Industry data suggests clinics lose 5–12% of their medication inventory to expiry every year. That is thousands of ringgit walking straight into the bin — not because stock was overstocked, but because older batches sat on the shelf while newer ones got dispensed first. Today, MedicalMet launches Inventory by Batch with FEFO auto-dispensing, expiry tracking, and inter-branch transfer workflows to fix exactly this problem.
What Is Inventory by Batch?
Inventory by Batch gives your clinic granular, batch-level control over every product in stock. Instead of tracking a single quantity per item, you now record each batch with its own batch number, cost price, quantity, expiry date, manufacture date, and supplier invoice reference. Every unit is traceable from the moment it arrives to the moment it is dispensed to a patient.
This is especially critical for clinics that dispense medication directly — GP practices, dental clinics, aesthetic centres, and TCM practices across Malaysia, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. If you carry stock with expiry dates, batch tracking is not optional. It is how you stop wasting money.
How Does FEFO Auto-Dispensing Work?
FEFO stands for First Expired, First Out. When a doctor prescribes a medication and your front desk generates an invoice, MedicalMet automatically selects the batch with the earliest expiry date — no manual picking, no checking shelf labels, no guesswork. The system handles it during billing.
- Receive & Record — Log each incoming batch with its batch number, cost price, quantity, expiry date, and supplier invoice reference
- Dispense Automatically — FEFO picks the earliest-expiring batch first during billing. Batch costs flow into invoices automatically for accurate profit tracking
- Track Everything — Every dispensed unit links back to the specific batch and patient invoice. Full traceability, full audit trail
The result? Clinics using FEFO-based dispensing typically reduce expired stock waste by 80–90%. MedicalMet's implementation targets an 85% reduction in expired inventory based on typical clinic inventory profiles.
Medications Auto-Enabled
When you turn on batch tracking, all medication products are automatically enabled for batch and expiry management. No need to configure each item individually.
Inter-Branch Transfers with Approval Workflows
Multi-branch clinics know the pain: Branch A has surplus stock nearing expiry, Branch B is running low on the same item. Previously, this meant WhatsApp messages, spreadsheets, and hope. Now, MedicalMet handles it with a structured transfer workflow:
- Request — A branch requests stock from another location
- Approve — The sending branch reviews and approves the transfer
- Ship — Stock is marked as shipped with quantity details
- Receive — The receiving branch confirms receipt with condition checks (good, damaged, or expired) and quantity variance tracking
Every step is logged. Quantity discrepancies between what was sent and what was received are flagged automatically. No more stock-take surprises at month-end.
Smart Alerts: Know Before Stock Becomes Waste
Batch tracking is only useful if you act on the data. MedicalMet now sends two types of proactive alerts:
- Low-stock alerts — Custom thresholds per product. Get notified before you run out, not after
- Approaching-expiry alerts — Configurable lead time so you can prioritise dispensing, discount, or transfer stock before it expires
Combined with FEFO auto-dispensing, these alerts give you a complete early-warning system. Your team spends less time checking shelves and more time seeing patients.
Which Clinics Benefit Most from Batch Inventory?
- GP clinics dispensing medication in-house — strict expiry compliance with zero manual batch selection
- Multi-branch practices — redistribute stock between locations with controlled approval workflows and condition verification
- Aesthetic clinics — track per-batch cost prices for products like fillers and injectables to calculate accurate profit margins per treatment
- Dental and TCM clinics — manage herbal supplies and dental materials with batch traceability from supplier to patient
If your clinic carries any product with an expiry date, batch tracking pays for itself by preventing waste. For a detailed comparison of manual tracking versus FEFO, visit the Inventory by Batch feature page — it includes an interactive waste comparison tool.
“Every expired medication is money wasted and a compliance risk. Batch inventory with FEFO turns expiry management from a manual chore into an automatic process — your team dispenses, and the system handles the rest.”
— MedicalMet Team
How to Enable Batch Tracking in MedicalMet
Inventory by Batch is now available in beta for all MedicalMet users. To get started:
- Navigate to Settings → Inventory in your MedicalMet dashboard
- Enable Batch Tracking — all medication products are auto-enabled
- Start recording batches when you receive new stock (batch number, expiry, cost price)
- FEFO dispensing activates automatically during billing — no extra steps for your team
Existing stock and inventory control features continue to work alongside batch tracking. You keep your current stock-in, stock-out, and readjustment workflows — batch tracking adds a deeper layer of granularity on top.
Related Resources
MedicalMet Team
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