John McMillan 0:00
All right. Joining us today on our episode is Ronnie Strickland, national director for remote pharmacy at Cardinal Health and Rachna Patel, regional director of Pharmacy at Cardinal Health. So running Rasta, what's, what's something that we need to start doing here within the practice of pharmacy?
Ronnie Strickland 0:19
You know, John, I think the COVID vaccine has, or COVID pandemic proved to us that remote pharmacy services is a great model. You know, there was a lot of resistance, folks had a lot of resistance to using a remote model. But a lot of people were forced to utilize remote pharmacy service models during the pandemic, you know, hospitals that had had to utilize, you know, work from home pharmacists, because they were being quarantined because they had been exposed. So, it really, you know, one good thing that came out of the pandemic is that it verified and solidified the impact that remote pharmacy services can have in a hospital setting, and it doesn't just have to be a hospital setting, even in, you know, a retail setting in, you know, an outpatient pharmacy setting, that type lice is an excellent opportunity to utilize remote. So, you know, as far as things that, you know, people need to start doing and pharmacy is readily, you know, taking a look at that model, seeing where that model can help reach out to myself or Rachna. And we can talk through, you know, what challenges you have, and how we can help you. So, Rachna
Rachana Patel 1:41
Thank you. So, to Ronnies point, you know, for the longest time, remote pharmacy services has been looked at as your typical overnight services when the pharmacy is closed. But within the last, I would say, four to five years, we've really gotten innovative in the way we are able to serve as hospitals can provide daytime services working alongside the staff that's on site. This really allows John the on site pharmacists to be freed up from being tied down to a queue, to going up onto the floor doing more clinical services, interacting with patients. I have an example we have a hospital in which we're providing services during the day, and it's allowing their pharmacists to go up to the floors and do discharge counseling. Oh, wow. filiation is another opportunity right for versus to go and talk to patients and, and really be the person that can help bridge that gap between an IDI admission to the floor. So there are different opportunities for remote to help hospitals and, and I think we really need to look at at those different things, as we're talking to hospital leaders, right,
John McMillan 2:57
that makes a lot of sense. So really start expanding our thought process around how we could utilize remote pharmacy in there. So, you know, most of the things can be done by remote pharmacists except, you know, MCS and be at the patient bedside. Right. So you might as well might as well expand upon that. So, you know, look, as we're expanding the uses for remote pharmacy, you know, what's Ronnie, what's something that we should stop thinking about or stop doing in that world?
Ronnie Strickland 3:28
You know, we're in our world with, we would we should really stop thinking of remote pharmacy services, as Ross mentioned earlier, as just an overnight service. Yeah, there's, you know, wicked work, when work side by side, you know, to Ross's point earlier about the count count that she has where the pharmacist are doing discharge counseling, that particular facility had had the maximum penalty for readmission rates. So they were getting, I think 3% So they're, you know, CMS reimbursement, so what they were able to do, and was to reduce that reduce readmission rates significantly. So they were so successful with it, you know, they were they were actually expanded to expanded that discharge counseling service to the other readmission penalty, diagnosis, okay. nificant impact on that hospital when, you know, the return on that investment is, you know, exponential on the hospital, hospital side. So, you know, based on what, what they pay for the service versus how will the impacted in increase their their reimbursement from CMS, you know, they're coming out way ahead. So we're not just Yeah, an overnight model where a lot more than that and remote pharmacy services, you know, should not be looked at as just, you know, that overnight service when I'm closed. So, absolutely,
John McMillan 5:13
yeah,
Speaker 1 5:14
I think we're more of, you know, we can be a resource in so many different ways, John, for our hospitals, and I think that that's where we have opportunity to collaborate with hospital leaders and really show them our value, but also what we can offer to their on site staff. I mean, there's, as we know, it, there's a shortage, right, a pharmacist technicians and so we, as remote pharmacy service provider can really come in and help bridge that gap, whether it's a temporary gap or if it's a, you know, a long term, there's there's definitely opportunity for us to help bridge the gap with, with the staffing shortages, that healthcare across the borders is experiencing. Oh,
John McMillan 5:57
absolutely. And you mentioned this earlier, Russia, and we were talking about, you know, kind of expanding the use of this, but it's all comes back to how do we increase patient education and making sure that the pharmacy and all the caregivers within the facility, have all the information whether it's from med rec admissions, taking that patient from the IDI to the inpatient, and then frankly, discharging, right, so as we increase this, Rhonda, you talk about that CMS, if you bring that 3%, down to 2%, that's a lot of money and even further if you go down to 1%. So it really is, as you increase your patient education, you increase your patient adherence, and that really decreases the readmission rate, it also helps with your H cap scores, right? If I've got access to a pharmacist, as a patient at the bedside, then I understand what my therapy is from the medication side and what I should be doing once I get discharged. So really, a lot of I see a lot of value in bringing in that remote access to the pharmacy, for sure. So we talked about it starting by expanding the areas we cover and you know, stopping looking at just staffing, but looking at it as as a really strategic addition to your your pharmacy team, you know, what's what do we need to continue doing? You know, what's what's what do you think Ronnie is one of the most important things we need to continue as we take care of our patients?
