New pharmacy system working well: PMH

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This article was published 15/07/2019 (2563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A change in the dispensing of pharmaceuticals to personal care homes in Westman has resulted in cost savings and more standardized delivery, says the director of pharmacy with Prairie Mountain Health.

“From a service perspective, in my opinion, things have gone well,” said Jane Lamont, director of pharmacy with Prairie Mountain Health, “and from a financial perspective, we’re seeing savings both within our drug costs as well as in our pharmacy-service costs from our previous model.”

Since the end of last July, all of the 38 personal care homes and one transitional care facility in the Prairie Mountain Health region that were serviced by area pharmacists are now covered by MediSystem Manitoba Ltd. Five personal care homes are still serviced by regional health authority pharmacies.

Ninety-nine personal care homes across Manitoba were awarded to MediSystem, a subsidiary of Shoppers Drug Mart and its parent company, Loblaw.

The decision to go with MediSystem came after Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Contracting Services issued a request for proposals last fall, on behalf of the RHAs, for pharmacy services at more than 100 personal care homes.

“We’re currently undergoing our standard reviews, and the results have been very positive, so that’s from the Province of Manitoba,” Lamont said.

She noted that since the changeover, PMH has converted to a pouch-fill dispensing system, in which all the medications required by each patient are put into pouches and dispensed, as opposed to using blister cards, which is a more time-consuming system.

“We had that system in parts of our region, but now we’ve brought that system to all personal care homes within our region,” Lamont said.

It increases patient safety, she said, “as well as it assists with the workload for the nursing staff, allowing them to have more time to do other patient care.”

As well, Prairie Mountain Health now has clinical pharmacy services provided by five consultant pharmacists who look after the entire region. The drugs are sent out from Winnipeg.

Lamont said the cost savings to PMH have come in the form of provincial clinical initiatives, targeting certain areas of appropriate drug use; provincial contracting for drug costs and standardized substitutions with some generic, lower-cost, drugs.

“I think it’s really important to understand that the goal of the contract that we went into was primarily to make sure that we establish a high level of pharmacy service accessible to all residents,” she said. “So, it really shouldn’t matter if you live in Brandon or if you live in a small, rural community. The goal is that they all have access to both a good dispensing system as well as clinical pharmacists.”

Jan Legeros, executive director of the Long Term & Continuing Care Association of Manitoba, reached out to personal care home members at the request of the Sun and found they also appear to be happy with the new system.

“I have heard only positive comments,” Legeros said in an emailed statement.

The association represents personal care homes, supportive housing and Independent Living with Services residences across Manitoba.

When asked to comment on the changeover to MediSystem, Pharmacists Manitoba CEO Dr. Brenna Shearer said in an mailed statement: “Pharmacists provide high-quality health-care services to all Manitobans.

“We continue to work with our government to recognize the professional services that pharmacists offer and how these improve health-care access and quality care.”

Pharma-Medic Services in Brandon, which looked after five personal care homes in the city, was the last pharmacy in Prairie Mountain Health whose care-home services were transitioned to MediSystem.

The company closed last August after more than 40 years in business.

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