Hospital pharmacies benefit measurably from leveraging the expertise of a well-resourced pharmacy solutions partner — such as CPS.
Through proprietary tools and technologies, their subject matter experts assist healthcare leaders in not only capturing cost savings opportunities, but also and new sources of revenue.
During a session sponsored by CPS as part of Becker's CEO + CFO Virtual Forum in August, Dwayne Dodd, Senior Vice President for CPS, shared a series of case studies highlighting the financial and clinical impact delivered to CPS partner pharmacies.
Five takeaways:
- CPS elevates the delivery of pharmacy services in five areas: operations, clinical, purchasing, regulatory, and learning management. "The CPS teams oversee nearly $3 billion in prescription spend, impacting well over 100,000 patients weekly," Mr. Dodd said. "We have more than 2,500 professionals serving over 800 partners."
- It's time to adopt best practices that emerged during the pandemic into everyday practice. COVID-19 united the healthcare industry in unprecedented ways, pulling together providers, health plans, hospitals, and others to focus on the health and safety of the patient. "All of what has happened within organizations during the COVID-19 crisis must be put to good future use," Mr. Dodd said. "We must understand the best practices that were developed as well as eliminate what didn't work." This is especially true as additional COVID variants proliferate.
- Eight-figure cost savings opportunities are likely available to health systems through the optimization of their pharmacies.. Executives in one health system of focus, which included about a dozen acute care hospitals, implemented an opioid program, systemized and standardized hospital drug formulary, maximized purchasing power, and optimized the 340B drug pricing program identified potential cost savings of $28 million. They have realized $18.9 million in savings thus far, according to Mr. Dodd. "Since the beginning of our engagement, our partnership has resulted in measurable improvements in regulatory and compliance, patient safety improvements, clinical best practices, positive patient outcomes and provider satisfaction," he said. CPS is proud that our collaborative efforts have elevated the status of leaders and pharmacy staff at the health system.
- One children's hospital lowered compliance risk and identified $500,000 in potential 340B savings, according to Mr. Dodd. CPS recommended 105 process changes related to controlled substances; sterile compounding safety, efficiency, and effectiveness; and opportunities in the 340B program. "It's simply about developing, implementing, and executing a plan," Mr. Dodd explained. "What was unusual about this partnership was that the execution of the plan was done virtually. The CPS team conducted a thorough review of compounding safety practices from procurement to administration, uncovering several deficiencies. By working with CPS, the hospital's leadership was able to optimize safety, efficiency and effectiveness." This was done despite contraints placed on stakeholders by COVID-19.
- Drug diversion programs are paramount for maintaining the health of caregivers and staff, avoiding adversely affecting patients, and promoting accountability. This serious issue affects patient safety and employee health. It also creates legal and compliance problems. Drug diversion target performance areas must include a uniform approach for detection, patient safety, financial impact and regulatory compliance. "Hospitals must expect drug diversion," he added. "Based on statistics, if we are not identifying it, we're missing it."
Hospitals that have partnered with CPS on these initiatives or others see significant improvement by driving cost savings and new revenues, improving clinical quality, enhancing operations, and maintaining regulatory compliance.
To learn more about the event, click here.