The modern pharmacy stands at a critical juncture. Faced with shrinking margins, increasing administrative burden, and a growing demand for advanced clinical services, the time is ripe for a technological transformation. Few understand this better than Eran Shavelsky, Co-founder and CEO of FlowRx, whose career has been dedicated to solving challenges in patient care and pharmacy operations.
Solving for Medication Adherence
Shavelsky’s journey into the pharmacy world began far from the prescription counter in MIT’s M.B.A. program. A class on medication adherence started Shavelsky thinking about the issues faced by elderly patients struggling to take their medications on time.
“There’s an enormous cost to poor medication adherence, because people who miss doses don’t get the full effect of their therapy and might end up hospitalized,” Shavelsky explains. Driven to create a solution that wouldn't force patients or caregivers to change their behavior, he designed an intuitive, sensor-equipped pill box. This early iteration eventually led to the founding of his first company, MedMinder. There, Shavelsky developed an advanced wireless pill dispenser, shaped like a traditional pill box to remind the patients to take their meds.
“MedMinder’s connectivity means that it can notify families if dosages are missed and it provides adherence reports,” he says. “Over time we added a screen and camera for interaction with remote care givers and care managers. This was a very innovative design.”
The evolution of MedMinder led to Shavelsky developing a deep understanding of pharmacy operations.
“I came to realize that there was an opportunity for pharmacies to use the MedMinder product to organize and pack prescriptions for patients,” Shavelsky says. This led to designing specialized trays for pharmacies. When large chains showed resistance, Shavelsky made a bold move: he decided to open his own pharmacy to deliver the advanced packaging service himself, eventually expanding to all 50 states.
The Current Problem: Repetitive Tasks and Lost Fulfillment
Running a closed-door production pharmacy operation gave Shavelsky a firsthand view of the daily grind. He observed the disconnect between what pharmacists trained for and what they actually spent their days doing.
“I learned about the tedious, repetitive work that technicians and the pharmacists do in the back end of the pharmacy,” he notes. “This was not the clinical work that pharmacists learned in school, and that they got into pharmacy for.”
The staff was frustrated by administrative tasks and outdated, cumbersome systems. These insights became the foundation for FlowRx. The mission: stream line operations with better technology so that pharmacy staff could actually be focused on providing care.
"First, we can use AI to elevate the pharmacist's role by offloading administrative burdens,” Shavelsky says. "This will not only improve patient outcomes but also lead to greater professional fulfilment for pharmacists and pharmacy staff. "
AI as The Critical Liberator
Today, Shavelsky believes that AI is the technology that will fundamentally change the pharmacist’s role and ensure the sustainability of the profession.
“It’s very clear to me that with AI technology we can make real changes by automating a wide range of tasks,” he asserts. “The ultimate goal is to free up human talent to focus on high-value interactions.”
Shavelsky sees the impact of AI as twofold. “First, we can use AI to elevate the pharmacist's role by offloading administrative burdens,” he says. This will not only improve patient outcomes but also lead to greater professional fulfilment for pharmacists and pharmacy staff. “They will be happier. They will feel more fulfilled and more satisfied when they are practicing pharmacy the way they were trained to.”
Second, AI will enhance the patient experience. “When staff are no longer bogged down, the patient experience dramatically improves,” says Shavelsky. “AI can intelligently manage routine patient needs, ensuring that when a patient does need to speak with a pharmacist, they can do so quickly for those critical health conversations.”
The Business Case: Fighting Margin Erosion, Funding Growth
The increasing erosion of pharmacy margins, driven by lower reimbursements and rising costs, is among the most pressing economic issues facing the industry. Shavelsky sees AI not just as a clinical tool, but as a crucial financial solution.
“You can definitely see in the last 10 years how the margins are going down year by year, making the pharmacy owner's life more challenging,” he observes. Reasonable margins are critical for empowering a pharmacy owner to invest in staff, services, and growth.
“I feel strongly that what pharmacists need is the ability to invest more time and more attention to the care of their patients,” he says. Automating processes will support collecting more data to use in making smarter decisions. “AI is also the key to freeing up resources, so that the pharmacy can invest these resources for growth,” says Shavelsky.
