For some hospitals and systems, pharmacy is the No. 1 revenue generator, but pharmacy department leaders say they’re often underutilized.
Darren Evans, PharmD, system vice president of pharmacy services and hospital operations at Albany, Ga.-based Phoebe Putney Health System, told Becker’s five steps to raise pharmacy’s value in health systems:
1. Speak up — especially when you are not already in the conversation.
To get to the table, you might need to construct your own chair.
If the system has a chronic problem that pharmacy can help alleviate, but the organization does not prompt pharmacy leaders for solutions, elbowing into the conversation could be beneficial, according to Dr. Evans.
For example, one of Phoebe Putney’s three hospitals was experiencing a high readmission rate among patients with congestive heart failure. The challenge was mentioned in meetings, daily huddles and overheard conversations. The pharmacy department stepped in to say, “Here’s how we can help.”
Pharmacy paired one of its medication management clinics with a congestive heart failure nurse navigator to work on discharges in that patient population. The collaboration generated a critical observation: Lack of access to and knowledge of medications emerged as reasons for the high readmission rate.
2. Secure small wins.
Within the past year, Phoebe Putney’s pharmacy department created and launched a patient education service whereby pharmacy workers consult with hospitalized patients and offer disease state education and medication education.
Through that initiative and a specialized discharge team composed of nursing, case management, pharmacy and providers, the readmission rate declined 10% among congestive heart failure patients.
This “small win,” Dr. Evans said, highlights pharmacy’s value to the broader health system’s strategy.
“At some point, it goes from you offering assistance from a pharmacy perspective and saying, ‘[Here’s] how pharmacy can help’ to them inquiring or coming to you and saying, ‘Hey, can pharmacy play a part in this?’ or ‘How can pharmacy play a part?'” he said. “And then as you show wins in those areas, you start to elevate up and show how you can play a part in some of the larger scale strategy things from a system perspective.”
3. Don’t wait around for problems to occur. Innovate.
Innovative, revenue-generating ideas “brighten others’ eyes” and further prove pharmacy’s capabilities, Dr. Evans said.
The collaboration between pharmacy and congestive heart failure nurse navigators, for instance, was prompted by the pharmacy department. So was the patient education service and multidisciplinary discharge team.
Once a leader shares what pharmacy can do and the effect it can have on the broader organization, other departments might make the habit of pulling pharmacy into their initiatives.
That can create its own challenge, though, if the system asks pharmacy too often or for too much.
4. Delegate.
Offering input can help colleagues, but pharmacy leaders do not have to lead everything, Dr. Evans said.
He recommended exposing more system employees to scopes not particularly related to pharmacy, such as putting pharmacists interested in sepsis on the system’s sepsis committee, pharmacists interested in a high-reliability organization on the HRO committee, et cetera.
Engaging team members in activities outside the purview of pharmacy helps with retention, Dr. Evans said. Those employees will also have more insights into system trends and more opportunities to spark, and pioneer, ideas.
5. Shape the narrative.
Hospitals historically viewed pharmacy as a cost center that tries to reduce costs. Now, more organizations are seeing pharmacy contribute to margins.
At Phoebe Putney, the 10% decrease in congestive heart failure readmissions saved the system “a substantial amount of money,” Dr. Evans said.
Quantifying pharmacy data into clinical and financial results ultimately helps the system help the patient, he added: “Once you start talking about and speaking to revenue-generating initiatives, all ears perk up.”
