Consolidation, increased regulation and shortages of critical medications are just a few issues that have health system pharmacy managers scrambling.

"We are being faced more and more by challenges within the system," said DeVere Day, pharmacy automation and technology manager at Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare. "We're facing challenges from an expense standpoint. There are certainly compliance and regulatory concerns. Automation has become very expensive for many hospital systems. Sterile compounding is a concern with hazardous drug therapies and medication shortages in the industry have created a lot of heartache."

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Day will be presenting "Transforming the Pharmacy Supply Chain," an exploration of Intermountain's implementation of a central pharmacy supply chain center for its entire enterprise, and the strategic decision making that has resulted in pharmacy savings to the tune of approximately $3.5 million companywide in 2015.

"We distribute about 4.5 million doses a year within our system," Day said. "The majority of those go to our 22 hospitals but we have 185 clinics we have begun working for as well, so we are now supplying many of the clinics within our system."

Day cited technological platforms including carousels, packaging machines and a third-party software tool that enables staff at the supply chain center to visualize inventory at other Intermountain facilities. Those other facilities, in turn, can use that software to place orders directly, with each hospital's central pharmacy responsible for internal distribution.

The technology is just the enabler of astute strategic thinking, however. For example, Intermountain compounds only nine IV drugs, and the focus on those leads to approximate savings of $500,000 annually over buying those drugs from a wholesaler, Day said. He cited rapidly changing industry status, such as the recent merger between Pfizer and Hospira, and AmerisourceBergen's announced purchase of compounder PharMEDium, as elements the central supply chain center can help cope with.

"We have put ourselves into a position where we can adapt to market changes, and the market is changing so fast it's hard to predict where your greatest impact is going to be," he said.

And while Day explained that economies of scale at a larger system may yield benefits smaller organizations can't match, that's no reason not to evaluate just what can be done to improve efficiency.

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"I guess the strategic planning side of it has value for anybody," he said. "Some of our shops are as small as 20 beds, some as large as 400, and we have found ways to provide value for all of those."

Day will be presenting "Transforming the Pharmacy Supply Chain" from 4 - 5 p.m. March 1 at the Sands Expo Convention Center, Marcello 4401.

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