Modernizing Pharmacy Drug Dispensing to Reduce Fill Time and Unlock Patient Engagement Case Study

Role

Lead Product Designer
End-to-end ownership of research, workflow design, prototyping, testing, and cross-functional delivery

Organization

Kroger Health

Problem

Kroger Health’s existing pharmacy drug dispensing software was built on a legacy Java Swing platform that had become increasingly difficult to evolve. While functionally complete, the product created friction in several critical areas:
• Long and inconsistent medication fill times
• Steep learning curves for newly onboarded pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
• Limited flexibility to support modern pharmacy workflows
• Minimal opportunity for pharmacists to step away from the screen and engage patients in health and wellness programs

As pharmacy demand increased and staffing pressures grew, the software was actively working against efficiency and patient engagement.

The business challenge:
Reduce fill times and training overhead while creating space for pharmacists to deliver higher-value patient interactions that drive additional revenue through health and wellness programs.

Goals
• Optimize and modernize pharmacy dispensing workflows
• Reduce time spent per prescription fill across all pharmacies
• Shorten training time for new pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
• Enable pharmacists to spend more time interacting with patients
• Support future growth through a modern, re-platformed architecture

My Role & Responsibilities

As Lead Designer, I was responsible for:
• Evaluating the existing dispensing product and workflows
• Partnering closely with a Product Owner to define functional and experience requirements
• Designing a modern dashboard and optimized workflows
• Leading usability testing with former pharmacists, active pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians
• Iterating designs based on real-world feedback
• Collaborating with engineering to support re-platforming off Java Swing
• Observing in-pharmacy behavior to inform future workflow improvements

Discovery & Research

Workflow Evaluation

I began by evaluating the existing dispensing system to understand:
• Where time was being lost during prescription fills
• Which steps caused the most confusion for new staff
• How frequently pharmacists were interrupted or context-switching

This surfaced several issues:
• Overloaded screens with poor visual hierarchy
• Non-intuitive task sequencing
• Excessive navigation and repeated data entry
• Limited visibility into prescription status at a glance

Subject Matter Expert Feedback

To ground the redesign in real pharmacy experience, I conducted an initial round of testing with former pharmacists. This allowed us to pressure-test early concepts without disrupting active pharmacy operations.

Key insights:
• Pharmacists prioritized speed, clarity, and error prevention over feature density
• Status visibility and exception handling were critical pain points
• Small interaction improvements could save seconds per prescription at scale

Design Approach

Dashboard & Workflow Redesign

I designed a new, modern dashboard focused on:
• Clear prescription status visibility
• Streamlined task flows with fewer decision points
• Reduced cognitive load through better hierarchy and grouping
• Faster access to high-frequency actions

Several core workflows were redesigned end-to-end to eliminate unnecessary steps and reduce handoffs between pharmacists and technicians.

Prototyping & Validation

After refining the designs, I created clickable prototypes and conducted in-person usability testing inside active pharmacies with:
• Practicing pharmacists
• Pharmacy technicians

This allowed us to validate the designs in real working conditions, not lab environments.

During these sessions, I:
• Observed how the software fit into actual pharmacy rhythms
• Identified edge cases and interruptions not visible in documentation
• Collected direct feedback on clarity, speed, and confidence

Designs were iterated multiple times based on this feedback.

Technical Collaboration

Once the design direction was approved, I partnered with the Product Owner and engineering team to:
• Translate design intent into technical requirements
• Support the re-platforming effort away from Java Swing
• Ensure the new architecture could support future enhancements

This collaboration ensured the design was not just visually modern, but technically sustainable.

Outcomes & Impact

Efficiency Gains
• Over 8 million seconds saved per year across all Kroger Health pharmacies
• Significant reduction in average medication fill time
• Faster onboarding and training for new pharmacists and technicians

Business Impact
• Pharmacists gained meaningful time back during shifts
• Increased ability to engage patients directly
• More opportunities to enroll patients in insurance-recommended health and wellness programs
• Increased revenue potential per pharmacy through higher-value patient interactions

Key Takeaways
• Small time savings per task compound massively at enterprise scale
• Designing for real environments reveals insights no documentation can capture
• Modernizing legacy systems is as much about workflow clarity as technology
• UX improvements can directly unlock new revenue opportunities, not just efficiency