Industry Examples

The Business Issue

A large acute care teaching health system was implementing EPIC throughout all hospitals in an aggressive timeline. EPIC would be implemented throughout all inpatient and outpatient areas including implementing barcode to the bedside administration technology all on day one. Pharmacy did not have the resources or manpower required to complete automated dispensing system testing, carousel testing and building of their barcode database for EPIC barcode administration. Pharmacy required resources and expertise to provide project management and labor to manage these tasks.

The Action Plan

RXinnovate became part of the Pharmacy team working with internal teams and EPIC to coordinate the testing of automated dispensing systems, carousels and build the barcode database for all non-commercially available products, IV's, Oral Solutions, etc. for Pharmacy.

The Outcome

• The interface testing was completed within the project management timeline.
• All medications prepared by Pharmacy had a barcode assigned and built within EPIC to assure barcode scanning accuracy at the bedside.
• Barcode scanning at the bedside was achieved throughout the inpatient and outpatient areas on the first day.
• The hospital implemented EPIC inpatient and outpatient solutions day one throughout the entire organization.
• RXinnovate provided resources and project management for the next two hospitals in the system that went live with EPIC.
• All four hospitals within the large healthcare network are live and operational with EPIC inpatient and outpatient systems with barcode at the bedside administration.
• Excellent project experience for customer, vendor and RXinnovate

The Business Issue

A large acute care teaching hospital was not gaining the efficiencies with their existing automated dispensing system. The hospital was paying an enormous amount of money for equipment, labor and medications to support the system. Inventory management processes were inadequate and nursing routinely did not have the medications required to take care of patients. Customer dissatisfaction with the system was apparent throughout the facility.

Large amount of medication waste and inventory loss was occurring on a consistent basis. Billing processes were not in place to ensure all dispensing activities in the automated dispensing system were captured.

The Action Plan

Data analysis for medication utilized was completed for all nursing units throughout the hospital that used automated dispensing machines. An inventory demand model was established with levels developed based on actual utilization. Equipment, inventory levels and drawers were reconfigured to meet to the demand of the system.

Pharmacy processes were reengineered to meet the needs of their customers. A nursing satisfaction survey was completed to identify critical areas to focus on for improvements.

Data was analyzed to determine a baseline of inventory medication loss in the system and billing processes were reviewed to identify missing elements in the system.

The Outcome

• Implemented a data driven inventory management demand model.
• Optimized inventory levels to develop threshold quantities based on system utilization.
• Decreased inventory stock outs by 39%
• Reallocated eleven automated dispensing machines to areas of higher demand to adequately support the system.
• Increased inventory turns from 8 to 20 turns annually.
• Reduced Pharmacy labor to support inventory management processes from four refills a day to one refill a day.
• Reallocated Pharmacy labor savings to support automation for nursing.
• Decreased inventory loss in the system by $12,000 per month.
• Improved nursing satisfaction.
• Increased revenue through improved patient billing processes by approximately $75,000 per month.

The Business Issue

A 350 bed acute care hospital wanted to improve service and turnaround time for the medication use process with drug distribution. Nursing was dissatisfied with the existing systems that were disjointed and not conducive to efficient nursing workflow. Pharmacy spent an enormous amount of time supporting work processes that did not provide an efficient system for nursing personnel. Pharmacy and nursing rework was apparent throughout the system.

The Action Plan

A nursing needs assessment was completed to determine the optimal and most efficient medication distribution model. Pharmacy distribution systems were analyzed to identify opportunities to eliminate current processes that did not add value and created rework in the system.

Data was analyzed to determine when nursing dispensed and administered medications throughout the day. Pharmacy systems were reengineered to support nursing needs with the medication distribution model.

The Outcome

• Reengineered the medication distribution systems to meet customer needs.
• Decreased distribution turnaround time from an average of 3 hours to 30 minutes.
• Improved customer satisfaction with the system.
• Significantly reduced Pharmacy and Nursing rework.
• Eliminated or automated processes that did not add value.
• Designed the system to meet the needs of nursing and patient care.
• Reallocated pharmacist labor time-savings to clinical responsibilities and patient care.
• Improved system performance significantly.