensure optimal inventory levels but also reduce wastage and stockouts.

Improved Insurance Claiming

Software used in pharmacy can be integrated with added functionalities to ensure seamless collaboration with medical insurance providers. This integration helps businesses reduce paperwork, minimize administrative burden, and boost the insurance claim and reimbursement process.

Refined Data Analytics

One of the major benefits of pharma information systems is that it provides valuable insights into business performance and customer preferences. This actionable information about one’s targeted customers can help them make informed choices to optimize their offerings and boost growth opportunities.

Robust Data Security

Data security is one of the prime priorities for businesses in the pharmaceutical industry, given the nature of prescription data and patient records. By implementing the right pharmacy management software development practices, businesses can easily secure data through encryption and safeguard it against potential vulnerabilities, data breaches, and cybersecurity challenges.

Regulatory Compliance

By developing a well-organized medical shop management system project, pharmacy stores can obtain precise inventory data, updated patient records, and well-structured sales documentation. All this data becomes prominent in times of regulatory inspections and system audits.

Medication Adherence

Another benefit of investing in pharmacy management software development is streamlined medication administration and adherence. Such kind of software used in hospital pharmacy reminds patients about taking their medicines and refilling them when needed. With this, businesses can enhance treatment outcomes and minimize healthcare expenses.

Top Features to Implement in Your Pharmacy Management System

To create seamless pharmacy management software, it’s crucial to consider the essential features during pharmacy management software development. Some of the important features of pharmacy management software include:

E-prescription Management

Often looked at as one of the most important features of pharmacy management systems, e-prescriptions enable healthcare professionals to digitally submit prescriptions to pharmacies. This feature can significantly replace paper-based prescriptions and allow pharmacists to process orders seamlessly.

Stock Management

Stock handling is imperative when it comes to the management of medication inventory. With a built-in inventory management system in your pharmacy software, businesses can easily handle the stock levels and track expiry dates. This feature ensures that the pharmaceutical business never runs out of stock and patients can easily get the right medications on time.

Document and Data Handling

Another important feature to keep in mind during pharmacy management software development is centralizing and organizing the data. With efficient document and data management, pharmacies can maintain crucial details, such as invoices, customer records, purchase order history, and supplier information.

Billing and Insurance Processing

With an in-built billing processing feature in pharmaceutical software solutions, pharmacists can quickly and precisely process insurance claims and generate billing invoices. It considerably reduces administrative burdens and ensures seamless financial transactions.

Reporting Analytics

Integrating the reporting and analytics module in the pharmacy software development solution provides critical insights into the sales data, inventory turnover, and overall performance of a pharmacy. A comprehensive analysis of these reports helps the business make informed decisions and determine opportunities for better productivity.

Electronic Patient Records

Incorporating the module of electronic health records of the patients is important in pharmacy management software development. This EHR functionality securely stores the patient information, such as their medical history, allergies, and current treatments. These records can be further used by pharmacists to provide customers with personalized recommendations.

Notifications and Alerts

Software used in hospital pharmacies must include app notification functionality to boost engagement. For patients, the software can share timely alerts to notify them about taking medications. When it comes to pharmacists, the software can remind them about low stocks or potential drug interactions.

Automated Dispensing System

One of the vital medical store management software requirements includes an automatic dispensing system to improve the business’s overall efficiency. An in-built system of such kind can accurately measure medications and dispense them while mitigating human error and ensuring enhanced patient care.

How Much Does It Cost to Build Pharmaceutical Software Solutions?

To get a breakdown of pharmacy software costs, it’s important to understand the two major aspects where development costs are incurred.

Initial Development Costs

The initial cost of developing pharmacy management software can vary based on several factors, such as the tech stack used, features to be implemented, the geographical location of the application development partner, etc. A basic app with minimum viable features will cost significantly less than a solution with more advanced functionalities.

Maintenance and Support Costs

The overall pharmacy management software development cost also encloses the expenses incurred in maintenance and support. The app maintenance cost for pharmaceutical software solutions can be high due to constant bug-fixing, regular updates, and 24/7 customer support.

Providing the exact cost of developing pharma software is challenging, as different solutions will have different features and requirements to be taken care of. However, on average, the overall expenses can range anywhere between $30,000 and $450,000 depending on its uniqueness.

How Can Appventurez Help You Build a Pharmacy Management System?

When it comes to pharmacy management software development, it’s crucial to profoundly check each and every aspect of the solution as it concerns the patients’ health. In such a case, it’s always recommended to consult a software product development company having expertise in the healthcare domain.

Well, Appventurez is a well-experienced software development partner having over a decade of experience in the healthcare industry. Our company has crafted impeccable healthcare solutions for our clients that significantly boost their ROI and productivity. Some of the prominent examples include:

• Clear: A Netherlands-based healthcare and wellness solution that helps users maintain a healthy lifestyle by providing valuable insights
• Nectar Plus: A virtual doctor appointment app that empowers patients with 24/7 medical support.

Our team of experts develops seamless solutions for our clients focused on a quality-first approach. Also, we ensure to find ways to reduce software development costs without losing quality and efficiency.