Ronnie Strickland 7:23
Well, you know, an old term that's been thrown around a long time is pharmacy as a strategic asset. Right. And there's, you know, I think there's been some movement to, you know, throughout the industry, throughout hospital leadership, to look at pharmacy as a strategic asset. And, you know, we need to continue to do that we need to continue to expand and look at ways that pharmacy can can impact, you know, the service levels, the patient satisfaction levels, and she said, Yeah, I mean, it was, back when we started the what we were to the service that we were talking about earlier, it was a novel idea. We really need to continue to innovate and look at the ways that pharmacy can be a strategic asset for a hospital, so that for, you know, hospitals can utilize can see the value of utilizing remote pharmacy services to help, you know, leverage their own psych pharmacist for more impact on on the clinical satisfaction. And, you know, claim and patient satisfaction levels.
John McMillan 8:37
Right, right. Absolutely. And, you know, a lot of times Russia, you see, and Ronnie's right, though, people don't see it always as a strategic asset. They see especially an inpatient pharmacy, it's a cost center, right? Outpatient and a retail can be a profit center. But looking at them in total, you really can't see them, you know, as a strategic asset. So, you know, kind of building on that, you know, rush, what do you think we need to continue doing in the practice of pharmacy? Yeah,
Speaker 1 9:04
I think in order for us to show that pharmacy is a strategic asset, we've got to continue to collaborate with hospital leadership, right, the C suite, bringing them to the conversation, showing our value as pharmacist alone, and what we can do for patients. And for nurses to I think hospital leadership has to be able to see, again, that that pharmacy is a strategic asset and having them at the table and in those involved in those conversations. And continued collaboration with them is the way that I think we're going to turn this around to be able to show the value that we can bring,
John McMillan 9:41
right? No, absolutely. And there's a lot of value that that, you know, we touched the patient in so many different ways, as we talked about from admission, to you know, within the the inpatient stay and even post discharge, you know, through our medication adherence and programs to ensure that they understand what You're taking so you know Ronnie rushed and I really appreciate the time today I know that you guys have you know the patient safety at the forefront of everything that you do at Cardinal so you know appreciate it and have a great day y'all
Unknown Speaker:
10:12
thank you so much John
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
All right. Joining us today on our episode is Ronnie Strickland, national director for remote pharmacy at Cardinal Health and Rachna Patel, regional director of Pharmacy at Cardinal Health. So running Rasta, what's, what's something that we need to start doing here within the practice of pharmacy?
Ronnie Strickland 0:19
You know, John, I think the COVID vaccine has, or COVID pandemic proved to us that remote pharmacy services is a great model. You know, there was a lot of resistance, folks had a lot of resistance to using a remote model. But a lot of people were forced to utilize remote pharmacy service models during the pandemic, you know, hospitals that had had to utilize, you know, work from home pharmacists, because they were being quarantined because they had been exposed. So, it really, you know, one good thing that came out of the pandemic is that it verified and solidified the impact that remote pharmacy services can have in a hospital setting, and it doesn't just have to be a hospital setting, even in, you know, a retail setting in, you know, an outpatient pharmacy setting, that type lice is an excellent opportunity to utilize remote. So, you know, as far as things that, you know, people need to start doing and pharmacy is readily, you know, taking a look at that model, seeing where that model can help reach out to myself or Rachna. And we can talk through, you know, what challenges you have, and how we can help you. So, Rachna
Rachana Patel 1:41
Thank you. So, to Ronnies point, you know, for the longest time, remote pharmacy services has been looked at as your typical overnight services when the pharmacy is closed. But within the last, I would say, four to five years, we've really gotten innovative in the way we are able to serve as hospitals can provide daytime services working alongside the staff that's on site. This really allows John the on site pharmacists to be freed up from being tied down to a queue, to going up onto the floor doing more clinical services, interacting with patients. I have an example we have a hospital in which we're providing services during the day, and it's allowing their pharmacists to go up to the floors and do discharge counseling. Oh, wow. filiation is another opportunity right for versus to go and talk to patients and, and really be the person that can help bridge that gap between an IDI admission to the floor. So there are different opportunities for remote to help hospitals and, and I think we really need to look at at those different things, as we're talking to hospital leaders, right,
John McMillan 2:57
that makes a lot of sense. So really start expanding our thought process around how we could utilize remote pharmacy in there. So, you know, most of the things can be done by remote pharmacists except, you know, MCS and be at the patient bedside. Right. So you might as well might as well expand upon that. So, you know, look, as we're expanding the uses for remote pharmacy, you know, what's Ronnie, what's something that we should stop thinking about or stop doing in that world?
