Pharmacy ROI Calculator

Per minute vs. per hour, side by side.

A phone agent billed per minute can look expensive next to a tech paid by the hour. Compare them per call and per year, with 24/7 coverage, missed refills and the services the agent replaces counted in. Set a list price and a target price to see both.

Your pharmacy

Agent price, per connected minute

List price

$/min

Target priceThe price you want to compare against

$/min

Human staff

Hourly wagePharmacy tech answering phones

$/hr

Payroll loadTaxes, benefits, PTO: 1.3 = +30%

Minutes per callTalk plus wrap-up

min

Time on callsNo one is on calls 100% of a shift

Hours covered per week168 = 24/7

hrs

Calls

Calls per week

Agent minutes per call

min

Calls handed to staffTransfers and callback tasks

Staff minutes per handed-off callShorter: the agent already verified and noted why

min

Calls you lose today

Missed or abandonedVoicemail, hold drop-offs, after hours

Missed calls that are refills

Of those, fill lost or delayed

Gross profit per fill

Spending it replaces, per month

After-hours answering service

Interpreter line

Overtime and temp cover

Other (IVR, phone tree)

List price$1.50/min

$31K

net impact per year

Cost per call, incl. handoffs: $2.86
Agent minutes, per year: $292,500
Labor saving: $7,193

Target price$1.00/min

$128K

net impact per year

Cost per call, incl. handoffs: $2.11
Agent minutes, per year: $195,000
Labor saving: $104,693

Staff cost per call

$2.60

staff only, today

Break-even price

$1.66/min

pays for itself at any price up to this

Staff hours freed

274/wk

≈ 6.8 full-time techs back to the counter

What drives your result, per year

Staff cost avoided

10.0 FTE at $18.20/hr loaded

Driven by: Wage, payroll load, minutes per call, time on calls, hours covered, calls per week

+$379K

AI agent minutes

195,000 min/yr at $1.00/min

Driven by: Calls per week, agent minutes per call, price per minute

−$195K

Staff on handed-off calls

35% of calls, 4 min each

Driven by: Calls handed to staff, staff minutes per handed-off call, wage

−$79K

Fills recovered

1,950 fills/yr at $12.00

Driven by: Missed calls, refill share, fills lost, gross profit per fill

+$23K

Spending replaced

answering service, interpreter, overtime, other

Driven by: Answering service, interpreter line, overtime, other

+$0

From today's staff cost to net impact

Staff cost avoided

AI agent minutes

Staff on handed-off calls

Fills recovered

Spending replaced

Net impact

Yearly cost to answer every call

Staff only

$379K

Agent at list price

$371K

Agent at target price

$274K

StaffAI agentStaff on handed-off calls

Where the money comes from, per year

	List	Target
Staff cost to cover these hours and this volume10.0 FTE at $18.20/hr loaded (4.7 to cover 168 hrs/week, 10.0 for 2,500 calls/week)	$378,560	$378,560
AI agent minutes	−$292,500	−$195,000
Staff time still needed on handed-off calls	−$78,867	−$78,867
Labor saving	$7,193	$104,693
Fills recovered from calls that get answered1,950 fills a year at $12.00 gross profit each	+$23,400	+$23,400
Spending replaced	+$0	+$0
Net impact	$30,593	$128,093

How the math works

Assumptions

Staff cost: whichever is larger — the people needed to keep the phone covered for the hours entered, or the people needed to handle the call volume. Headcount adds 12% for breaks, training and absence; each FTE is 2,080 paid hours at the loaded wage.
Agent cost: calls × agent minutes per call × price per minute, plus staff time on the calls the agent hands off.
Recovered fills: missed calls × the share that are refills × the share of those lost or delayed today × gross profit per fill.
Break-even price: the per-minute price at which net impact is zero. Any list or target price below it pays for itself.
Not counted, and usually in the agent's favor: languages beyond English and Spanish, calls answered on the first ring, every call recorded and summarized, and techs moved from the phone to filling and counseling.
Defaults are illustrative assumptions. Replace them with your own numbers; real results depend on your call mix and how many calls your policies let the agent close.