Avita Pharmacy

Avita Pharmacy is a 340b pharmacy solutions provider that serves patients and partners with exceptional service and comprehensive solutions. Their mission is to help foster healthier communities through customer-focused pharmacy services, tailored solutions, and a commitment to support and advocacy. Marshall Frost, VP of Corporate Systems, began working with the organization 18 years ago as a pharmacist in Thomson, Georgia. As the organization has grown, he has held leadership positions in business development, operations, vendor management, and IT to drive new technology adoption and systems integration. In his current role, he is in charge of managing infrastructure, supporting end-users, and dispensing system platforms to improve pharmacy operations and patient care.

The Challenges

• Maintaining hardware for multiple sites

• Extensive lead times for installation

• No centralized management

• No standardization across all sites

“Legacy systems often have multiple types of hardware that are older or non-standard, which makes them difficult to support. Worst case scenario is that an incident happens and you find the camera or NVR wasn’t recording the whole time.”

The previous system consisted of disparate camera solutions connected to various network video recorders (NVRs). The decentralized hardware made multi-site management complicated and convoluted; Frost had to log into separate NVRs in order to access footage at different locations. Reliability was also a critical consideration since footage had to be reliably retained for a minimum of 30 days. Finally, the process of sharing footage in the event of an incident was inefficient and time-consuming. To get footage into the hands of law enforcement, Frost and his team had to record the video file to a local computer, save it to a thumb drive, and deliver it in-person.

Why Verkada?

1. Set granular user permissions to ensure security

2. Simple to install & configure cameras via mobile app

3. 4K, HD image quality and advanced search capabilities

4. Guaranteed video retention and unlimited cloud archiving

5. Bandwidth friendly cameras (20 kbps)

6. Access cameras on any browser or device

7. Easy to share footage with law enforcement

“Just as with any big-box pharmacy location, we maintain the same regulations and requirements for the DEA and state regulatory bodies. We require a camera system that monitors 24/7, has the ability to alert us if tampering takes place, and enables data to be quickly accessible—that’s what brought us to Verkada.”

Due to Avita Pharmacy’s rapid expansion, Frost sought to centralize video security onto one platform in order to scale and simplify management across multiple sites. With Verkada’s solution, he provides end-users with secure remote access and customizes their permissions based on roles and locations. Cameras are automatically configured and bandwidth-friendly at 20 kbps, enabling easy deployment to remote locations. Gaps in coverage are no longer a concern; footage is saved onboard the camera to onboard storage and to cloud-based servers hosted by AWS. For faster incident resolution, he applies advanced search features and real-time alerts to be instantly notified of system health issues or meaningful after-hours activity.

Simple to install & configure cameras via mobile app

“Verkada was very simple to install and configure, which is one of our top priorities as an organization in expansion mode—we need to make the process of setting up new pharmacies quick and simple. With Verkada, we basically plug the camera into a network jack with PoE, point it in the right direction, and set up the rest of it from the centralized Command platform.”

Set granular user permissions to provide security

“As a healthcare entity, we follow the rules of HIPAA—the least amount of access per job description is important. We need to be able to provide granular permissions to individuals based on their roles; district managers may need access to multiple locations, while security officers may only need to view certain cameras during certain times of the day.”

4K, HD image quality and advanced search capabilities

“If someone turns in a forged or altered prescription, we can use Face Search and People Analytics to identify the individual and find when it happened. We can also look back in history and see if they’ve been at one of the locations in the past.”

Guaranteed video retention and unlimited cloud archiving

“With DVRs and NVRs, you have to guess how much storage is left while maintaining at least a 30-day history. Depending on how many cameras there are or any issues that arise, you might discover only 14 days of video footage are available when there should be 30 to 90 days. With a hybrid cloud infrastructure, reliability no longer a concern; video data is saved both onboard the camera and to cloud-based servers.”

Bandwidth friendly cameras (20 kbps)

“We have a few locations that are in rural areas, so we are mindful of bandwidth challenges. Verkada is a centralized solution that doesn’t require us to install a separate internet circuit just for the camera system.”

Access cameras on any browser or device

“Video data is immediately accessible through a web browser or mobile phone. Because we are a pharmacy, incidents usually happen in the middle of the night. We need to be able to access cameras as quickly as possible to make sure no one is still on-site and get the footage to first responders right away.”

Easy to share footage with law enforcement

“Verkada offers advanced reporting and search capabilities so if we do have an incident, we can quickly access and share the footage through a link. We don’t need to record the file to a local computer, or manually deliver it on a thumb drive.”

Looking Ahead: Continuing to Grow and Scale

“Standardization is key for our team—as we expand, we need to hire new people and make our processes mature. Having one solution for all sites is far superior to supporting Solution A at Site 1, Solution B at Site 2.”

With Verkada, Frost has a centralized security system that can scale with Avita Pharmacy as it expands to new territories. As the company grows, Frost will continue to add cameras and Floor Plans of new sites. “We can basically take a schematic of the location and design how we want the coverage to take place.”

To try Verkada at your organization, request a free trial camera or attend our weekly webinar.