Technology Allows Pharmacists to Deliver Services from Home

Tammy Worth writes a new article for the Health Care Reform Hub of the American Pharmacists Association's pharmacist.com called "Creating a virtual team: The future for medical homes?" In the article, Worth notes "working virtually" may be the answer to a lot of pharmacy's hurdles. She mentions the venerable North Dakota Telepharmacy Project as well as the lesser known project out of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where pharmacists work from home to provide inpatient pharmacy services:

Lisa Moffett, PharmD, went to pharmacy school, completed her residency, and then decided to stay at home with her children. When she received a call from the University of Nebraska Medical Center offering her work from home, she jumped at the chance.

Moffett is one of 14 stay-at-home moms, “retired” pharmacists, and moonlighters working for the university’s telepharmacy program. The group provides services to six rural hospitals that either need after-hours pharmacy coverage or do not have a pharmacist on staff.

Their responsibilities are purely clinical. A tollfree number is available for hospital staff to ask their virtual pharmacists questions at any time. The group reviews patient profiles, provides dose adjustments, rounds with physicians via telephone, and even takes part in one hospital’s monthly pharmacy committee meetings—all remotely.

“There are so many different things that this job encompasses,” Moffett said. “We practice inpatient pharmacy in our houses through the computer.”

Worth also highlights how the University of Arizona and a few other College of Pharmacies who are developing programs to provide remote medication therapy management (MTM), involving remote consultations. A telepharmacy equipment company out of North Dakota called Custom Data, Inc. says, “We are trying to build systems and come up with methods for doing tele-MTM through similar systems to what we are using now.”

Nebraska Medical Center services rural hospitals, looks to expand to Iowa and Missouri

More good news out of Nebraska, with University of Nebraska Medical Center leading the way with their telepharmacy program:

Like many small, rural hospitals, the Howard County Medical Center in St. Paul doesn’t have a staff pharmacist.
But every one of the hospital’s pharmaceutical orders is checked by a pharmacist against the patient’s medical history and other scheduled medications.
It’s the kind of perk not required by law but is a standard at larger hospitals. Now, thanks to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s new telepharmacy program, it’s available to rural hospitals, too.
“Prior to telepharmacy, we did not have that safety net in place,” said Jennifer Galvan, the hospital’s chief nursing officer. “The doctor ordered it, and the nurse gave it.”
The telepharmacy program, in which UNMC pharmacists review and enter medication information in a computer database from their homes, is one way rural hospitals like St. Paul’s are working to bridge the gap in accessibility that has historically hampered rural health care.

They are also looking for pharmacists to work remotely from home licensed in Nebraska, and surprisingly also say, "Pharmacy licensure in Iowa and Missouri required within 120 days of employment." Very interesting. Nebraska is coming up in the telepharmacy world! See the Telepharmacy Blog's telepharmacy in Nebraska category for full coverage.