Pharmacy Fulfillment Guide

This guide explains how pharmacy fulfillment works from a Customer Support and clinic operations point of view. It covers Beluga pharmacy updates, Belmar/LifeFile, DispensePro, product routing, when pharmacy submission should happen, what patients may see, and when CS should escalate.

What Pharmacy Fulfillment Means

Pharmacy fulfillment is the step after medical review where a prescription/order is sent to the correct pharmacy or fulfillment partner.

In this app, fulfillment is separate from:

checkout payment
invoice payment
intake submission
intake approval
Beluga visit creation
subscription cycle billing
refill payment

For medication orders, the safest operational rule is:

Do not treat an order as ready for pharmacy fulfillment until prescription confirmation exists.

In the Beluga flow, that confirmation is usually the RX_WRITTEN webhook.

Pharmacy Types

Pharmacies are configured in:

Admin -> Settings -> Pharmacies

Common pharmacy types:

BELUGA: pharmacy in Beluga's network
OWN: clinic-owned or partner pharmacy that can send fulfillment webhooks
DISPENSE_PRO: DispensePro / MDScripts pharmacy route
BELMAR_LIFEFILE: Belmar / LifeFile pharmacy route

The pharmacy type controls how the app routes fulfillment and which integration data is required.

Product Routing

Products are routed to pharmacies through:

CRM -> Store -> Products -> Default Pharmacy

The product default pharmacy is the main routing signal.

Examples:

product default pharmacy type is DISPENSE_PRO: app can route that product to DispensePro
product default pharmacy type is BELMAR_LIFEFILE: app can route that product to Belmar/LifeFile
product default pharmacy type is BELUGA: Beluga visit submission can include the Beluga pharmacy id
product default pharmacy type is OWN: direct/partner pharmacy webhooks can update shipping status

CS note: if the wrong pharmacy is receiving an order, check the product's Default Pharmacy first.

Order-Level Pharmacy

Orders can also have an assigned pharmacy.

Where to check:

EMR -> Orders -> order detail -> Pharmacy

For Beluga visit submission, pharmacy priority is:

order assigned pharmacy
product default pharmacy
legacy Beluga pharmacy id on the order, if present

For DispensePro and Belmar/LifeFile routing, the submitter checks the product's Default Pharmacy type for each order item.

Prescription Boundary

Medication pharmacy submission should wait until the prescription is written.

In the Beluga workflow:

order is paid or created
required intake is completed
order is submitted to Beluga
Beluga provider reviews the visit
Beluga sends RX_WRITTEN
app creates local prescription records
app attempts pharmacy submission for routed products

Do not submit pharmacy fulfillment only because:

checkout succeeded
invoice payment succeeded
intake was submitted
intake was approved
Beluga visit was created
refill order was paid
subscription renewal charged successfully

Those events may move the order forward, but they do not prove a prescription was written.

Beluga Pharmacy Flow

For BELUGA pharmacies:

pharmacy id is sent during Beluga visit submission
Beluga handles medical review and may send pharmacy/shipping updates back
app receives Beluga pharmacy webhooks

Beluga pharmacy webhook examples:

PHARMACY_ORDER_CREATED
PHARMACY_ORDER_IN_FULFILLMENT
PHARMACY_ORDER_SHIPPED
PHARMACY_ORDER_DELIVERED

When Beluga sends shipping events, the app can update shipping status, carrier, and tracking information.

DispensePro Flow

DispensePro is a pharmacy fulfillment integration.

Configuration locations:

Admin -> Settings -> Medical Integrations -> DispensePro
Admin -> Settings -> Pharmacies -> DispensePro pharmacy record
CRM -> Store -> Products -> Default Pharmacy
EMR -> Drugs -> DispensePro Rx Configuration

Automatic submission:

after Beluga RX_WRITTEN, the app checks the order items
items whose product Default Pharmacy is DISPENSE_PRO are submitted to DispensePro
submission state is stored on the order in dispensePro

Manual actions may exist through EMR/API for:

submit
get status
refill
void

DispensePro status values may include:

authorized
submitted
filled
shipped
delivered
voided
failed

If DispensePro sends a shipped/delivered webhook, the app can update tracking and notify the patient.

Belmar / LifeFile Flow

Belmar uses LifeFile as the pharmacy/order backend.

Configuration locations:

Admin -> Settings -> Pharmacies -> Belmar / LifeFile pharmacy record
CRM -> Store -> Products -> Default Pharmacy
EMR -> Drugs -> LifeFile Rx Mapping

Automatic submission:

after Beluga RX_WRITTEN, the app checks the order items
items whose product Default Pharmacy is BELMAR_LIFEFILE are submitted to LifeFile
submission state is stored on the order in lifeFile

LifeFile requirements include:

pharmacy API URL and credentials
vendor/location/network ids
test or production status id
practice id
drug LifeFile Product ID
patient shipping/address data
prescription/prescriber data

Current limitation:

outbound LifeFile submission is wired
tracking webhook processing for Belmar/LifeFile is still not fully wired
generated signed hardcopy PDF attachment is still pending

CS note: if Belmar requires a signed hardcopy PDF and the order is blocked because of it, escalate to admin/development.

