Case Study

How a PMS Provider Slashed Call Volume by 70.8% for their Pharmacies

Call SMS Automation

148

average inbound and outbound calls automated per shift

70.8%

self-serve call containment on routine requests

3.8 hrs

average talk time saved per day at medium volume pharmacies
Challenges

Routine phone calls piled up faster than teams could resolve them, making it difficult to support patient requests.

As prescription volumes grew, pharmacies were struggling to keep up with high-frequency inbound/outbound calls for refill requests, pickup reminders and delivery updates. Basic IVRs underperformed, pushing an increasing number of calls to staff.

Solution

Asepha deployed a whitelabeled call automation agent across their pharmacy network.

In less than 30 days, we built on top of Asepha's base modules and worked with the client to design, configure, and deploy a fully customized solution.

The solution integrates directly with the PMS and triages routine inquiries, escalating clinical concerns to pharmacists for faster, safer patient communication.

Inbound/Outbound Call Automation

  • Natural-language voice AI handles a wide range of pharmacy communications including refills, pickup updates, delivery scheduling, and follow-ups.
  • Captures patient intent and routes to the pharmacy team as needed.
  • Patients are authenticated using data in the PMS, requests are routed automatically, and logged with structured notes for audit compliance and continuity of care.

Events-Based Triggering

  • Automatically initiates outbound calls to the patient based on PMS-detected events, such as movement of the prescription into filling or outbox status.

Two-Way SMS Follow-Ups

  • Automated text prompts confirm refills, schedule delivery/pickups, and nudge patients to complete steps such as pre-appointment intake forms and post-delivery signature requests.

Governance

  • Dashboards provide visibility into call volume coverage, escalation patterns, and time savings.
  • Consent tracking, audit logs, and configurable user permissions ensure operational compliance.
Client Profile
A national pharmacy management system (PMS) serving thousands of pharmacies across retail, specialty, LTC and compounding.
Size
9.2 million patient lives
Location
United States
Product
Call Automation

“Customer feedback has been strong. Several clients have already reached out asking to be included in the rollout.”

- Vice President of Product

“Since going live with the virtual assistants the difference is crazy. We want to stick with Alex for the AI voice. He has grown on the patients and staff. We are going to implement Alex at our second pharmacy next week.”

- Pharmacy Owner

Results

The launch created a new revenue stream by enabling ownership of the IVR stack instead of relying on 3rd party vendors

Meaningful Time Savings and Increase in Patient Satisfaction
The module handled 65-76% of routine inbound/outbound calls, significantly reducing manual call volumes for pharmacy staff. Patients experienced 30% faster responses to requests with minimal hold time.

Operational Efficiency
Pharmacy teams reclaimed a median of over 3 hours talk time per day, which was redeployed to clinical services and direct patient care. In high-volume locations, savings approached the equivalent of one FTE.

Reduced Leakage from Partial Fills and No-Shows
Automated reminders and confirmations lowered last-minute refill requests. This reduced the number of partial fills and missed pickups, improving continuity of therapy and patient satisfaction.

Cleaner Documentation & Conversation Handoffs
Structured notes and centralized logging reduced rework, preserved context continuity across phone, SMS, and patient app handoffs, and delivered a consistent audit trail across modalities.

Capture new revenue without increasing headcount.

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