David Martin, PharmD, clinical director of the pharmacy department at the 346-bed Gadsden (Ala.) Regional Medical Center, spoke with Becker's Hospital Review about challenges pharmacy leaders must overcome and his advice for managing drug spend. Gadsden Regional is owned by Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems.
Editor's Note: Responses were edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are some of the challenges pharmacy leaders must overcome?
Dr. David Martin: Appropriate use of medication, formulary adherence, properly managing national clinical initiatives like midlevel prescribing, and ensuring compliance with guidelines such as USP 797, 795 and 800.
Q: When it comes to managing drug spend, what advice would you offer other pharmacy leaders?
DM: Make sure you avoid duplicates. This means looking at medication data and using analytics to inform decisions.
Q: What needs to change in healthcare?
DM: For pharmacy leaders especially, they need to be patient safety advocates, while also ensuring cost efficiencies of medications. Both are good for the company overall.