McKesson Unveils Findings of First Annual Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index, Showing How U.S. Hospital Pharmacies Measure Up

The McKesson Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index gauges how well U.S. hospital pharmacies are performing by measuring how thoroughly they have implemented the proven best practices of the High Performance Pharmacy^SM framework. The Index weights each of the High Performance Pharmacy best practices by their estimated clinical and financial impact to a hospital pharmacy. As a result, the first annual McKesson Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index indicates that, of the overall clinical and financial contributions possible under the High Performance Pharmacy framework, 73% is being realized by the pharmacies that participated in the Index.

The 2008 Index results were compiled based on more than 250 self-assessments conducted from December 2007 to November 2008 by U.S.-based directors of pharmacy using the online High Performance Pharmacy Assessment Tool on the High Performance Pharmacy Web site. Since it is a free tool, any hospital pharmacy leader — regardless of whether they are a McKesson customer — can use the High Performance Pharmacy Assessment Tool to assess their pharmacy organization’s current performance level.

“Pharmacies need to first understand their current level of performance, and then target specific areas for improvement in order to achieve high performance,” said Chris Borr, FACHE, Vice President of Health Systems Marketing, McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical. “McKesson’s goal in compiling this Index is to assist hospital pharmacies as they seek to define and achieve even higher levels of excellence and performance. We envision this Index serving as an important indicator of the state of hospital pharmacy practice each year.”

Defining High Performance

Based on a landmark study co-developed by The Health Systems Pharmacy Executive Alliance and McKesson, the High Performance Pharmacy framework identifies proven best practices for hospital pharmacies to achieve the highest levels of clinical and financial performance across 8 dimensions of pharmacy practice: leadership, medication preparation and delivery, patient care services, medication safety, medication use policy, financial performance, human resource management, and education.

The High Performance Pharmacy framework was first introduced at the 2006 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and is based on an extensive literature review and the collective experience of The Health Systems Pharmacy Executive Alliance.

The Health Systems Pharmacy Executive Alliance is a collaboration of well-known leaders dedicated to advancing hospital pharmacy's contributions to patient safety, clinical quality, and financial performance. The Alliance maintains a strong and prestigious membership that includes ASHP past presidents and other pharmacy organization leaders.

Index Highlights Areas for Improvement

In addition to overall performance, the 2008 McKesson Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index also measured pharmacy performance for each of the eight High Performance Pharmacy dimensions. The Index uncovered that the greatest areas for improvement were in the following three dimensions of the High Performance Pharmacy framework:

• Patient care services — On average, 59.86% of this dimension’s clinical and financial impacts was reported as realized by those pharmacies that completed the assessments
• Education — On average, 65.08% of this dimension’s impact was reported as realized
• Financial performance — On average, 66.57% of this dimension’s impact was reported as realized

By fully implementing the proven best practices for each of these dimensions as identified by the High Performance Pharmacy framework, directors of pharmacy can help improve their organizations’ performance, delivering greater clinical and financial outcomes to the overall health system. Additionally, industry conferences like this week’s ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition can provide hospital pharmacy leaders with the education, tools, and resources to successfully implement High Performance Pharmacy best practices, as well as build upon past successes.

For more information on the High Performance Pharmacy framework, or to conduct a free assessment of your pharmacy’s performance, please visit www.highperformancepharmacy.com. A free summary report of the 2008 McKesson Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index will be made publicly available by the end of January 2009 on the High Performance Pharmacy Web site.

Driving Improved Performance at Vanderbilt University Hospital

Vanderbilt University Hospital (VUH), a premier U.S. healthcare facility, is a good example of how a commitment to ongoing performance assessment and improvement can drive measurable results. The VUH Department of Pharmaceutical Services employs nearly 80 pharmacists and more than 100 technicians, which operate across nine campus locations to dispense more than 12,000 inpatient doses each day and 900 outpatient prescriptions each weekday.

After identifying improvement opportunities for drug spend management and quality outcomes, Vanderbilt partnered with McKesson’s Pharmacy Optimization ^SM team to help drive improved performance. After several weeks of collaboration and intense review with VUH, the McKesson team — comprised of experienced, professional pharmacy experts — identified six key drug spend management and quality outcomes projects as well as 90 actionable improvement opportunities for the pharmacy. After completing this assessment, the McKesson team also developed clear action plans for each initiative and worked closely with the VUH leadership team to identify internal project teams and ensure the action plans were successfully implemented. As a result, Vanderbilt was able to uncover more than $6 million in drug spend management and quality outcomes savings over three years, allowing its pharmacy to attain a higher level of performance.

“With a large, busy pharmacy department delivering so many services to our patients, it can be hard to focus on organizational improvement initiatives,” said Steve Huffines, Director of Pharmacy Business Systems, Vanderbilt University Hospital. “The McKesson team was successful in bringing us all together with a commonality of purpose to focus on achieving results.”

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 18th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and healthcare information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. McKesson is the longest-operating company in healthcare today, marking its 175^th anniversary this year. Over the course of its history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.