Telepharmacy company covers hospitals overnight in 10 states, 12% of nation's hospitals use an off-site pharmacy service

Maryland telepharmacy provider MedNovations got a write up in the Maryland online Gazette.net because of it's valuable remote pharmacy services for hospitals:

‘‘It’s fairly new,” said Doug Scheckelhoff, the director of Pharmacy Practice Sections for the 30,000-member trade group. In fall 2005, the most recent data available, 12.2 percent of the nation’s hospitals used an off-site pharmacy service, he said.

Keeys, 48, called privately held MedNovations a ‘‘multimillion-dollar company,” but, citing competitors, declined to provide specifics about the company’s finances.

With 28 employees at its Laurel headquarters and a six-employee staff in Westfield, Mass., MedNovations has contracted to provide remote pharmacy services to just under 30 medical institutions in 10 states, including Laurel Regional Hospital and four other hospitals in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Keeys said.

‘‘I see this being a significant model for bridging the gap that’s going to be here for a long time,” he said of a national pharmacist shortage that, as baby boomers being to retire, he expects to only worsen.

Points:

• Telepharmacy can be implemented in hospitals to reduce medication errors that would occur overnight
• 12.2% of hospitals use an off-site pharmacy service, as of 2005, (so it's probably higher now)
• Telepharmacy can be provided from a central location to a number of different states
• More people needing medical care will elevate the need for remote pharmacy services