Crystal Springs firm creates pharmacy counseling center

By John Porretto
AP Business Writer

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - A Mississippi company is developing a product that will allow pharmacists to take more of a clinical role when they sell medicine to customers.

MMI of Mississippi Inc. - which makes equipment for pharmacies and hospitals- has designed an in-store, modular counseling center where druggists can meet with customers, discuss medications and even show educational videos.

MMI President John A. Freels said the concept parallels an industry trend in which many pharmacists are stepping from behind the counter and spending more time counseling customers. "Pharmacists don't need to spend as much time counting, licking and sticking these days," Freels said. "As their business has evolved, so have we."

When William Reeves of Crystal Springs started the company in 1986, the goal was to help pharmacists use their counters and shelves effectively. The focus was on how and where medicines were stored. The privately held company, using designs created by the University of Mississippi's Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has made work centers for pharmacies and hospitals around the country.

The products include automated dispensing stations, compounding centers and order processing centers. MMI's clients include Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, where Reeves helped renovate the pharmacy in 1987. "He saw how we operated and came up with a design," said Mary Helen Bowen, assistant vice president for pharmacy services at the 571 bed St. Dominic Hospital.

"We've made some minor adjustments, but it still functions. The equipment still looks nice and has held up well." MMI, with sales of $6 million last year, also has created storage and dispensing systems for some of the nation's large drugstore chains. MMI, which Reeves sold to three new owners in January, works out of a nondescript building in downtown Crystal Springs, about 30 miles south of Jackson. From there, the company's 20 employees handle just about everything involved in the business - administration, marketing and manufacturing.