The Department of Pharmacy at Madigan Army Medical Center is now offering patients a new concierge service. Aimed at reducing prescription fill wait times, the concierge service will be offered Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The pharmacy's goal for the new service is to streamline the process for obtaining prescriptions at the pharmacy by answering beneficiaries' questions regarding their medications, then prioritizing and directing beneficiaries to the right window, which will reduce average wait times and improve customer satisfaction.

"The concierge service gives us an opportunity to improve the pharmacy's efficiency through staffing and prescription delivery processes," said Col. Ricke Weickum, chief of the pharmacy. The pharmacy typically fills more than 4,000 prescriptions a day.

Sergeant 1st Class Joey Barden, noncommissioned officer in charge of the pharmacy, said that a major reason for the pharmacy change was patients taking more window tickets than they needed to give to family and friends. If a patient grabs 10 tickets and is able to hand out only five, this results in five no-shows at the windows. On average, Barden said that these window no-shows result in almost six hours a day of lost time for pharmacy staff to fill prescriptions for beneficiaries.

Establishing the new pharmacy procedures is not new to Madigan or the Army. Concierge services already are in use at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., and Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, N.C.. Madigan tried the service a year ago, but stopped it due to manning issues. These pharmacy positions are now being filled, and the concierge service can now continue, Weickum said.

"Patients do have a choice when it comes to prescription service, and we would prefer to be their first choice," Weickum said. Patients can also use their TRICARE benefits through either the local retail pharmacy network or the TRICARE Mail Order Pharmacy home delivery service. For patients with chronic illnesses or needing prescriptions longer than a month who choose to use TRICARE, Weickum recommends they use the TMOP, where prescriptions can be ordered for up to 90 days at a cost of $3 to $9 per prescription.

"The mail order pharmacy is a great service for patients who live some distance from Madigan or are trying to reduce fuel costs," he said.

The prescriptions are mailed directly to your home, and refills can be requested either online or by phone 24 hours a day.

For more information on TMOP call 1-877-363-1433 or visit the Web site at www.express-scripts.com.

For information, visit the Madigan Web site at www.mamc.amedd.army.mil/mamc.