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Pill Counting in the pharmacy of the future
One thing we can say with some kind of certainty is that the use of the pill counting tray will be diminished, but probably not eliminated. This implies that some sort of pharmacy automation will take its place. That automation will have to be economical in order that low-volume pharmacies, like those in retail outlets, can make financial sense of the capital expenditure. One way in which economic justification could be made simpler is if the pill counting capability was provided along with other capabilities, like report generation and efficiency recommendations, which provided the pharmacy with additional capability.
It would appear unlikely that the United States will go to a prepackaged drug strategy similar to that used in Europe. In that type of strategy pill counting is largely eliminated but the unit cost per drug is increased by the packaging.