Cardinal Health expands services for hospital pharmacies

Cardinal Health is hoping that its newly expanded services offered to hospital pharmacies helps customers to make improvements to their work flow. Pharmacy directors can now select only specific services they need to meet their needs, a new option from the company.

Specifically, Cardinal has expanded consulting, analytic, and operations services offered to help improve work flow and patient safety. The expanded services were designed to “support pharmacy directors in helping their hospitals address ongoing economic constraints,” Cardinal Health spokeswoman Tara Schumacher said in a recent statement.

Schumacher said the new approach to service delivery is part of Cardinal Health’s overall objective to helping pharmacy directors identify and qualify savings opportunities and ensure their pharmacies are running at optimal levels.

“Although the debate around health care reform is still evolving, one thing is clear – hospital pharmacies need to remain focused on finding new and innovative ways to contain costs while improving efficiency and safety,” said Steve Adams, senior vice president of Cardinal Health’s Pharmacy Solutions business. “By customizing our pharmacy services to address the unique and evolving needs of each customer, Cardinal Health is well positioned to serve as a strategic partner to help hospitals improve the economics and quality of health care.”

Specifics of new services:

Consulting Services – Many hospital pharmacies need targeted expertise and resources to address specific challenges related to regulatory compliance and accreditation, patient safety, operational productivity, drug purchasing, medication dispensing automation, charge capture and outpatient operations. Cardinal Health now provides access to a team of experts who can identify and implement improvements to pharmacy challenges in these specific areas.

Data and Analytics Services – Through proprietary benchmarking software and tools, Cardinal Health can help pharmacy directors quickly and accurately identify top medication cost drivers and trends and optimize the performance of automated medication dispensing systems. Armed with this insight, hospital pharmacy leaders are better empowered to identify and qualify savings opportunities, improve the impact of clinical programs and maximize investments in automation.

Operations Support – Cardinal Health also now provides expertise and, if requested, on-site resources to support pharmacy directors who need ongoing assistance managing key back-office functions including purchasing, inventory operations and monitoring medication dispensing systems, so they can focus more time on clinical programs and patient care.