Pharmacy is at the heart of many pressing issues for hospitals and health systems, ranging from persistent drug shortages to supply chain challenges and rising costs.
At Becker’s Hospital Review 15th Annual Meeting, health system CEOs, financial executives, and pharmacy leaders discussed how centralized pharmacy operations can tackle current challenges during a McKesson-sponsored executive roundtable.
Here are three key takeaways from their discussion:
- Central fill pharmacies reduce drug waste and boost cost savings. Several roundtable participants said they view centralized pharmacy operations as an effective strategy for increasing organizational efficiency. For many, focusing on high-cost specialty drugs is the first target.
One leader from a nonprofit health system in the South shared that her organization was an early adopter of the central fill pharmacy model, which has proven to help reduce waste.
“In one area, we have a flagship hospital with 1,400 beds and a smaller campus with 80 beds,” the health system’s director of pharmacy said. “If the smaller hospital buys a bottle of a drug that costs $4,000, half of it may be wasted because they don’t have enough patients. By centralizing the pharmacy, we can split the bottle, which delivers tons of financial benefit.”
Central fill pharmacies are also beneficial for more commonly used inpatient and outpatient drugs. For example, a leader from a West Coast-based health system noted how the organization leverages its centralized pharmacy during mass vaccination season. The health system identifies vaccines in the pharmacy’s inventory that are close to expiration and then uses those batches to avoid expiration and waste. - Technology is transforming centralized inventory management. Technology-based inventory management platforms are used widely in healthcare, and interoperability between these systems makes it easier to gain insight into pharmacy inventory levels.
One roundtable participant noted how their organization uses an inventory management system that communicates across all of the organization’s campuses, as well as a drug shortage software solution. With those tools, the participant said it’s easier to facilitate transfers between facilities if one campus has a large supply of a drug while another only has a few days left. - In some geographies, pharmacies are boosting patient access to drugs through mail order and delivery. Many regions are facing widespread retail pharmacy closures — especially in rural areas. One leader at a health system in the Southwest said some patients must drive 50 to 60 miles to find a pharmacy. “Since the beginning of the year, more than 57 retail pharmacies have closed their doors,” the health system’s vice president of outpatient pharmacy said. “Medication is often the most effective way to keep patients out of the hospital, so we are considering mail order home delivery to get patients the drugs they need.”
Even in some urban areas, access to medications can be problematic. A nonprofit community health center in the Northeast offers pharmacy delivery, as many of these patients live in “healthcare deserts.”
“We’re looking to do onsite pharmacy and to centralize that for our sites,” the health center’s president and CEO said.
