How DePietro's Pharmacy Used AI Data-Entry Bots to Run 24/7

Introduction

Most pharmacy bottlenecks don’t announce themselves. They show up as a customer comment at the register — a prescription that took two days instead of one, a refill that wasn’t ready when it usually is.

That’s exactly how Tom DePietro, owner of DePietro’s Pharmacy, found his. In this short customer story, Tom explains how he worked backwards through his prescription workflow, pinpointed data entry as the constraint slowing everything down, and deployed three AI data-entry bots from TJM Labs to clear it — creating the capacity to serve patients faster without hiring three new technicians.

It’s a practical look at how a high-volume independent pharmacy can use AI to fix a real operational problem, one workflow at a time.

What you’ll learn

• How to trace customer complaints back to a specific workflow bottleneck
• Why data entry is often the hidden constraint in a busy pharmacy
• How AI data-entry bots add capacity without adding headcount
• What changes downstream when the data-entry backlog disappears
• Tom’s advice for pharmacy owners who suspect they have friction to fix

Watch the customer story

▶ Watch Tom's story

The problem: a hidden data-entry bottleneck

Tom starts every diagnosis the same way — by listening to customers. When a few of them mentioned at the register that their prescriptions were taking longer than usual, he took it as a signal that something in his workflow had broken down.

So he walked the prescription workflow in reverse: will-call bin, pharmacist verification, production, and finally data entry. Each stage was well supported by technology — light-up bags in the will-call area, a fully staffed verification bench, robotic filling devices in production. Data entry was the exception. With only two technicians assigned to it and a recent computer-system switch, hundreds of prescriptions were stacking up before they ever reached the fill line.

The bottleneck wasn’t the pharmacists or the robots. It was the very first step: getting prescriptions into the system.

The solution: three AI data-entry bots

The traditional fix — hire more data-entry technicians — wasn’t realistic. As Tom points out, reimbursement pressure makes it hard to throw staff at every operational problem, and experienced pharmacy technicians are difficult to hire in the first place.

Instead, he explored AI. He ran multiple vendor demos, compared notes with pharmacy owners in other states who were already using automation, and — being a self-described skeptic — went back to them more than once to confirm it was really working. Once he was convinced, he deployed three data-entry bots into his workflow to support his existing staff.

The bots gave DePietro’s Pharmacy the capacity of three additional data-entry technicians without the burden of hiring, training, or retaining them.

The results: a workflow that runs 24/7

The impact showed up almost immediately. Tom describes walking into the store on a Monday morning and finding no prescriptions waiting to be processed — so few that he briefly wondered whether the system had gone down over the weekend. In reality, the bots had already worked through the queue overnight, and every prescription was sitting in production, ready for technicians to fill.

That head start cascades through the rest of the day:

• Prescriptions reach the production queue faster, instead of waiting behind a data-entry backlog.
• Technicians start filling sooner in the morning.
• Pharmacists verify sooner.
• Patients get their prescriptions sooner — the outcome Tom set out to fix.

As Tom puts it, the bots “hot-wired” the pharmacy to keep working around the clock. The result is more convenience for patients — one of the biggest drivers of the patient experience — and less pressure on the team.

Key takeaways

Complaints are diagnostic data. A single customer comment pointed Tom to a workflow problem worth solving. Treat friction as a signal, not an annoyance.

Work the whole workflow before you fix one part. By walking his prescription process in reverse, Tom found the real constraint instead of guessing.

AI doesn’t have to be everywhere to be valuable. Tom stayed laser-focused on the single task slowing everything down — data entry — rather than trying to automate the entire pharmacy at once.

Capacity, not replacement. The bots supported Tom’s existing staff and added the throughput of three technicians, so his team could focus on patients instead of the backlog.

Tom’s advice for pharmacy owners

Tom’s guidance for other owners is simple: listen closely to your customers, and don’t get defensive when the feedback is uncomfortable. Most unhappy patients leave quietly, so a complaint that does reach you is worth its weight — it often points to a real, fixable issue. Use data and benchmarks, but don’t forget to go straight to the source and ask customers directly what they’re experiencing.

About DePietro’s Pharmacy

Tom DePietro is the owner of DePietro’s Pharmacy, a high-volume independent pharmacy focused on fast, convenient service for its patients.

