Customer Successes

Numerous thought-leading customers are already successfully using the McKesson Medication Safety Advantage to enhance health care quality and patient safety, including:


Baptist Health Systems, Jackson, Miss.—Baptist Health Systems used a combination of software, automation, packaging and distribution solutions to improve patient care, medication safety and fiscal health. Baptist Health Systems implemented multiple Horizon Clinicals™ to monitor patients' status and looks for abnormalities within drug orders, vitals and lab results. The hospital also deployed McKesson's nursing documentation solution to integrate nurses' clinical data entry and review. In the pharmacy, the provider automated transcribing and dispensing, starting with the pharmacy information system as the foundation for orders, streamlined workflow and rules-based alerting. With the addition of McKesson's robotic medication dispensing technology, Baptist Health Systems achieved a 97 to 98 percent medication fill rate and greatly reduce inventory costs. The organization has also decreased average length of stay, maximized resource utilization, automated clinical documentation and improved medication safety.



Concord Hospital, Concord, N.H.—More than a decade ago, Concord Hospital began a strategic journey to use information technology to enhance health care quality and efficiency—and to differentiate it as a technologically advanced provider. Clinicians currently use McKesson solutions for electronic medical records, pharmacy management, nursing documentation, bar-code medication administration, medical imaging and a provider portal. Pharmacists dispense bar-coded medications that are screened for possible drug interactions and allergies, while nurses capture detailed patient information at the bedside, helping enhance care decisions. Before administering medications, nurses use bar-code scanning to verify the “five rights,” which has enabled the provider to reduce medication error by 80%. Additionally, a picture-archiving and communications system (PACS) digitizes and distributes medical images. The portal allows some 300 practicing physicians access to the 145,000 annual imaging studies and other patient data anytime, anywhere. Concord has reduced film costs (saving $400,000), increased radiology readings, and reduced film requests by 75%. Finally, physician adoption and user satisfaction has skyrocketed, paving the way for Concord to be the first hospital in the state to go live on a provider order entry and clinical decision support solution.



JFK Medical Center, Atlantis, Fla.—Due to an older population and a large number of winter-only residents, JFK Medical Center focuses on geriatric cardiac care,  performing up to 800 open-heart surgeries and 7,000 cardiac catheterization procedures each year. Patient volume and acuity were critical factors as the hospital moved to medication scanning at the point of care—a practice that demands that bar-coded medications are always ready. JFK combined McKesson’s AcuDose-Rx™ cabinets and PACMED™ solution to package and dispense the hospital’s top 300 oral solid medications. Now, the pharmacy is down to performing two fills per day, with PACMED meeting 95% of JFK's unit-dose medication needs to support bedside scanning and electronic medication administration initiatives. The total full-time employee time required to fill cabinets has dropped 75% and the provider estimates that the solution will save a projected $500,000 over five years. Plus, PACMED's intelligent software provides alerts when levels fall below par, assists with the ordering process for bulk medications, and allows better utilization of stock. Finally, buying medication in bulk is saving the hospital between $0.02 and $0.50 per dose.



John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek, Calif.—John Muir Medical Center (JMMC) embarked on an extensive patient safety campaign three years ago. Through the use of IT, point-of-care bar-code scanning of patient medications, and process analysis and redesign, JMMC dramatically changed clinicians' deeply embedded beliefs and practice patterns to significantly improved medication safety. The presence of bar codes on unit-dose medications increased from 88% to more than 99%, with readability increasing to virtually 100% of the time. Using Horizon Admin-Rx™, staff compliance with bar-coding procedures improved to 99.7%—while administering more than 75,000 doses per month. Overriding of alerts fell to less than 8.6%. As clinicians embraced the blame-free culture, reporting of medication error and near-misses increased by 39%. Errors causing harm decreased by 33%—a John Muir benchmark that remains below national averages.



Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital, Hastings, Neb.—After a tragic medication mistake, Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital moved quickly to maximize the power of bar-code scanning and automation technologies to help prevent that kind of medication error from occurring again. Now, with an integrated pharmacy system and “five rights” bar-code checking, the provider has achieved an impressive 91% reduction in medication errors. The hospital has also reduced costs related to medication errors by 70% and improved medication charge accuracy by 86%.The organization not only overhauled its medication safety program, but earned significant national recognition as one of four finalists in the 2004 American Hospital Association McKesson Quest for Quality Prize.



Memorial Medical Center, Savannah, Ga.—Memorial Health executives have long realized the value of information technology in improving clinical and operational performance. For example, the hospital moved ahead of many providers with its deployment of McKesson’s HorizonWP® Physician Portal six years ago, which gained widespread physician adoption with its anytime, anywhere access to vital patient information. Memorial Health further strengthened its leadership in patient safety and care by an innovative deployment of McKesson’s computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support solution. To date, the medical center has significantly increased order accuracy, decreased medication turnarounds by two hours, and achieved a 30% reduction in pharmacy callbacks due to illegibility.



Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, Peoria, Ill.—Methodist Medical Center uses multiple Horizon Clinicals™ applications and other McKesson solutions to improve patient safety and outcomes. All nursing units employ bar-code technology for medication administration to verify the “five rights.” Using the technology and establishing consistent processes, Methodist has realized a 50% reduction in medication errors and can now link all patient encounters across care settings and disciplines. In addition, Methodist has created an EHR by using McKesson's physician portal and ambulatory care workflow solution in its 30 affiliated clinics and physician practices. Using Horizon Ambulatory Care™ many redundant, inefficient paper-based processes in ambulatory settings were eliminated. Methodist practitioners now write more than 35,000 electronic prescriptions monthly, and paper charts for medication-related issues have been virtually eliminated. In addition, chart pulls related to medication refills were reduced by 93%. Methodist also estimates it will save $300,000 in external transcription fees.



Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury, Md.—Peninsula Regional began its journey to clinical excellence by laying the IT foundation for an electronic medical record (EMR) that eliminates paper, film and redundant data capture, and connects clinicians to the information they need. For example, a nurse on an inpatient floor can retrieve assessment information for a patient who was just transferred from the ED. Likewise, physicians can view medical images and radiology reports through a secure portal. More recently, Peninsula Regional turned its attention to making patients safer by automating the medication management process. In the pharmacy, a McKesson robot automatically stocks and dispenses bar-coded medications, including 95 percent of first-doses and daily cart fills. In patient care areas, immediate need and controlled substance medication is stored in McKesson AcuDose-Rx® cabinets. When nurses administer medications, they use cart-mounted notebook computers with bar-code scanners to verify the “five rights” of medication administration. The array of integrated solutions makes clinical information available at the caregiver's fingertips.



Pocono Medical Center, East Stroudsburg, Pa.—Pocono Medical Center (PMC) is using leading edge technologies and process improvements to enhance safety and outcomes. Tools in place include McKesson’s medication dispensing cabinets and order management system. In addition to McKesson’s bar code packaging service, Pocono uses McKesson’s pharmaceutical distribution service to help ensure safety in the supply chain. To further automate medication safety, PMC uses McKesson’s pharmacy system, the nursing solution, and medication administration system. The cabinets significantly enhanced charge capture, enabling the hospital to recoup $2.5 million. The electronic medication administration record (MAR) gives physicians, nurses and pharmacists real-time medication delivery information with allergy information available through the clinical data repository. PMC has reduced the time to first dose from 2 hours to 12 minutes and redeployed 1.5 pharmacists for clinical rounding, resulting in one intravenous to oral program that netted savings of $85,000. Pharmacy call backs on orders dropped by 65%, and nurses’ patient care time increased by eliminating end-of-shift narcotic counts and electronic documentation efficiencies.



Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Albuquerque, N.M.—Faced with inefficiencies in its medication use process, Presbyterian Healthcare Services (PHS) turned to McKesson to leverage existing technology investments. PHS deployed McKesson’s integrated automation solutions, including the robotic drug dispensing system, unit-based medication cabinets and controlled substance storage system. To fully automate medication safety, PHS also implemented McKesson’s pharmacy information system, point-of-care medication scanning solution, clinical alerts system, nurse documentation solution, and computerized provider order entry/clinical decision support (CPOE/CDS) system. The provider also engaged the expertise of McKesson’s clinical consultants. Combined with standardized clinical processes, the technologies have helped to reduce errors, mitigate patient harm and improve the entire medication use process. Results point to a 78% reduction in medication errors. Real-time charting at the bedside reduced undocumented administrations from 10% to less than 0.5%. The cabinets and bedside scanning enhanced charge capture up to $350,000 per year.



Regional West Medical Center, Scottsbluff, Neb.—Using McKesson’s integrated solutions for the care team, Regional West eliminated redundant patient charting and improved the safety of medication administration with bar code technology. Regional West has virtually eliminated paper on its nursing units, enabling nurses to spend more time on direct patient care. Integration between systems for medication administration, laboratory management and pharmacy management provides additional patient safety checks and helps streamline workflow.



Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Spartanburg, S.C.—Officials at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center view technology as essential to helping them meet the hospital’s mission of providing safer, more efficient patient care. The South Carolina-based hospital was among the first in the United States to automate central pharmacy operations with ROBOT-Rx® in 1996, and started scanning bar-coded medications at the point of care in 1997. Today, the organization utilizes the full suite of McKesson’s next-generation Horizon Clinicals® solutions. Physicians, nurses and other clinicians have access to real-time patient data through solutions that improve workflow, reduce the variability of care and streamline processes. Spartanburg is integrating these systems with McKesson's CDS/CPOE and pharmacy solutions for an automated approach to prescribing, transcribing, dispensing administering and monitoring medication use. Besides standardizing medical treatments, the knowledge center within these systems will help Spartanburg further reduce the potential for medication errors and ensure the best possible patient care.



Solaris Health System, Edison, N.J.—Solaris implemented numerous Horizon Clinicals™ solutions as part of a major patient safety initiative. However, recognizing that technology alone is not enough, Solaris partnered with McKesson to transform the processes for these advanced clinical systems. As a result, Solaris scored major successes in medication safety, IT adoption, nursing documentation, process standardization and clinician satisfaction. More than half of the physicians use a Web portal to view vital patient information. The electronic medication administration record electronic allows physicians and other clinicians access to accurate, real-time medication profiles and administrations; provides nurses with order accuracy crosschecks; and enables pharmacists to better monitor therapies. Interfaced allergy messaging enables clinicians to access the same critical patient information, while pre-defined rules in the pharmacy system trigger alerts for adverse drug events (ADEs). ROBOT-Rx® in the pharmacy improved cart fill accuracy to 99.6% and helped eliminate lost medication orders. Finally, the combination of using a bar-code medication administration system as well as process changes enabled Solaris to decrease administration variances by 46% and reduce timing variances from 25.1% to 5.9%. Finally, electronic documentation has reduced nursing charting time by 11.9%