The Differences between Pharmacy Dispensing Data and Encounter Data
Too often, the phrase “community pharmacy is at a crossroads” is used to describe the undue burden facing community pharmacies. The dispensing model is no longer viable on its own. Across the world, “AI” is coming for our jobs. Yet, community pharmacies are above a proverbial oil field. Data.
As community pharmacies increasingly diversify their services, such as offering patient care, the differentiation between the types of data generated is important to track and evaluate. Dispensing data is what pharmacies traditionally generate. This data largely tracks the prescribed drugs, the patient, and the prescriber. It might include additional information on the payment terms.
However, pharmacy patient encounters capture a host of other information known as encounter data. Understanding the differences between both kinds of data is a must for community pharmacy professionals.
Understanding the Expansion of Modern Pharmacy Data
Pharmacy data is the aggregated term representing all data generated by the pharmacy and pharmacy team members. As noted earlier, this data is now split into pharmacy dispensing data and pharmacy encounter data.
Modern pharmacy data now includes information on drug dispensing and patient care.
Pharmacy dispensing data is the precursor to prescription claims events or claims data. They represent data generated by the pharmacy during the routine dispensing process. They typically include prescriptions, medical devices, and over-the-counter products. But they also represent the demographic and clinical data within pharmacy management systems. This data is based on NCPDP data elements and used in various standards, like SCRIPT.
Pharmacy encounter data is the often under-documented data gathered during interactions between pharmacy providers and patients. They represent the data before and after the pharmacy dispensing data is generated. This data is inclusive to anything about the patient encounter, from the patient’s social needs to their medical history. It’s based on HL7 data elements and used in standards like the pharmacist’s e-care plan.
The Increasing Value of Pharmacy Encounter Data
The community pharmacy’s de-identified health data has a market value close to $3 billion, with projections of close to $5 billion by 2030. Yet, community pharmacies see very little of this money. Community pharmacies routinely and passively allow external partners to use the data of their patients and healthcare services. True change comes with education and empowerment. Pharmacies should focus on data governance and working with state partners, like pharmacy associations, to make unified efforts to control the flow of pharmacy data.
The recent focus on closing healthcare gaps in underserved regions across the country elevates the role of community pharmacy. As such, leveraging the value of the data they generate positions these medical providers to continue expanding critical services. It’s a scenario with the potential to revolutionize how healthcare gets delivered in America. Improved patient care, driven by pharmacy data, ultimately benefits us all.
