Instant Counter Billing that Keeps Your Pharmacy Moving Fast

Below is a step‑by‑step walkthrough of using the fast counter billing capability in a typical independent pharmacy – let’s call it Greenfield Pharmacy on the High Street in York. The example uses realistic numbers and shows how a single sale creates a refill reminder for a chronic‑care patient.

1. Log into the Ferbz dashboard

Open a web browser, go to https://dashboard.ferbz.com/ and sign in with your credentials. The home screen displays the main navigation bar on the left: Dashboard, Billing, Patients, Automation, Broadcasts, Reminders board, Reports.

2. Select the Billing tab

Click Billing. The screen shows a clean “New Sale” form with three sections:

• Patient – a searchable dropdown.
• Items – a table where you add product lines.
• Summary – totals, VAT, and the Complete Sale button.

3. Choose the patient

In the Patient field type “John Smith”. Ferbz pulls up John’s existing profile (John is a 58‑year‑old with hypertension and type‑2 diabetes). If the patient were new, you could click Add new patient and fill in name, mobile number, address and NHS number – all of which will be stored for future reminders.

4. Add the items being purchased

Click Add line and start typing “Metformin 500 mg”. Select the product, enter the quantity (2 packs), and the system auto‑populates the unit price (£4.20 per pack). Repeat for “Amlodipine 5 mg” (1 pack, £3.10) and “Vitamin D 1000 IU” (1 bottle, £5.50).

The Summary area now shows:

• Sub‑total: £16.80
• VAT (calculated according to HMRC rules for medicines – generally zero‑rated for prescription items, standard‑rated for over‑the‑counter supplements): £0.00 for the prescription items, £1.10 for the vitamin supplement.
• Total: £17.90

5. Complete the sale

Press Complete Sale. Ferbz instantly does three things:

1. PDF receipt – a downloadable PDF appears with a unique link (e.g., https://ferbz.com/receipt/AB12CD34). The receipt lists each line item, quantities, prices, VAT breakdown and the total.
2. Patient record update – John’s profile now shows this sale under the “Purchase history” tab, with the date, items and total amount.
3. Automation trigger – because the Automation module has a journey titled “Metformin refill reminder – 7 days before due”, Ferbz enrolls John into that journey at the moment the sale is saved.

6. Send the receipt via WhatsApp (optional)

Navigate to the Patients tab, open John’s profile, and click Send receipt. A pre‑filled WhatsApp message appears, using the official WhatsApp Business API via Gupshup. The message reads:

“Hi John, thanks for picking up your Metformin and Amlodipine today. Your receipt is here: [link]. If you have any questions, reply to this chat.”

Hit Send. One credit is deducted from your wallet for the outgoing message. The status (sent/delivered/read) will appear on the Reminders board under the “WhatsApp messages” section.

7. Verify the reminder is scheduled

Open the Reminders board from the left navigation. You will see a new entry:

The reminder is automatically calculated: John bought 2 packs of Metformin, each covering 30 days. The system adds 60 days to today’s date (2024‑08‑06) and subtracts the 7‑day lead time, resulting in the 5 October send date.

8. Review the automation flow (optional)

If you want to see or edit the journey, click Automation → select “Metformin refill reminder – 7 days before due”. The visual canvas shows:

• Trigger: “Sale completed” + product = Metformin → Wait 53 days → Message (WhatsApp template “Refill reminder”) → Branch (if patient replies “Yes”, create a new sale; if “No”, send follow‑up in 3 days).

All templates use your pharmacy’s branding and can be edited directly on the canvas.

9. End of day – check reports

At any time, go to Reports → select “Sales & Messaging” for the date range 2024‑08‑01 to 2024‑08‑06. The report shows:

• Total sales: £1,274.60
• Number of receipts sent via WhatsApp: 27 (credits used: 27)
• Reminders scheduled: 22, of which 20 have been delivered and 2 are pending (e.g., a patient who purchased a 90‑day supply).

This gives you a clear picture of revenue, messaging spend and reminder effectiveness without leaving the Ferbz dashboard.

Speed at the counter – In the example above, the entire checkout process took under 90 seconds from selecting the patient to printing the receipt link. There is no need to manually write down the next refill date or to copy‑paste patient details into a separate reminder system.

Reduced manual errors – Because the sale automatically populates the patient’s purchase history, the refill‑reminder date is calculated by the system, eliminating the common mistake of mis‑reading a prescription label or forgetting to note a 30‑day supply.

Revenue protection – Prior to using Ferbz, Greenfield Pharmacy lost an estimated £12.40 per month on missed insulin refills for just five chronic patients who forgot to return. After implementing fast counter billing, the automated reminder journey nudged 4 of those patients back within the 7‑day window, recovering £9.80 in sales and preventing the insulin from sitting idle on the shelf.

Credit‑controlled messaging cost – With the prepaid wallet, Greenfield Pharmacy spent exactly 27 credits on receipt messages and 22 credits on refill reminders for the week, a transparent spend of £0.27 + £0.22 (assuming the agreed credit value). There is no surprise monthly bill; you top up only when you need to send more messages.

Better stock turnover – By ensuring patients receive timely refill prompts, the pharmacy reduces the chance that a 30‑day pack of Metformin expires on the shelf. In the first month of use, expired stock fell from £45.30 to £12.70, a £32.60 improvement directly linked to higher refill adherence.

Overall, fast counter billing with Ferbz turns a routine checkout into a revenue‑protecting, compliance‑friendly, and fully automated workflow that keeps the pharmacy moving quickly while safeguarding chronic‑care income streams.

Fast counter billing is ready to make your pharmacy’s checkout smoother and your refill reminders more reliable. Sign up for a free trial at https://dashboard.ferbz.com/, import your patient list via CSV, set up a simple Metformin refill automation, and watch the Reminders board keep you informed in real time. If you have any questions while configuring your first sale flow, our support team is on hand at support@ferbz.com – happy to walk you through every step.