Day: December 4, 2014

Why Online Pharmacies Are So Dangerous

    Finance Tips

Pos pharmacy billing

Have you ever heard about something called an “online pharmacy”? It’s a pretty straightforward concept — it’s a business run entirely online, and it allows people to buy prescription drugs online and have the drugs sent right to their doorstep. If it sounds a little sketchy to you, your head is in the right place. Because as simple as these pharmacies seem, they actually present quite a few dangers to the health and wellbeing of their customers.

Because the FDA has such a hard time regulating these online pharmacies, it’s pretty to find that they sell unapproved drugs that aren’t legally supposed to be sold in the U.S., and they also tend to send out medications with the incorrect ingredients or with the wrong amount of the active ingredient. Even if these incorrect prescriptions are sent out by mistake (which is pretty unlikely), customers still have no way of knowing that they’re taking the wrong medication — until something serious happens, of course.

Unfortunately, either people aren’t aware that online pharmacies are so dangerous, or they’re simply willing to take the risks (either for financial reasons or for convenience). In fact, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest has recently estimated that about $75 billion worth of counterfeit drugs — like the ones provided by online pharmacies — are sold every year. Scare tactics clearly don’t work well, and it seems like no amount of government laws and regulations can ameliorate the situation either.

So what can you do to make the prescription drug industry safer?

If you’re a consumer, the easiest thing to do is to stay away from these pharmacies and to encourage others to do the same.

If you run a pharmacy yourself, think about making some technology upgrades and product changes so that your customers will actually enjoy filling their prescriptions at your store. Something as simple as replacing an old cash register with a new retail pharmacy POS system can make a huge difference: transactions will be faster, creating customer loyalty programs will be easier, and pharmacy POS systems that automatically track sales trends will help you figure out which products your customers really want.

It may be difficult, if not impossible, to track down every online pharmacy and shut it down. But by working together, it may be possible to push these sketchy companies right out of business. Helpful links. Reference links.

One of the Biggest Problems in Modern POS Systems

    Finance Tips

Retail pharmacy point of sale

If you own a small business and have to manage a POS system on your own, being able to detect and solve problems (or find someone who can solve them) is extremely important; it doesn’t matter if you own a restaurant and use a general POS software, or if you own a small local drugstore and rely on a specialized retail pharmacy POS system — being sure that your system is safe and secure is essential for a successful business.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at one of the most common problems that business owners have with a POS system…

Security Breaches

With so many national chain stores experiencing security breaches in their POS systems, the silver lining is that more business owners are becoming aware that their own systems could use some updated security protection. If you start seeing weird files appearing or (ironically) you see an influx of warning messages pop up that suggest you should update the security system on your devices, those are two solid signs that dangerous malware (i.e., a computer virus) has gotten into your system.

Most newer POS systems come with round-the-clock support, and many companies offer to send out updated security features as they’re developed. It’s no secret that security companies are usually only able to create security programs against viruses after hackers have already sent out the malware, so if you have a secure system but still suspect that it’s been infected, that’s fairly normal.

The most important thing you can do is simply be aware of malware signs, and if you suspect that something is wrong, never hesitate to call an expert for help. Read more like this.