A New Survey from Cardinal Health Reveals Demands on Hospital Leaders' Time Take a Toll on Ability to Drive Innovation

Three ways the hospital pharmacy can improve hospital profitability and patient outcomes

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Mar 20, 2019, 10:03 ET

DUBLIN, Ohio, March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 percent of hospital executives reported that healthcare industry pressures, along with the lack of time and resources, prohibit them from focusing on innovative initiatives for the hospital, according to a new Cardinal Health survey of hospital C-suite decision makers. And, more than two-thirds of respondents revealed that they don't even consider the innovation that can be leveraged within the hospital pharmacy.

"Hospital leaders, and the success of their hospitals' performance, are driven by outside market forces, industry changes and availability of resources to support new ideas, updated technology or creative solutions. They seldom are afforded the time or resources to look internally at ways they can drive innovative change with the resources they already have, like their hospital pharmacy," said Debbie Weitzman, president of U.S. Pharmaceutical Distribution at Cardinal Health. "A high-performing pharmacy can – and should – serve as a center of innovation for the hospital that delivers critical care to patients."

Nearly 68 percent of survey respondents reported that pharmacies were not a focus area of innovation. In addition, despite expectations of hospital leaders to drive improvements, hospital leaders indicated that 50 percent of all pharmacy-related innovation or improvements were the result of reactionary decisions to external industry changes. This creates an opportunity for hospitals to uncover better ways to leverage the pharmacy department to drive innovation, efficiency and improvement, noted Weitzman.

"The hospital pharmacy can have a positive impact on operating expenses and patient care delivery, and when hospital leaders can utilize it as an asset, they realize improved profitability and better patient outcomes," said Mike Brown, RPh, vice president of managed services at Cardinal Health. "A high-performing pharmacy can deliver better performance and drive results for the entire hospital."

3 Ways Hospital Pharmacies Can Improve Hospital Profitability and Patient Outcomes

Identify the true costs of medication utilization. When hospital leaders understand the true cost of medication utilization across the hospital, it enables them to identify the most impactful clinical programs to improve patient outcomes and realize meaningful savings.
Drive continuous compliance with changing standards and regulatory requirements, which can be resource-intensive and complicated to implement across multiple hospital departments and teams.
Create cost-efficient solutions that supplement on-site pharmacy teams to meet the increased demand for services. Today, pharmacists are members of patient care teams, and are being asked to provide services that were previously met by providers, like medication reconciliation and discharge patient counseling. In order to meet these new demands, many pharmacies leverage remote pharmacy models as a cost-efficient solution to supplement on-site pharmacy teams.

To learn more about how hospital leaders can improve profitability and patient outcomes via the pharmacy, visit https://www.cardinalhealth.com/en/services/acute/pharmacy-services/management-solutions.html.

About the Cardinal Health hospital pharmacy c-suite survey
This study, conducted with Burke, Inc., was fielded in July 2018 to assess attitudes and experiences of hospital executives regarding their in-house pharmacy and external consultants. The study targeted the C-suite (CEOs, COOs, CFOs and presidents) of health systems and stand-alone hospitals, including small, medium and large hospitals. The survey included 176 online survey respondents and 15 one-hour phone interviews with hospital executives.

About Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health, Inc. is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. To help combat prescription drug abuse, the company and its education partners created Generation Rx, a national drug education and awareness program. Backed by nearly 100 years of experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in nearly 46 countries, Cardinal Health ranks #14 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth on Twitter, @cardinalhealthwings on Facebook and connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ company/cardinal-health.

SOURCE Cardinal Health