CVS 's retail pharmacy operations are functioning poorly and dissatisfying customers. Many customers are defecting as a result. A pharmacy service improvement team has documented the current prescription fulfillment process, its exception rates, and the problems generated by exceptions. The company must now decide how to change this process, and what information system changes to make in support of the redesigned process.
Changes I recommend to CVS’s existing pharmacy fulfillment process
Drop off, data entry, insurance check –all done while customer is present
Data entry completed at drop-off while customer was still there – made it easier to verify customer insurance information. Insurance check is now done with customer present.
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This situation caused customers to become irritated.
b. Rejection of Scripts for payment by insurance. The payment makers wanted to control their costs with the help of long rules about drugs, refilling time and cash collection conditions truly complicated the work of pharmacy employees therefore extended the waiting time for a refill. At the same time, the customers might not be sufficiently responsive of these rules and requirements of payment through an insurance company. Until and unless, the pickup came to the customer for prescriptions, over the customer was conversant by the store employees about the situation, which was beyond their anticipation.
c. DUR hard stop problem.
The wrong feeding of customer’s data was due to the written errors in the scripts, a DUR that stores customer’s prescription record has generated false results. Due to these incorrect subscriptions pharmacy employees had to consult with each doctor individually to solve this issue, which would take extra time for progression. However, the customers did not expect nor even possessed such an
Springfield General Hospital (SGH) is committed to high quality healthcare for patients, and providing tools to support physicians, nurses and pharmacists. SGH leadership approved the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system as a solution to reduce prescription errors, and the results of the CPOE project are disappointing. The data show increased prescribing errors after implementing the CPOE; resulting in increased costs for adverse drug events, rather than the planned cost reduction (Spector, 2013). This change management plan provides the SGH board of directors and executive management team pragmatic steps to increase quality for patients by assessing the root issue of hospital
When brothers Sidney and Stanley Goldstein partnered with Ralph Hoagland in Lowell Massachusetts in 1963, they were unaware of the nationwide impact that CVS would have on the retail drug industry today. Just six years after establishment, Goldstein and Hoagland sold to Melville Corporation and began acquiring companies including Revco, Prescription Health Services, People’s Drug and Eckerd Health Services. This led to an increase in sales reaching one billion dollars in 1985 as well set the bar for all pharmaceutical companies within the United States.
Adopted from: CVS Caremark company website. Vision Statement: We strive to improve the quality of life. Mission Statement: We provide expert care and innovative solutions in pharmacy and health care that are effective and easy for our customers. Proposed Vision Statement: CVS Caremark’s vision is to improve the quality of life through convenient and cost-efficient offerings. Proposed Mission Statement: At CVS Caremark, our mission is to provide quality products and services through our pharmaceuticals and consumer products.
According to Accuracy at Every Step: The Challenge of Medication Reconciliation (n.d.), the most challenge is called medication reconciliation, which is a formal steps of gathering information related to the patient’s medication with accurate current medication list and compared to the doctor’s admission, transfer and discharge orders. Its aim is to prevent medication errors. There are three steps process- Verification (gather medication history), Clarification (confirm the medication with doses, properly) and Reconciliation (documenting with medication information). This challenge is important to obtain accurate information on all patients entering the hospital. Information technology may play an important role in improving
medications is more than the act of getting drugs to a patient. The delivery of medication is directly tied to the charge for the medication. Thus the responsibility for charging or crediting medication belongs to technicians. This aspect of their job is strictly governed by federal regulations. These laws hold the technician directly responsible for the accuracy of a patient’s account’s charge and credit transactions. Because every dose is related to a specific day and time, when technicians credit they must apply that change to the corresponding dose. Assignificant as accuracy is to the patient’s account, accuracy in the making of their medications is even more important.
Some method such as audits, chart reviews, computer monitoring, incident report, bar codes and direct patient observation can improve and decrease medication errors. Regular audits can help patient’s care and reeducate nurses in the work field to new practices. Also reporting of medication errors can help with data comparison and is a learning experience for everyone. Other avenues that has been implemented are computerized physician order entry systems or electronic prescribing (a process of electronic entry of a doctor’s instructions for the treatment of patients under his/her care which communicates these orders over a computer network to other staff or departments) responsible for fulfilling the order, and ward pharmacists can be more diligence on the prescription stage of the medication pathway. A random survey was done in hospital pharmacies on medication error documentation and actions taken against pharmacists involved. A total of 500 hospital were selected in the United States. Data collected on the number of medication error reported, what types of errors were documented and the hospital demographics. The response rate was a total of 28%. Practically, all of the hospitals had policies and procedures in place for reporting medication errors.
