Drug Topics - February 2009 - (Page H2)

HSE I Business Management IMPROVING PHARMACY PERFORMANCE New index ranks hospital pharmacy performance ALAINA SCOTT, Senior Editor The McKesson Corp. recently introduced a new survey, the McKesson Hospital Pharmacy Performance Index, that ranks hospital pharmacies and scores them on 78 practice elements, including leadership, med prep and delivery, patient-care services, medication safety, medication-use policy, ﬁnancial performance, human resources management, and education. The data from the pharmacies surveyed are used to collectively track the performance of pharmacies across the United States, said Chris Borr, FACHE, vice president of health systems marketing, McKesson U.S. Pharmaceutical. The hospital pharmacy industry has historically lacked a clear and consistent performance benchmark, Borr said. McKesson plans to release the ﬁndings of its survey annually to help hospital pharmacies continuously gauge and improve performance. “McKesson’s introduction last year of the High Performance Pharmacy study and Web site represented a signiﬁcant contribution to the advancement of hospital pharmacy practice,” he said. “But, it was also just the ﬁrst step in McKesson’s journey to help hospital pharmacies achieve new levels of performance. To determine how well U.S. hospital pharmacies are performing, the index weighs each of the best practices for high-performance pharmacies by their estimated clinical and ﬁnancial impact to a hospital pharmacy, as determined by literature and existing standards. The index indicates that, of the overall contributions possible under the framework, 73 percent are being realized by Network Health Systems SEE INDEX PAGE 8 For more info on this topic, see www.drugtopics.com participating pharmacies. “In order to improve patient safety, clinical quality, and financial performance, pharmacies need to first understand their current level of performance, how this performance compares to similar health systems, and most important, what speciﬁc steps they can take to achieve high performance,” Borr said. Ernest Anderson, director of pharmacy, Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., said Lahey Clinic took the assessment and the results helped shape needed improvements. After learning that the tool was available on McKesson’s Web site, An- derson suggested that VHA New England (VHANE), of which the clinic is a member, use the tool as a group as part of VHANE’s strategic planning. Through VHANE, approximately 15 hospitals completed the assessment; then McKesson pooled the data, he said. “They helped us develop a business plan,” he said. “We scored lowest on the clinical patient-care services dimension, so decided to tackle the implementation of the NPSG [National Patient Safety Goals] on anticoagulation. We have now taken the survey twice and are using it to see how we are improving our scores.” Anderson recommends that other W W W.D R U GTO P I C S .C O M H2 DRUG TOPICS Februar y 2009 COURTESY MCKESSON CORP http://www.drugtopics.com http://WWW.DRUGTOPICS.COM

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Drug Topics - February 2009 Contents Health-System Edition Group Attempts to Resurrect Pain Care Act HSE Business Management HSE Clinical Letters Up Front Up Front in Depth Community Practice Niche Pharmacies Serve Special Populations Special Report Oral Oncology Drugs New Drugs Update 2008 Approvals OTC New Products Viewpoint

Drug Topics - February 2009

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