Ronnie Strickland 3:28
You know, we're in our world with, we would we should really stop thinking of remote pharmacy services, as Ross mentioned earlier, as just an overnight service. Yeah, there's, you know, wicked work, when work side by side, you know, to Ross's point earlier about the count count that she has where the pharmacist are doing discharge counseling, that particular facility had had the maximum penalty for readmission rates. So they were getting, I think 3% So they're, you know, CMS reimbursement, so what they were able to do, and was to reduce that reduce readmission rates significantly. So they were so successful with it, you know, they were they were actually expanded to expanded that discharge counseling service to the other readmission penalty, diagnosis, okay. nificant impact on that hospital when, you know, the return on that investment is, you know, exponential on the hospital, hospital side. So, you know, based on what, what they pay for the service versus how will the impacted in increase their their reimbursement from CMS, you know, they're coming out way ahead. So we're not just Yeah, an overnight model where a lot more than that and remote pharmacy services, you know, should not be looked at as just, you know, that overnight service when I'm closed. So, absolutely,
John McMillan 5:13
yeah,
Speaker 1 5:14
I think we're more of, you know, we can be a resource in so many different ways, John, for our hospitals, and I think that that's where we have opportunity to collaborate with hospital leaders and really show them our value, but also what we can offer to their on site staff. I mean, there's, as we know, it, there's a shortage, right, a pharmacist technicians and so we, as remote pharmacy service provider can really come in and help bridge that gap, whether it's a temporary gap or if it's a, you know, a long term, there's there's definitely opportunity for us to help bridge the gap with, with the staffing shortages, that healthcare across the borders is experiencing. Oh,
John McMillan 5:57
absolutely. And you mentioned this earlier, Russia, and we were talking about, you know, kind of expanding the use of this, but it's all comes back to how do we increase patient education and making sure that the pharmacy and all the caregivers within the facility, have all the information whether it's from med rec admissions, taking that patient from the IDI to the inpatient, and then frankly, discharging, right, so as we increase this, Rhonda, you talk about that CMS, if you bring that 3%, down to 2%, that's a lot of money and even further if you go down to 1%. So it really is, as you increase your patient education, you increase your patient adherence, and that really decreases the readmission rate, it also helps with your H cap scores, right? If I've got access to a pharmacist, as a patient at the bedside, then I understand what my therapy is from the medication side and what I should be doing once I get discharged. So really, a lot of I see a lot of value in bringing in that remote access to the pharmacy, for sure. So we talked about it starting by expanding the areas we cover and you know, stopping looking at just staffing, but looking at it as as a really strategic addition to your your pharmacy team, you know, what's what do we need to continue doing? You know, what's what's what do you think Ronnie is one of the most important things we need to continue as we take care of our patients?
Ronnie Strickland 7:23
Well, you know, an old term that's been thrown around a long time is pharmacy as a strategic asset. Right. And there's, you know, I think there's been some movement to, you know, throughout the industry, throughout hospital leadership, to look at pharmacy as a strategic asset. And, you know, we need to continue to do that we need to continue to expand and look at ways that pharmacy can can impact, you know, the service levels, the patient satisfaction levels, and she said, Yeah, I mean, it was, back when we started the what we were to the service that we were talking about earlier, it was a novel idea. We really need to continue to innovate and look at the ways that pharmacy can be a strategic asset for a hospital, so that for, you know, hospitals can utilize can see the value of utilizing remote pharmacy services to help, you know, leverage their own psych pharmacist for more impact on on the clinical satisfaction. And, you know, claim and patient satisfaction levels.
John McMillan 8:37
Right, right. Absolutely. And, you know, a lot of times Russia, you see, and Ronnie's right, though, people don't see it always as a strategic asset. They see especially an inpatient pharmacy, it's a cost center, right? Outpatient and a retail can be a profit center. But looking at them in total, you really can't see them, you know, as a strategic asset. So, you know, kind of building on that, you know, rush, what do you think we need to continue doing in the practice of pharmacy? Yeah,
Speaker 1 9:04
I think in order for us to show that pharmacy is a strategic asset, we've got to continue to collaborate with hospital leadership, right, the C suite, bringing them to the conversation, showing our value as pharmacist alone, and what we can do for patients. And for nurses to I think hospital leadership has to be able to see, again, that that pharmacy is a strategic asset and having them at the table and in those involved in those conversations. And continued collaboration with them is the way that I think we're going to turn this around to be able to show the value that we can bring,
John McMillan 9:41
right? No, absolutely. And there's a lot of value that that, you know, we touched the patient in so many different ways, as we talked about from admission, to you know, within the the inpatient stay and even post discharge, you know, through our medication adherence and programs to ensure that they understand what You're taking so you know Ronnie rushed and I really appreciate the time today I know that you guys have you know the patient safety at the forefront of everything that you do at Cardinal so you know appreciate it and have a great day y'all
Unknown Speaker:
10:12
thank you so much John
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
