ScriptPro to outfit NIH

MISSION, Kan. —Retail pharmacies aren’t the only ones embracing technology like pharmacy automation. The government is doing it, too.

ScriptPro said last month that it had received a contract to provide pharmacy automation systems to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. The company said its robotic dispensing, pharmacy management and drug information systems would be implemented at the NIH to assist in internal control and identification of drugs, while enhancing the safety and efficiency of medication dispensing and use by patients, with a specific focus on take-home medication orders provided to day hospital and clinic patients.

In addition to the NIH, ScriptPro’s list of government customers now includes the Veterans Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Defense. The company said in April that the U.S. Navy had adopted its telepharmacy services in order to make up for a shortage of pharmacists, allowing pharmacists to examine medications and counsel patients through a video and audio link.