Giant Eagle’s LTC Pharmacy Boosts Growth and Efficiency With FrameworkLTC and FrameworkECM

Company Overview

Giant Eagle, a prominent supermarket chain across Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and parts of Illinois, has long maintained a strong presence in retail pharmacy. Recognizing the potential to serve the community’s broader healthcare needs, Giant Eagle expanded into long-term care (LTC) pharmacy services with an LTC division in 2020. Primarily catering to assisted living facilities (ALFs) and group homes, Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy operations have developed into a specialized team operating independently of its retail sector. As part of this expansion, it created a dedicated space adjacent to the retail pharmacy—a clear commitment to providing specialized LTC services.

The Challenge: Manual Processes, Disjointed Systems, and Growth Limitations

Initially, Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy relied on EPS, a retail pharmacy software that wasn’t designed for the complexities of the long-term care industry. According to pharmacy manager, Brenda Rohosky, and senior manager of LTC pharmacy, Amy Arnold, working within the system felt “like trying to wheelbarrow 10 pounds of stones uphill” or “rubbing sticks and stones together to make fire.”

The software’s limitations not only impacted daily processes but also hindered Giant Eagle’s ability to compete with more established LTC pharmacy providers in the region. Some of the biggest challenges they faced include:

Manual Processes

Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy team faced significant obstacles due to timeintensive manual processes using their previous pharmacy software. For example, cycle fills (which should be routine) often took up to two hours for a medium-sized facility. This inefficiency not only drained time but also impacted service delivery.

Lack of Integration

Lack of software integration was another barrier for Giant Eagle— especially when attempting to connect with electronic medication administration records (eMARs). Without a seamless connection, it became challenging to communicate with LTC facilities efficiently, often leading to fragmented workflows.

Rework Due to Errors

Errors in batch processing increased operational strain, often requiring manual resubmissions by LTC pharmacy staff. This rework slowed down order fulfillment and compounded the administrative burden for Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy, as staff had to repeatedly go back into the system to address these issues.

Growth Limitations

Without tools tailored to the demands of LTC, Giant Eagle’s team was unable to grow their business as effectively as they’d hoped. System constraints limited their expansion capabilities, and they struggled to keep pace with more sophisticated LTC providers, creating a bottleneck for growth and operational development.

The Solution: FrameworkLTC, Vaccine Management, and FrameworkECM

Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy team made the decision to adopt a software solution specifically designed to meet the needs of long-term care. After evaluating multiple pharmacy management systems focused on LTC (such as Qs1), they ultimately chose FrameworkLTC due to its tailored features and positive reputation within the industry.

FrameworkLTC, alongside FrameworkECM and Vaccine Management, offered Giant Eagle a suite of tools to streamline workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance communication with facility customers. Some of the features that appealed to them most when choosing a solution are:

• Cycle fill automation: Implementing FrameworkLTC allowed Giant Eagle to automate the cycle fill process, reducing the time spent processing recurring orders and minimizing manual input.

• Seamless integration: FrameworkLTC’s integration capabilities with eMARS, HL7, and Noritsu packaging machines improved communication and accuracy, streamlining batch processing and reducing resubmissions. FrameworkLTC, alongside FrameworkECM and Vaccine Management, offered Giant Eagle a suite of tools to streamline workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance communication with facility customers. ®

• Vaccine management: FrameworkLTC’s Vaccine Management solution empowered Giant Eagle to conduct onsite vaccination clinics for residents, expanding the pharmacy’s services and providing valuable, in-demand care.

• Document management: By adopting FrameworkECM, Giant Eagle was able to optimize document management workflows, decreasing the amount of manual work required and improving organization.

The Results: Enhanced Operations, Efficiency, and Scalability

With the adoption of FrameworkLTC and FrameworkECM, Giant Eagle’s LTC pharmacy operations experienced a transformative boost in efficiency, service quality, and scalability:

Improved Services

With FrameworkLTC, Vaccine Management, and FrameworkECM, Giant Eagle now offers additional services, including over-the-counter product delivery and onsite vaccinations. The team’s newfound efficiency fosters high customer satisfaction, enabling quicker processing times and personalized support. Plus, the system’s built-in alerts help reduce manual errors, ensuring patient safety and reinforcing quality metrics that are essential in long-term care pharmacies.

Operational Efficiency

FrameworkLTC, Vaccine Management, and FrameworkECM all significantly boosted Giant Eagle’s operational efficiency. The ability to reduce manual work, errors, and functionality enables its team to customize the software to fit their unique workflows— which has been a game changer. “Even just doing a cycle fill is better. Instead of manually typing in 150 prescriptions to fill— which used to take all day and was really, really challenging— now takes us seconds,” Rohosky explained. The vaccine management feature, for instance, streamlined vaccination processes to the extent that the team can now process around 120 vaccines in under 45 minutes. FrameworkECM further enhanced their efficiency by reducing document management time, freeing the team up to focus on higher-value tasks rather than administrative work.

Strong Vendor Support

The customer support provided by SoftWriters has been invaluable to Giant Eagle’s LTC team. On-site training sessions and ongoing support have helped the team navigate the system confidently, with staff expressing comfort and relief knowing they can rely on SoftWriters. “We really appreciate the support we get from SoftWriters. It’s very important to us. They’re probably our most significant vendor partner,” Rohosky said.

Business Growth and ROI

The FrameworkLTC Suite of Products and seamless eMar integration allowed Giant Eagle to 3x their LTC business in under 2 years, a substantial growth that was previously unimaginable with their prior system.Faster cycle fills, quicker order processing, and the addition of value-driven services like vaccine clinics have all contributed to a positive return on investment. Looking ahead, Giant Eagle anticipates continued growth, utilizing FrameworkLTC’s tools to innovate and expand into new LTC facilities. The LTC pharmacy team is excited about the future, confident that FrameworkLTC and FrameworkECM have not only transformed their existing operations but also opened the door for ongoing expansion.

Getting Started

Transform your operations with FrameworkLTC: the industry-leading pharmacy management software specifically designed to support the unique needs of long-term care by optimizing workflows and streamlining pharmacy operations.

To see if FrameworkLTC is a fit to help achieve your pharmacy goals, connect with us or email sales@softwriters.com. We look forward to speaking with you!