Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Knoxville Business News Tennessee Mountain Scenery Background
December 13, 2023 | Tom Ballard

OrderInsite automates operations at retail pharmacies

The Nashville-headquartered company that serves a national market was founded in 2014 by George Lazenby and Mark Lyle.

When you go to your pharmacy to have a prescription filled, you automatically assume that whatever drug you need will be available. You probably don’t realize that prescription inventory is the second biggest expense a pharmacy has after personnel costs.

Enter OrderInsite with its automation suite of services.

“We help our customers, primarily retail pharmacies, manage their working capital,” says George Lazenby, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nashville-headquartered company that serves a national market. It was founded in 2014 by Lazenby, former CEO of Emdeon, and Mark Lyle.

In addition to Nashville, the company also has a location in Thousand Oaks, CA, and staff located throughout the country.

Today, Lazenby says OrderInsite “is easily the market leader in our space bringing automation, including artificial intelligence and machine learning which were previously cost-prohibitive, within reach for pharmacies of all sizes.”

When the company was launched, OrderInsite primarily helped pharmacies forecast demand. “Today, we help them do things they can’t do manually.”

That’s particularly important due to what he termed the “many ways that pharmacies are constrained.” That includes everything from understaffing to new requirements related to opioids.

“Let’s get them back to treating patients,” Lazenby says, adding, “Let’s take things that are very complex off their plates.”

In a recent blogpost, he wrote that pharmacies have traditionally used automation to notify patients when it’s time to refill a prescription, alert them when medicines are ready for pick up, and send appointment reminders. While those reduce or remove some of the administrative tasks that pharmacists face, Lazenby says that “today’s pharmacy environment demands that automation be more sophisticated.”

What does this mean? It includes two words – accuracy and compliance.

“A major advantage of automation is enhanced accuracy, which is especially critical where medication mix ups and mistakes can be fatal,” Lazenby says. “Another – often overlooked – area where automation can make a marked difference is compliance.”

He explains that pharmacists must keep up with nuanced state and federal regulations that are constantly changing or face heavy fines – or worse – loss of their license.

OrderInsite is increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning in its tools.

“We are building our technology to support a customer in the way they wanted. We are building solutions that are intuitive and self-service,” Lazenby explains.

In addition to inventory management, compliance, and intelligent procurement, OrderInsite also provides its customers with advanced analytics and digital surveillance.

“Pharmacies are a big business but a small industry,” Lazenby explains.



Like what you've read?

Forward to a friend!

Don’t Miss Out on the Southeast’s Latest Entrepreneurial, Business, & Tech News!

Sign-up to get the Teknovation Newsletter in your inbox each morning!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


No, thanks!