PHARMACY | SAFETY AND AUTOMATION
solutions led by its Symphony software. “Our team of pharmacists and software professionals work with our customers to navigate the ever-evolving compliance landscape,” said Marvin Richardson, CEO of Innovation. “As compliance becomes more tied to reimbursement, working with our customers to take advantage of the Symphony Platform’s broad range of tools helps our customers to improve management of their compliance initiatives.” Richardson pointed out that given Innovation’s footprint across U.S. military pharmacy, which includes application of the Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health system, the company can help identify risks in an organization, analyze the ways in which processes can fail and take corrective action before failures have occurred. “This means our customers can be assured that patient safety is paramount at Innovation, and that they will realize improved patient safety outcomes,” he said. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a defining moment for Innovation to work with its customers to transform pharmacy and take advantage of the power of pharmacy automation solutions to allow pharmacists the opportunity to increase their collective focus on patient care, Richardson said. “The question we’re working with our customers to answer is, ‘How can we work together to unleash the full potential of pharmacy?’” he said. “Innovation is working with its customers to shift scheduled dispensing work to central fill so that pharmacists can continue to play a critical role in health care, and step into new roles and responsibilities amid the pandemic. We are committed to working with pharmacists to focus on their singular and collective motivation, which is the patient.”
Supporting Expanded Services
Pharmacy technology companies also are stepping up to the plate to help pharmacies operate more efficiently so that pharmacists have more time to provide such clinical services as COVID-19 testing and immunizations. Mountain View, Calif.-based Omnicell is focused on providing pharmacies with digital
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solutions to support pharmacy safety, as well as free up pharmacists to handle additional responsibilities. These goals have taken on added urgency amid the COVID-19 pandemic, said Danny Sanchez, vice president and general manager of Omnicell’s population health solutions division. “We know that pharmacists are going to be asked to do more. Pharmacies have already been given the go-ahead by new federal and state regulations to conduct COVID testing, and immunizations are coming,” Sanchez said. “We know that the only delivery method for millions of those interactions will be at the retail pharmacy. Pharmacists are already doing a lot, and patient safety is their No. 1 concern. We are diving into our digital engagement and clinical solutions, and orchestrating them to free up pharmacists’ time so they may have more efficient interactions with patients.” Sanchez cited his division’s medication synchronization solution as an offering, which ensures that patients haven’t had a change in their medication therapy. Med sync also consolidates all of a patient’s prescriptions so that
the pharmacist can fill them at the same time. “Our system sets up when it is time to refill a prescription,” he said. “We send a message asking a patient if there is any change in their medication therapy. If you say ‘yes,’ the system alerts the pharmacist to call to have a discussion. If they see that there are no changes, the pharmacist is confident that they are filling the right drugs for the patient. That ensures that the pharmacist is taking proper accountability and looking at the full profile. With med sync, we paint a full picture for pharmacists, and that increases safety and improves health outcomes.” Patients also can receive reminders when their prescription will be ready, and they are asked if there are any changes. “These reminders also improve pharmacy workflow and return to stock, which is a big issue,” Sanchez said. Omnicell’s med sync offering also enables pharmacists to consolidate all of a patient’s medications so that they may be picked up on a single day. “This reduces the work for the pharmacy and reduces the number of patient
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