OWN Pharmacy Webhooks

For OWN pharmacies, partner pharmacies can send fulfillment events back to the app.

Webhook endpoint pattern:

/api/webhooks/pharmacy/[pharmacyId]

Common events:

order.shipped
order.fulfilled
order.out_for_delivery
order.delivered
order.cancelled

How the app handles them:

shipped/fulfilled/out for delivery can mark order SHIPPED
delivered can mark order COMPLETED
canceled can mark order CANCELLED
shipped/delivered events can notify patient by email/SMS/in-app notification
activity is added to the patient timeline

Security note:

a pharmacy webhook secret should be configured in production
if no secret is configured, incoming webhook requests may be accepted

What Patients May See

Patients may see:

order status updates
shipped status
tracking number
carrier
delivered status
email/SMS/in-app shipment notifications

Patients usually do not see:

pharmacy API credentials
integration submit errors
internal pharmacy routing configuration
drug mapping details
LifeFile or DispensePro raw response payloads

What CS Should Check Before Advising a Patient

Check:

order status
invoice/payment status
intake status
Beluga submit status
whether RX_WRITTEN was received
local prescription record exists
product Default Pharmacy
order assigned pharmacy
pharmacy type
drug mapping for that pharmacy
tracking number/carrier
integration status JSON, if visible
patient shipping address

Common Patient Questions

My order is paid. Why has it not shipped?

Payment is only one step. Medication orders may still need intake, medical review, prescription confirmation, and pharmacy processing before shipping.

My intake was approved. Does that mean pharmacy has it?

Not necessarily. Intake approval allows medical review to continue. Pharmacy fulfillment usually waits until the prescription is written.

Beluga says my prescription was written. What happens next?

The app should create local prescription records and route the order to the correct pharmacy integration based on the product's Default Pharmacy.

Why do I not have tracking yet?

The pharmacy may not have shipped the order yet, or the tracking webhook/update may not have been received. CS should check fulfillment status and pharmacy integration state.

Which pharmacy is handling my order?

Check the order pharmacy and product Default Pharmacy. If they differ, escalate if routing looks unclear.

Troubleshooting

Order should not have gone to fulfillment

Check:

was RX_WRITTEN received?
does a local prescription record exist?
did someone manually submit early?
was a workflow configured to submit pharmacy too early?
product Default Pharmacy route

Escalate if fulfillment started before prescription confirmation.

Order has RX_WRITTEN but did not submit to pharmacy

Check:

product Default Pharmacy
pharmacy type
drug mapping exists
drug has DispensePro or LifeFile configuration
patient shipping address
integration credentials
order integration status/error

Wrong pharmacy received the order

Check:

product Default Pharmacy
order assigned pharmacy
product-to-drug mapping
whether the order has mixed products routed to different pharmacies

For Belmar/LifeFile, mixed Belmar pharmacies may require splitting the order before submission.

DispensePro submission failed

Check:

DispensePro integration is enabled/configured
product Default Pharmacy is DISPENSE_PRO
drug has DispensePro Rx Configuration
patient DOB/address/phone is complete
prescriber NPI exists
order dispensePro.submitError

Fix the issue, then retry if an appropriate retry action is available.

Belmar / LifeFile submission failed

Check:

product Default Pharmacy is BELMAR_LIFEFILE
pharmacy LifeFile credentials are configured
pharmacy environment is correct: TEST or PRODUCTION
drug has LifeFile Product ID
patient address/shipping address is complete
prescription/prescriber data exists
order lifeFile.submitError

Escalate if the failure references missing hardcopy PDF or unsupported LifeFile payload requirements.

Tracking is missing

Check:

order shipping status
carrier/tracking fields
Beluga pharmacy webhook events
DispensePro webhook status
OWN pharmacy webhook activity
whether Belmar/LifeFile tracking webhook is currently available for this account/app setup

Patient says delivered but app still says shipped

Check:

pharmacy portal/status outside the app, if available
whether delivered webhook was received
tracking carrier status
integration webhook errors

Escalate if external pharmacy status and app status disagree.

CS Escalation Checklist

Escalate to admin/development, fulfillment, or medical operations when:

pharmacy submission happened before RX_WRITTEN
order has RX_WRITTEN but no pharmacy submission occurred
wrong pharmacy route was used
product Default Pharmacy is missing or incorrect
drug mapping is missing or unclear
DispensePro or LifeFile submission failed
Belmar/LifeFile requires a PDF/hardcopy not generated by the app
tracking webhook is missing or appears broken
order status does not match pharmacy status
patient was notified of shipment incorrectly

Include these details when escalating:

patient name/email
order number
product name
current order status
invoice/payment status
Beluga submit/visit status
whether RX_WRITTEN was received
prescription id, if visible
product Default Pharmacy
order assigned pharmacy
pharmacy type
DispensePro or LifeFile status/error
tracking number/carrier, if any
screenshot or exact patient/staff-facing message