4th Fighter Wing relocates drug facility
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on March 30, 2007 1:50 PM
In an effort to increase efficiency and provide better services for patients, the 4th Fighter Wing will be relocating its prescription refill pickup center Monday, officials said.
Fourth Medical Support Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Dean Doering said the current facility, located at the Base Exchange, is no longer practical and that moving the center inside the 4th Medical Group's main clinic will be a better situation for both patients and base personnel.
"Forty percent of the time, (patients) were having to go to both anyway," he said. "Now they can all come to one. It's now a true one-stop shop."
And while the move will change the way the operation is run, it will change for the better, he added.
"We're not trying to cut services for anybody," Doering said. "But anytime you make a change, people think they're getting cut short."
But the move will have the opposite effect, he added -- more parking spots, easier access, longer hours of operation and faster fill-time are just a few advantages of the change, he said.
"The intent here is to make the service better for our customers," Doering said. "That means better, faster and cheaper."
Within the old system, a patient would have to call in a prescription and wait two to three days before picking it up. The new location, however, will offer next-day pickup.
And while the current center does not open its doors until 9 a.m., starting Monday, patients will be able to come in to the new operation as early as 7:30.
"Our No. 1 goal is to take care of our customers," Doering said. "And that's what we're doing."
Patients should call in their prescriptions to the same number and when they arrive inside the clinic the next day, their medication will be available for pickup at window No. 5.
"They won't have to wait in line, they won't have to take a ticket," Doering said. "I think people are really going to notice the improvements we've made here."