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Saving Money Through Prescriptions
Pharmacy UBT reduced the number of high-cost prescriptions filled outside KP pharmacies and saved over $108,000 in 2021.
- When health plan members use KP pharmacies, the cost is lower for them and for the organization.
- Team members contacted Kaiser Permanente patients who filled prescriptions outside KP pharmacies and explained the benefits of ordering their medications within KP.
Pharmacy Helps Patients Get Mammograms
The team worked with Imaging department staff to identify patients overdue for breast cancer screenings and to help fast-track their mammogram appointments.
- Preventive screenings are important to detect disease early, when treatment is most effective.
- Checking patients’ electronic medical records to identify those due for breast cancer screenings
Fresh Perspective Spurs Workflow Innovation
Listening to the "voice of the customer" is the key to getting results.
- Timely delivery of medication is critical for patient care and eases anxiety and stress among staff.
- Shadowing hospital nurses to better understand their wants and needs.
Teamwork Keeps Inventory in Check
This pharmacy team reduced the cost of expired medications by 90 percent after partnering with data specialists to identify and remove outdated drugs from the shelf.
- Keeping outdated medications in stock is a waste of money and a potential safety hazard if dispensed to patients.
- Unit-based team members worked with pharmacy analysts to identify slow moving medications and monitored the inventory to avoid over-stocking them.
Costco and Goldilocks Inspire Savings
This outpatient pharmacy team saved more than $1 million in five months by increasing bulk purchasing and ordering just the right amount—no more, no less—of high-cost medications for members.
- By ordering the right amount of drugs, the pharmacy saved money and helped keep KP affordable for our members.
- Working with pharmacists to better manage the ordering of specialty drugs