ASHP 2011 MIDYEAR CLINICAL MEETING
–
The
McKesson
Pharmacy Optimization
®
team
, a team of trusted advisors
for hospital senior management, has identified the top five trends that
will impact the hospital and health system pharmacy in 2012.
“In 2012, the hospital pharmacy will have a critical role in helping the
hospital to do more with less,” said Mark Eastham, senior vice
president, McKesson Pharmacy Optimization. “By partnering closely with
the hospital pharmacy to capitalize on clinical and business
opportunities, McKesson will enable hospitals to leverage the hospital
pharmacy as both a profit center and a key driver for clinical
excellence, advancing the hospital’s mission of providing the best
possible patient care to its community.”
2012 Hospital Pharmacy Trends
1. | | | The need for increased connectivity between the inpatient and
the outpatient settings will intensify.
The
hospitalreimbursement paradigm has changed as we move toward a
payforquality system. Key market dynamics, such as outcomebased
payments, emphasis on the patient’s continuum of care beyond
hospital discharge, and the actualization of accountablecare
organizations, are forcing hospitals to maximize existing hospital
assets to manage the paradigm change. This includes the role of
its pharmacy.
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| | | Focus on Ambulatory Pharmacy:
Ambulatory pharmacies are
unique environments capable of generating revenue for health
systems as well as contributing significantly to the care and
outcome of the patient. Leading, visionary health systems fully
understand the importance of connecting patient data between the
inpatient and outpatient settings.
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2. | | | The Pharmacist’s Role in Meaningful Use:
A large component
of meaningful use is the closedloop medication cycle. The
pharmacy touches all the components in the loop and as a result,
can and should be involved in implementing the most effective
computerized physician order entry (CPOE) for the hospital. Not
only do pharmacists understand how physicians order drugs in their
organizations, but the pharmacy information system has the ability
to help reduce transcription error and confusion.
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| | | Focus on Attaining 100% Dispensing of Barcoded Medications:
Many hospital pharmacists are heavily involved in the
implementation and rollout of barcode medication administration
(BCMA) at their organizations because every medication that they
stock needs to have a barcode. This is being driven by incentives
contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As
part of meaningful use Phase II contained in the Act, these
medications need to be barcoded for scanning at the bedside.
However, the challenge is that not all medications purchased have
a barcode and pharmacists are looking at costeffective solutions
to repackage them.
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| | | McKesson has tools to help pharmacists maximize purchasing of
manufactureravailable barcoded medications. In addition, the
McKesson Pharmacy Optimization team is working closely with hospital
pharmacies to minimize the resources and time spent on repackaging
so that their pharmacists can focus their attention on clinical
care, and get their hospital to 100% barcode readiness. |
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3. | | | There will be a spotlight on the hospital pharmacy to help
reduce readmissions.
Hospital executives need to have a better
understanding of the pharmacy’s role in reducing or eliminating
hospital readmissions. Many studies have shown that the primary
reason patients visit an emergency room or are readmitted to the
hospital is due to nonadherence with medication therapy once the
patient is at home. The hospital pharmacy can have a significant
impact on the reduction of hospital readmissions by proactively
educating patients on the proper use of their medications.
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| | | An ambulatory pharmacy is ideally suited to help the hospital
identify patients who are at high risk of nonadherence or may be
managing chronic diseases at the point of discharge, and provide
support required to help patients adhere to their prescribed drug
regimens. |
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4. | | |
The hospital pharmacy will be closely scrutinized and
expected
to decrease costs and increase revenues.
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| | | In most hospital departments, operating cost is usually composed of
80% labor and 20% supplies; it is inverted within the pharmacy with
80% drugs and 20% labor. The director of pharmacy can help keep
budgets in check by looking at innovative services that enhance
revenue. |
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| | | Offsetting IndigentCare Costs:
Hospitals are treating more
uninsured patients and looking for ways to recover the cost.
PharmacyAssistance Programs (PAPs) offered by manufacturers are
available to help offset the cost, but many hospitals find them
too complex to manage.
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| | | The McKesson MedSource program maximizes the savings that hospitals
can recover. In 2010, the MedSource program resulted in nearly $3.3
million in savings for participating hospitals across the U.S. and
since program inception, has saved its healthsystem customers
nearly $35 million. |
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| | | 340B Contract Pharmacy:
The multiplecontract pharmacy
option that is part of the 340B program offers an opportunity for
hospitals to expand their reach in the community to capture a
greater number of prescriptions. While the option to have multiple
contractpharmacy relationships is relatively new, McKesson
customers who have implemented a contractpharmacy strategy are
capturing prescription fills nearly five times more than with a
single pharmacy.
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| | | In addition, hospitals will look for ways to provide employee Rx
benefits utilizing their own resources and purchasing agreements. |
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5. | | | Expect the growth in the specialtypharmaceutical segment to
influence the pharmacy’s revenue and profits.
Specialty
pharmaceuticals, while impacting only a small population of
patients with specific diseases, represent the largest average
cost at $1,500 per dispense. Estimates are that growth in the
specialty segment will range from 16–20% each over the next
several years, until 8 out of 10 of the nation’s top
prescriptionrevenue items are considered specialty
pharmaceuticals. With access to group purchasing organization
prices, its breadth of drugdistribution services and enhanced
reporting solutions, McKesson is helping customers to develop
strategies around the unique set of challenges emerging from the
growth of specialty products.
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About McKesson Pharmacy Optimization®
As the industry’s most experienced group of pharmacy professionals
providing consulting services and pharmacypractice resources, the
Pharmacy Optimization team works with hospitals and health systems to
help them uncover untapped revenue opportunities; identify new areas of
expense reduction; streamline the transition to barcode medication
administration; and gain new strategies to assure costappropriate, safe
and effective drug use.
McKesson Pharmacy Optimization consultants have been former directors of
pharmacy, hospital administrators, or have held clinicalpharmacy
leadership roles. The team is composed of experts in a range of
hospitalpharmacy issues, including clinicalpharmacy practice, pharmacy
supplychain management, medication safety, 340B, and regulatory and
accreditation preparedness.
Meet BoPSM. McKesson’s Business of PharmacySM.
Currently helping more than 2,000 hospital pharmacies nationwide, the
Business of Pharmacy (BoP) is McKesson’s evidencebased approach to
optimizing the financial, operational and clinical performance of
hospital pharmacies. Harnessing McKesson’s superior distribution, BoP
extends across the entire business of hospitalpharmacy operations and
provides the services and solutions to transform the pharmacy into a
center of operational excellence that supports optimal patient care. For
more information, please visit
http://McKessonbop.com/
.
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