Vermont Health Center uses new prescription-dispensing technology

BURLINGTON, Vt. The Health Center in Plainfield, Vt., has a new automated dispensing machine for dispensing prescription medicines, local media reported.

According to the Burlington, Vt., Free Press, the seven-foot-tall machine holds 122 prescription drugs, with a bar-code reader that pharmacy technicians use to access the medicines for patients. The machine uses the same basic mechanism as a snack machine, with turning coils that push medicines off the shelves and into a bin at the bottom. 

The medicines in the dispensing machine are for conditions requiring prompt treatment rather than drugs for long-term, chronic conditions, the Free Press reported. It is the first machine of its kind of Vermont and is meant to address pharmacist and pharmacy shortages in rural Vermont.