Ready to learn more?

If you’re seeing friction in your own prescription workflow — a data-entry backlog, slow turnaround, or capacity you can’t hire your way out of — we’d love to talk about where AI could help. Explore AI for retail pharmacy or reach out directly.

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Video transcript

Read transcript

Tom: I try to listen closely to my customers and pay attention to what they tell us in the store. One day at the register, I started to hear a couple customers say, “Hey, I called my prescription in two days ago, and it’s usually ready the next day. I’m not looking to complain, but this is inconvenient.”

The feedback told me that I must have had a problem in my workflow. So as a pharmacist, I went backwards in our workflow: will-call bin area, pharmacist verification, production, data entry. When I was evaluating, each area was supported by technology. I looked at our will-call bin area — we have light-up bags to locate the bag for our cashiers. Our pharmacist verification was fully staffed, overstaffed in my opinion. Our production area is supported by technology with robotic filling devices. So lastly, I went to data entry, which had really no support. I saw our bottleneck was there.

We had hundreds of prescriptions waiting to be processed. At the time, we had just switched computer systems, so I attributed it to a learning curve. We just had two people dedicated to doing data entry, and they simply could not keep up with the volume of prescriptions coming in.

Interviewer: So you found the bottleneck on the data-entry side of the prescription workflow. Once you identified that, what changed?

Tom: I knew more people would be the traditional solution, but not the most feasible. As Rich said in his opening, we’re a high-volume store, and data entry requires talented people. We all know that hiring staff in today’s environment is challenging for two reasons. One, with reimbursement pressure where it’s at, we can’t simply add more people to every operational problem we encounter. And secondly, experienced pharmacy technicians are hard to hire.

So I started exploring AI and bots to support data entry. I talked to many pharmacy owners from different states who are in this room today. I did multiple demos with vendors, went back to those pharmacy owners and said, “Are you sure it’s working?” — because I was skeptical. I ended up deploying three data-entry bots into our workflow to better support my pharmacy staff. The solution gave us the capacity to better serve our customers without the burden of hiring three more staff members.

Interviewer: As you explored AI and looked at putting it into your workflow, how did you know where to start?

Tom: Working backwards in the prescription workflow, I was laser-focused on working through that process and exploring the options carefully — because, as many of you who go to the AI conferences know, it’s overwhelming and intimidating. But I wasn’t trying to use AI for everything. I was laser-focused on the task that was slowing down the rest of my workflow: data entry. The decision was grounded in a real workflow problem that was impacting our customers.

Interviewer: And once that change was in place, what got easier — for your workflow, for your team, and for your patients?

Tom: It showed up quickly. I remember going into the store on a Monday morning, and there were no prescriptions to process. I thought, “Did our pharmacy system go down last night? Did we lose business? Did something happen?” But in reality, all of the prescriptions were in our production queue, waiting for our pharmacy technicians to fill.

Before the change, pharmacy technicians come in, they talk about the weekend, and then they start to get to work — it’s twenty, thirty minutes before a prescription gets there, and thirty, forty minutes before your pharmacist is actually checking a prescription. After the change, prescriptions moved into production faster. The team was filling sooner, the pharmacist was verifying sooner, and patients received their prescriptions sooner, which was my problem to solve.

I say we hot-wired our pharmacy operation to work twenty-four seven. The improvement supported convenience, which is one of the biggest factors in a patient’s experience — along with happier employees, which matters too.

Interviewer: If someone out there knows there’s friction in their pharmacy, what would you tell them to look at first?

Tom: Listen closely to your customers. We don’t always get the luxury of knowing why a customer has left our pharmacy — most times, they leave quietly. So if a customer leaves negative feedback, value that. A complaint may point to a real issue in your business, and don’t just dismiss that feedback because it’s uncomfortable. You want to think you’re doing the best you can every day, but maybe there’s an improvement that really impacts a patient’s day-to-day — even something as simple as text messages.

The key is to remain objective. Don’t get defensive, don’t get emotional. Does the complaint point to something you could improve? Use data and benchmarks, but don’t forget to ask the customer directly what they’re experiencing. Sometimes, as a pharmacy owner, I overthink our problems, when we could just go directly to the source: our customer.