In part four of a blog series that addresses how to leverage a hospital pharmacy as a strategic asset, Mary Baxter, MBA, RPh., vice president and national practice leader for Cardinal Health's Innovation Delivery Solutions business, discusses how expanding patient access to quality pharmacy care can benefit both hospitals and patients.
"Every hospital pharmacist knows that filling medication orders is only one part of their job in a value-based healthcare world," Baxter says. "For the hospital pharmacy to truly operate as a strategic asset, pharmacists need to focus on delivering the highest quality clinical care to their patients, while also supporting their hospitals in extending that quality care to as many patients as possible."
Baxter outlines five key ways pharmacy leaders can help the hospitals they serve fulfill their quality care mission:
- Delivering pharmacy services to employees, the community and patients, post-discharge. Introducing new outpatient pharmacy services or expanding current outpatient pharmacy services can help expand access to medications among patients, the community and employees alike.
- Bedside pharmacy. Operating an outpatient pharmacy allows a hospital to ensure patients have access to the drugs and information needed to make post-discharge care successful.
- Help for uninsured or underinsured patients. With an increasing number of patients receiving charity care, more hospitals are finding time- and cost-effective ways to help uninsured and underinsured patients' access medications.
- Antibiotic stewardship. Research has shown that up to 50 percent of antibiotic usage in hospitals is inappropriate. Consider creating an antibiotic stewardship program to reduce the number of adverse drug events and increase patient safety.
- 24/7 pharmacy coverage. Gaps in pharmacy coverage can lead to increased turnaround time in administering medications to patients. Remote pharmacy services can be an affordable and practical alternative to this problem.
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