The new year is here, and if you’re anything like us, you’re probably setting new goals, starting new programs, and dreaming up big plans for your business in 2026.
But as you start doling out your to-do lists, we want to remind you: Don’t forget about your pharmacy software system.
Like any other system, your software can stand to get a little refresh every now and then—to keep information organized, protect patient data, and ensure everything behind the scenes runs smoothly.
For many pharmacists, the start of the year is the perfect time to give your system that TLC. The post‑holiday energy is still high, optimism is in the air, and it’s easier to build good habits before the year gets busy.
To help you get started, we sat down with two BestRx software specialists—Eli Deriviere and Liam Barcelona—to gather their best tips for cleaning up, organizing, and optimizing your software for the year ahead.
With just a few hours this week, you can fine-tune your system and set yourself up to stay proactive all year long. Trust us: You’ll be glad you did.
In the holiday rush, it’s easy for small tasks to slip—including system updates.
That’s why the new year is the perfect time to get back on track and make regular workstation maintenance part of your routine.
“I would say the most important thing pharmacies can do is make sure their workstations stay up to date and perform a full restart at least once a week,” Eli says.
Regular updates not only prevent pesky slowdowns and mid-day screen freezes, but as Eli says, they can patch up any security vulnerabilities and keep your software running the way it’s meant to.
To keep those workstations updated, just enable a few best practices:
Drug pricing is always something to keep an eye on, but heading into 2026 it’s more important than ever.
With the new Maximum Fair Price (MFP) updates taking effect on January 1, several high‑spend Medicare Part D drugs—including staples like Eliquis, Jardiance, and Xarelto—will see significant price reductions.
This is great news for patients, but it means you’ll need to keep your pricing up to date so claims process correctly and your profit reports stay accurate. Even a small mismatch can create reimbursement issues or skew your financials.
“I’ve seen many pharmacies with inaccurate profit reports simply because they haven’t taken the time to ensure their drug files are updated properly and consistently,” Eli says.
Keeping accurate files isn’t difficult; it just requires a bit of consistency. And depending on your setup, the process may look a little different.
If your pharmacy works with an EDI-supported wholesaler in BestRx’s Wholesaler Interface, your pricing updates will pull in automatically.
If your pharmacy does work with an EDI‑supported wholesaler not already in BestRx, reach out to the wholesaler to request an EDI integration. Once they initiate the process, BestRx Support will contact your pharmacy to complete the setup.
If you don’t have an EDI connection, or your wholesaler doesn’t provide EDI files, your updates will be limited to Medi‑Span price updates. These can provide general pricing but may not reflect your contract‑specific costs.
Here’s what we recommend to stay as accurate as possible:
Say you have a power surge, a stolen device, or a bad thunderstorm in the area. If your files aren’t backed up, they’re good as gone — or at the very least, they’re difficult (not to mention expensive) to get back.
That’s why Eli stresses the importance of daily backups.
“A missed backup can be the difference between having a functioning pharmacy after an unexpected incident or not being able to operate at all,” he says.
For pharmacies using BestRx Cloud-Based Backup, this task is a no-brainer. Your backups run automatically in the background, without anyone needing to remember a thing. No extra work and no extra effort required.
But if you’re still relying on manual backups, the new year is the perfect time to tighten up your routine.
Here’s what we recommend:
To learn more about BestRx Cloud-Based Backup, contact BestRx customer support.
Over time, every pharmacy system starts to collect a little digital clutter. Think old patient profiles, outdated prescriber records, discontinued drugs, and other bits of data no one is actively using anymore.
While none of this clutter is harmful on its own, it does make your system feel clunkier than it needs to be. Searches take longer, reports feel cluttered, and it becomes harder to find the information you actually need.
Luckily, BestRx includes a built-in Purge Unused Records tool designed specifically for this kind of cleanup.
It safely removes old, unused, or residual records without touching anything that’s active. And because it’s password‑protected, you can feel confident your records stay secure.
Here’s how to make your clean-up easy:
The start of a new year is the perfect time to take a closer look at who has access to your system—and for that matter, whether they should have access.
Over time, it’s easy for old accounts to linger, passwords to go unchanged, or permissions to stay broader than necessary. But these small oversights can create big security risks.
Our developers see this more often than you’d think. “I’ve seen situations where former technicians still had active, signable BestRx accounts,” Eli shares.
If that person ever returned to the pharmacy—or gained access to a workstation—they’d still be able to sign prescriptions or access sensitive information. Not ideal.
A quick audit can prevent that. Here’s what we recommend:
Last on our 2026 to-do list, we encourage pharmacies to treat January like a workflow reset.
When your workflow isn’t clearly defined, it’s easy for prescriptions to stall, get misplaced, or pile up in the wrong places.
One of the easiest ways to do this in BestRx is by using Custom Queues. You can think of them as digital checkpoints that help you track every prescription from start to finish.
Many pharmacies use a simple flow like Intake → Verification → Adjudicated → Ready to Dispense, but you can tailor your queues to match the way your team works.
This allows pharmacies to keep tabs on their prescriptions and see exactly what status they are immediately,” Liam Barcelona, Software Support Specialist, says. “It also helps a lot with pharmacies that may not be the most physically organized.
When your queues are clean and clearly defined, your workflow becomes cleaner too. You get better visibility into where prescriptions are, bottlenecks become easier to spot, and your team spends less time hunting things down.
Here are a few best practices to help you kick off the year with a cleaner workflow:
The new year is among the best opportunities to take a step back, evaluate your systems, and start implementing new ones for the year ahead.
As you’re working through your strategy, we recommend taking some time to evaluate what is (and isn’t) working in your BestRx pharmacy software.
If your system feels cluttered, confusing, or just plain disorganized, it becomes harder to roll out the bigger initiatives you’re excited about—whether that’s expanding med sync, launching a referral program, or building a more proactive patient outreach plan.
As our developers shared, small changes—some only take just a few minutes, and others run automatically—can make a big difference.