Improving the safety and effectiveness of patient care is a business imperative for health care organizations operating under value-based reimbursement plans. Here, eight McKesson experts share their thoughts on how organizations can drive clinical performance improvement throughout the patient care continuum, from drug distribution to diagnostic testing.
Alternative Payment Models
“[Opportunities arising] from participating in an alternative payment model [include] increasing revenue that supports the practice’s ability to provide high-quality, safe care, and ensuring high-quality and safe care by meeting specific outcome measures.”
Jane Clayton | Director of Managed Care, Innovative Practice Services, McKesson Specialty Health
Drug Delivery
“Pharmacists are clinicians trained and educated to help patients. Their time is best spent counseling customers on medications, use and adherence. Less time spent counting pills and putting them in bottles gives pharmacists more time to focus on patients.”
Mark Edwards | Vice President, Product Management and Engineering, McKesson High Volume Solutions
Drug Distribution
“The pharmacies that really get it have a few things in common. They never take their eye off of what’s most important—the patient. Ultimately, whatever actions they take to improve drug supply chain management also must improve—or at least not negatively affect—patients’ medication needs.”
Brent Wunderlich |Senior Director, Engineering and Analytics, McKesson U.S. Pharma
“Not only does [supply chain automation] take time out of the supply chain process, it improves accuracy and reduces errors like buying too much of one thing and not enough of another. That also has a direct impact on quality and safety of patient care.”
Jayme White | Director of Technology Sales, McKesson Medical-Surgical
“Standardizing drugs throughout a medical system helps reduce variation and improve pharmacist and caregiver familiarity with medications—which helps limit medication pick errors, increase patient safety and improve patient care.”
Barbara Giacomelli | Area Vice President, McKesson Pharmacy Optimization
Technology
“Buying a static clinical decision-support tool and integrating it into the oncology practice’s EHR system isn’t enough. An oncology practice should buy or license a clinical decision-support application that’s continually updated just like the operating system on a smartphone or tablet.”
Michael V. Seiden, M.D., Ph.D. | Chief Medical Officer, McKesson Specialty Health and the US Oncology Network
“Diagnostic test results, genetic test results, specific clinical factors captured from unstructured data, treatment options and information about clinical trials all should be available to oncologists when patients are sitting right next to them.”
Dan Lodder | Vice President, General Manager, Technology Solutions, McKesson Specialty Health
“Another way [to connect physician office labs to other clinical and financial pieces of the practices] is providing the test results to patients via online technologies such as a secure patient portal or a secure messaging system. Depending on the results and your patient population, leveraging technology can avoid another office visit or expedite a diagnosis and treatment plan.”
Patrick Bowman | Director of Strategic Accounts, McKesson Medical-Surgical