The admission process for Skilled Nursing Facilities is multifaceted and can be challenging. Timeframes for reviewing and accepting new admissions are becoming tighter, making timely pre-admission medication cost estimates vitally important. Pre-admission cost estimates help admissions coordinators gain a complete understanding of the costs of the medication regimen for a prospective resident. Through a comprehensive cost estimate, providers can ascertain areas where a medication regimen could be optimized to remain clinically effective while benefiting from cost reduction. While medication pricing is available through many long term care pharmacies, very few offer the level of sophistication that Grane Rx offers. The Grane Rx MedExpense Evaluation Tool benefits admissions coordinators in three key ways:  

The MedExpense Evaluation Tool Is Easy

Grane Rx utilizes a simple user interface to allow non-clinical admissions coordinators to quickly and easily search for medications and the associated costs. The system is customized for each Skilled Nursing Facility, integrating the center’s therapeutic interchanges and preferred medication programs built into the MedExpense Evaluation tool. Because of this level of customization, when users input a medication, they are guided to the center’s preferred clinical and cost-effective treatment options. Customization doesn’t end there. As time goes by and the MedExpense Evaluation tool is utilized within a SNF, the system acclimates to the most commonly used medication products. As a result, searches become smarter and easier for admissions coordinators. [Tweet “What to know about pre-admission medication cost estimates in #LTCpharmacy”]

The MedExpense Evaluation Tool Is User-friendly

When working with any type of technology, you want the technology to be intuitive to operate. The MedExpense Evaluation tool fits the bill, providing admissions coordinators with a user-friendly experience. When an admissions coordinator selects a medication within the system, the tool will provide a list of common order instructions for that particular medication. This helps minimize the amount of typing and manual calculation necessary for an accurate cost estimation. In addition, for complex medications, such as compounded medications, the system steps users through the necessary information. Text within the system explains the information or calculation that is needed, which helps increase the number of successful quotes provided while minimizing the number of times the pharmacy needs to be contacted.  

The MedExpense EvaluationTool Is Thorough

The MedExpense tool also provides admissions coordinators with thorough information. Using the depth of information provided, the team at each center is able to determine a clinically optimal and cost-effective medication regimen for each resident. Within the system, users are notified if there are generic alternatives available for medications they’ve selected, so final cost estimates accurately reflect the medications that will be dispensed by the long term care pharmacy. Cost estimates themselves are provided based on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. Admissions coordinators are notified within the system if they’ve selected a medication that is packaged and dispensed only in a certain size or quantity. Grane Rx is committed to providing optimal care and cost savings. Find out how we can help your Skilled Nursing Facility by filling out this quick form or calling (866) 244-MEDS (6337).]]>

In the modern world, technology is everywhere, impacting everything from what we eat to how we communicate. In the long term care setting, technology plays a significant role in helping provide residents with safe, quality care.
Given the large number of prescription medications elderly residents typically take, the role of pharmacy technology is especially important in medication management. Read on for a look at three key ways pharmacy technology positively impacts long term care.
 

Pharmacy Technology Improves Access to Medications

When dispensing large quantities of medications to multiple residents, there is potential for disorganization. The use of automated medication dispensing cabinets largely mitigates that potential.
With automated medication dispensing cabinets, medications are stored, dispensed and tracked at the point of care. This access allows for the timely administration of medications and increases the time nurses can devote to resident care.
Grane Rx takes that technology a step further with SimpleAccess Cabinets. These cabinets provide a number of benefits within the long term care setting, including additional safety measures, automated and streamlined documentation, and improved nursing access to medications. The most unique aspect of SimpleAccess cabinets is the Anywhere RN Solution, a web-based application that allows nurses to complete tasks related to medication management while away from the cabinet.
 

Pharmacy Technology Adds a Layer of Safety

The SimpleAccess cabinets also provide enhanced safety measures. Real-time resident profiling, organized dispensing bins and automated temperature controls are all implemented as part of the SimpleAccess technology.
The way medications are dispensed is another key safety measure. Grane Rx utilizes SimplePacks, resident-specific, multi-dose packaging that helps to largely reduce medication errors. This packaging technology uses automation to package medications according to when they will be taken—morning, noon, evening, at bedtime and on an as-needed basis.
While the SimplePacks themselves help reduce the risk of preventable medication errors by simplifying the process of taking medication for residents, Grane Rx provides another level of safety with InspectRx technology. This automated imaging technology checks to ensure that each pill in every SimplePack matches the resident it is being dispensed to. The technology checks for 12 pill indices, including color, shape, size and manufacturer.
[Tweet “Technology is everywhere. Learn about how #pharmacytechnology impacts #longtermcare.”]