I learned a lot from this experience. As I mentioned earlier first time when I saw pharmacist doing medication reconciliation I felt it is difficult task to do and hence I started getting more information about medication reconciliation from my friends and pharmacist whenever I got a chance. I prepared myself before I expose myself in this area, which helped me to gain more confidence when I was performing medication reconciliation with standardized patient. I learnt how important is Pharmacist role in finding and solving medication related discrepancies. From this activity, I learnt that it is very important to communicate effectively with patients and other health care providers. If I am unable to communicate properly I will not be able to
One of many nationwide initiatives to help reduce the occurrence of unnecessary medical errors and adverse events is the use of the integrated Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS). A CDSS is a system that provides the right information to the right person in a right format through a right channel at the right time of workflow to facilitate better decision-making by clinicians, reduce errors, and also to prevent adverse events (AHRQ, 2008). This proposal is a case based CDSS system that provides point of care clinical decision support, ensures five rights of medication administration (right person, right drug, right dose, right time and right route), and is designed to prevent or reduce the occurrence errors and adverse events at Perpetual Order of Saints Hospital (POSH).
Responsibility and accountability become important when medical staff gives or doses patients with medication. The chance for making a medication error presents itself at all times. Those passing medications must follow established policies and procedures developed and laid forth by t...
CVS works with medical partners to offer discount at pharmacies for approved drugs. Behind the scenes, specialty copay adjustments are manually entered and batch then sent to insurer via electronic file. Currently, the departments at CVS who are directly involved with processing specialty coupon rebates at CVS are Integrated Accumulations and Account Management. Motivation for a new seamless way to process the specialty copay rebates are (1) accuracy, (2) timeliness, and (3) automated real-time processing. Currently specialty adjustments are processed manually and processed once every 24 hours. Typically, there is lag time and the current process lacks a quality check point. Both departments (Integrated Accumulations and Account Management) would benefit from a faster option to process adjustments. Specialty drug as defined by a 2017 American College of Clinical Pharmacy article include Medications that have a total average cost greater than $1000 per prescription or an average daily cost larger than $33 per day (Optimizing specialty drug use,
CVS’s decision on terminating the sale of tobacco has successfully demonstrated the concept of creating share values because it does not only seize the market of people who wants to be healthy, but also provide shared values to the society.
Medical errors can happen in the healthcare system such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, operating rooms, doctor’s offices, pharmacies, patients’ homes and anywhere in the healthcare system where patients are being treated. These errors consist of diagnostic, treatment, medicine, surgical, equipment calibration, and lab report error. Furthermore, communication problems between doctors and patients, miscommunication among healthcare staff and complex health care systems are playing important role in medical errors. We need to look for a solution which starts changes from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patients, hospitals, and government agencies. In this paper I will discuss how does the problem of medical errors affect our healthcare delivery system? Also how can these medical errors be prevented and reduced?
Rite Aide has choices in the solution that our organization can implement to solve these financial systems integration issues. The main issue facing it’s Financing and Accounting department is the lack of standardized systems, which includes software, data interfaces, and processes. Here are some solutions, Solution 1: Maintain and Enhance Existing Systems, the organization has three very different Finance and Accounting functions that need to be consolidating to provide a seamless environment that is able to grow with the business. One option would be to continue focusing the attention of IT and Financial Services Divisions on maintaining and enhancing the existing systems. This would require no upfront capital expense, but does not meet our short or long-term business requirements.
Medication errors are amongst the most common mistakes that have an impact on patient care. Medications are an absolute benefit if health care providers prescribe, dispense, and administer them to the patient by applying the appropriate technique. The administration of medication is a fundamental aspect of the nursing role and it is associated with significant risk, however, despite the health care team’s knowledge and devotion to quality care, errors with medications may occur. Therefore, it is important that health care providers are familiar with the most common encountered errors. Health care providers should be familiar with the basic rights of medication administration: Right drug, Right dose, Right patient, Right route, Right time, Right reason, and Right documentation and the three checks.
I was also responsible for monitoring medication orders and reviewing patient profiles to ensure that the proper drugs and dosages were prescribed and that the pharmacy technician had prepared them properly. In many instances there were mistakes made in the preparation phase and sometimes even before, with incorrect dosages or drugs being prescribed and prepared, which could result in serious adverse effects for the patient. A clinical pharmacist’s role, however, is to make sure that these mistakes never reach the