Healthcare leaders are dissecting nearly every aspect of the patient experience to better understand it and deliver true value. Pharmacy is one of the last departments to come up in these conversations, if it ever does, but a closer look reveals that pharmacy touches nearly every aspect of a hospital's operations and care delivery system.
During a focus group hosted at the Becker's Hospital Review 6th Annual Meeting, two executives with CompleteRx, a hospital pharmacy management company, and former hospital CEO discussed just how important the pharmacy is to both the patient and provider.
"Pharmacy touches everything," said Rick Burnett, COO of CompleteRx. "The medication use process touches every patient who comes into your hospital." Whether patients come in for a relatively short emergency department visit or a long-term stay, almost invariably they will receive a medication. If something goes wrong with the pharmacy process, it can entirely ruin the patient experience or even lead to patient harm.
For those outside the day-to-day operations of the pharmacy, the process seems relatively simple. The pharmacist dispenses drugs and the patient receives the correct medication. In reality, a hospital pharmacy process begins with procurement and moves to storage, prescriptions, dispensing, administration, monitoring and finally outcomes.
Jim Crissey, former CEO of Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Ga., shed light on just how influential pharmacy management can be. At the medical center, prior to Mr. Crissey's tenure as CEO, an infant died due to a medication error. Following the incident, Mr. Crissey took over the pharmacy's operations. It was $1.5 million over budget, suffered from poor workflow, exhibited regulatory deficiencies and labored under ineffective leadership. Consequentially, nurse, physician and patient dissatisfaction traced back to the pharmacy.
"We recognized that we had the opportunity to reduce costs, improve operations, improve processes, improve education and patient safety, increase satisfaction and modernize technology," said Mr. Crissey. "But we couldn't do it ourselves."
In 2003, Southern Regional Medical Center signed a management service agreement with CompleteRx. Within the first two years, the medical center's pharmacy saved $2.5 million. Additionally, CompleteRx stepped in to provide leadership support and put in place the necessary processes to reduce human error and overall improve the pharmacy's operations. CompleteRx guarantees both regulatory compliance and savings. "We truly manage your pharmacy to meet and exceed your expectations," said company CEO Terry Andrus.