Pharmacy Technology Enhances Communication

Effective communication between all providers in a long term care setting is imperative. In order to enhance communication between Grane Rx pharmacy providers and other providers within your Skilled Nursing Facility or PACE center, we utilize SimpleView technology.
SimpleView is a secure communication portal designed to specifically meet the needs of each center. The tool, which is an online portal, offers providers 24/7 access to analytical tools, resident data and reports.
In one key aspect of the portal, admission coordinators can search for medication cost estimates specifically tied to the individual center’s contract pricing and pharmacy inventory.
Pharmacy technology’s role in long term care cannot be understated. Grane Rx is ahead of the curve, introducing technologies that positively impact several facets of provider access and resident safety. Grane Rx also interacts with your technology, integrating with your center’s electronic health record system. ]]>

New Pharmacy Services Improve Distribution and Decrease Waste

Are you still managing hundreds of bingo cards for medication administration? Here are three good reasons to switch to multi-dose packaging:

Data and Technology Are Critical to New Pharmacy Services

Electronic health records have great promise for providing meaningful data. To make sense of all that data, you need to know what to track. There are just a few critical points to watch:

This information helps you understand your costs—and make smart choices about where to reduce spending while still maintaining excellent patient outcomes.

Technology isn’t just about data. Grane Rx consistently delivers innovative, integrated technology solutions to our customers to help balance cost and care which helps you use data to your advantage through methods like pre-admission medication cost estimates.

Grane Rx’s simple user interface allows admission coordinators to search medication cost estimates tied specifically to the community’s contract pricing and pharmacy inventory quickly and easily. It’s a simple, but more sophisticated, solution than many pharmacy services companies offer.

New Pharmacy Services Include Consulting and Testing

Pharmacy consults traditionally respond reactively to address issues a participant is having with medication. Early or proactive pharmacy consults look at a participant’s medications before there is a problem. That’s where Grane Rx’s Medications Insights program powered by YouScript™ comes in. We use a patented technology to help mitigate polypharmacy issues and identify and make medication changes before there is a need to invest in high cost lab tests. Our software enables prescribers to quickly identify more medication interactions and offer alternative medications both within the same medication class and for the same medication. Read more about the benefits of early pharmacy consults related to polypharmacy in the elderly.

Pharmacogenetic testing goes even deeper to assess the effectiveness of particular drugs for particular patients. Consider that 75 percent of all patients have some genetic variations in their medication metabolism enzymes, which may affect how they metabolize, process and react to treatments. Pharmacogenetic testing is beginning to explain the variances that have been seen between patient reaction to particular doses of particular medications.

This tool provides information to improve medication management by enabling providers to select the most appropriate medication at the most appropriate dose for a patient based on how their body will metabolize a medication. This has the potential to reduce the number of medications given to reduce side effects of other medications. That reduction can bring real cost savings as well as positive clinical outcomes.

A great pharmacy partner is always looking for ways to save you money, whether it’s creating a formulary for your organization or exchanging inefficient practices for more streamlined effective ones. Your pharmacy solution may be working, but checking out new pharmacy services may bring cost savings you can’t afford to pass up.

Nursing Home Pharmacy Services Improve Med Adherence Medication adherence means taking the right dose of the right medication at the right time—always. Patients are at risk of problems if they:  

  Grane Rx Meds2Home™ program can help. SimplePacks, prepackaged daily doses help people take the all of the right medications, every day. Multi-checkpoint systems in the packaging process mimic checkpoints in the medication administration process and reduce errors. Clear labeling helps people know what they are taking and how to take it. SimplePacks make safe and effective medication taking easy for people at home.  

Nursing Home Pharmacy Services Provide Oversight

With many elderly people on multiple meds, polypharmacy is a significant risk factor. While polypharmacy itself isn’t a problem, multiple medications increases the risk of medication interactions, missing medications, or taking medication incorrectly.   Pharmacists identify potentially contraindicated medications. They know which medications are of concern in aging bodies that process drugs differently. They also advise on ways to streamline pill load, which is yet another way to help with medication adherence. Grane Rx solutions allow people living at home with simple packaging and easy to read labels. [Tweet “Elderly patients need better #pharmacy services at home”]

Nursing Home Pharmacy Services Reduce Rehospitalization

Better medication adherence and reduced adverse drug events aren’t just numbers. They’re important factors in both quality of life and keeping people healthy at home. Medication mismanagement is the number one reason for hospital readmissions. Having medications delivered home through the Grane Rx Meds2Home program is a big step to reducing reducing medication mismanagement and thus lowering hospital readmissions. Patients don’t have to stop at the local drug store to pick up medications — they often leave the Skilled Nursing Facility with medications in hand. This has a clear impact on the elderly served. It also has a significant impact on managing costs for your center. There are many factors that go into successful outcomes for people living at home. Pharmacy is one of them. Bringing the best of nursing home pharmacy services home can be the difference between staying at home and rehospitalization for the elderly in a PACE program or those needing meds after a stay in a skilled nursing facility.]]>