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While many
hospitals today use robotics to fill prescriptions and sophisticated
systems to track and monitor patient care, most still use manual
processes to determine what, how often and how much to order. The vast
majority of hospital pharmacies still rely on a "want book," using pen
and paper to take notes throughout the day on items to be ordered. They
double the work by visually inspecting the on-hand inventory of items in
the pharmacy, and cap off this process by manually entering their daily
order into technology systems provided from their pharmaceutical
distributor.
Many pharmacy buyers were trained as pharmacy technicians and in lieu of
formal purchasing instruction, rely on their own intuition. A typical
hospital pharmacy has more than 2,000 products in its inventory. Relying
on visual inspection, memory or experience to decide how much to order
leads to costly overstock and stressful buying emergencies. Compounding
this problem is the fact that most hospital pharmacies do not have a
process for accurately reconciling what is received against what their
pharmaceutical distributor bills.
The serious consequences of traditional pharmacy purchasing include:
lack of inventory control
missed contract compliance
excess inventory levels
frequent stock-outs and costly emergency deliveries
workflow interruptions and expensive rework
increased health system labor requirements
Taking control of inventory is much easier than it was a few years ago.
The right inventory process redesign includes three components:
technology; buyer experience; and change management.
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