Reflecting on 40 Years of Partnership and Innovation
Posted on Oct 29, 2024
As another year winds down, we wanted to pause and reflect on all that has happened at BestRx – not only over the last 12 months, but over the past 40 years. Although our footprint has only recently expanded to include customers in nearly all 50 states, BestRx is not a newcomer to the industry. In fact, we’ve achieved some incredible things since the company’s inception in 1985. Join us as we recount some key milestones, from BestRx’s humble beginnings to our promising future as part of RedSail Technologies.
Getting Started
BestRx was built from one man’s earnest desire to help his pharmacist friends operate their stores more efficiently. Back in the 80’s, most pharmacies were still processing physical written scripts, using typewriters for labels, and mailing claims to payers. The technology available was extremely limited and expensive for most independent pharmacies. So, our founder, Yogesh Desai, a software developer for Allstate, started working on a simple DOS-based software solution in his free time to help digitize and streamline basic pharmacy operations.
Stepping into the Market
Yogesh continued to work full time and dedicated his weekends to building BestRx for nearly 18 years. Initially, BestRx was used by Yogesh’s friends and their colleagues, who were primarily based in Illinois and New York. Growing slow and steady, the company officially welcomed its 100th customer by 1992. Then, after finishing college, our President, Hemal Desai joined his father in 2002, and they both made the leap and focused on BestRx full time. That’s when the company really started to take root and grow.
Upgrading our Software
Like any business, evolving quickly became critical to our long-term success. As the needs of our customers grew and technology continued to advance, we made the decision to transition our software from DOS to Windows. In fact, at the time (2003) we were one of the first pharmacy management systems in the market to offer Windows-based programming. Fast forward two years and we were launching our integrated point-of-sale solution, BestPOS, enabling pharmacies to streamline their front-end activity too.
Building our Team
While enhancing our software and adding new customers, we were actively growing our team as well. By 2004, it became clear we needed to move our operation from Yogesh’s home and into a true office space. Our initial team of developers and customer support representatives set up shop in Bloomingdale, Illinois and by 2017, we brought on a sales team as well. This enabled us to achieve rapid growth, going from roughly 500 customers in 2011 to 1,000 by 2018. In 2019, we opened a second office in California to provide increased support for our rapidly expanding footprint.
Expanding our Network
No pharmacy software system can do it all and do it well. That’s why we not only continually invest in our own solutions, but in building integrations with other vendors to provide customers with additional functionality and value as well. Today, BestRx is proud to offer more than 100 integrations from adherence programs and IVR to credit card processing and shipping. That way customers can not only benefit from the user-friendly features built into our software, but also add other advanced functionality to support all their needs.
Standing Out
Over the years, we remained focused on continuous improvement and innovation. In fact, BestRx was the first pharmacy software provider to achieve both Level 2 and Level 3 eCare plan certifications, and to send 1 million transactions using the newest e-prescribing standard. In 2022 and 2023, BestRx was also awarded a Surescripts White Coat Award for Highest Accuracy, further validating all our hard work and efforts over the years. Then in late 2023, BestRx rolled out a cloud-hosted version of its software, providing remote access and even greater flexibility for pharmacies than ever before. These accomplishments proved BestRx to be more than just another software provider, and instead, a true leader in the industry.
Looking to the Future
As we thought about what’s next for BestRx, joining forces with RedSail Technologies seemed like a natural fit and logical next step. Our overarching mission has always been to empower independent pharmacies and enhance patient care. RedSail has a similar mission and shares many of our guiding principles, including placing an emphasis on product innovation and customer support. This strategic partnership enables us to continue to provide our customers with leading solutions that enhance their profitability and efficiency in ways we could not have achieved on our own.
It’s been an eventful, rewarding 40 years and we can’t wait to see what’s next for BestRx. We could not have gotten here without the support of our valued customers and partners. As we embark on this next phase of growth, we continue to be guided by our founder’s sincere and unwavering commitment to providing the tools and support needed to advance independent pharmacy. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has played a role in our journey so far and look forward to welcoming even more pharmacies into the BestRx family in the future.
Click here to learn more about BestRx.