16 Oct Pharmaceuticals Management in Hospital CPOE Systems Is Complicated and Here’s Why
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The management of pharmaceuticals is among the most important functions in healthcare.
A standalone pharmacy or integrated within a hospital’s broader system, Pharmacy Management Systems (PMS) have several purposes:
- To dispense medications effectively;
- To manage inventory;
- For billing.
These may seem straightforward tasks, but the requirements for these systems vary depending on their intended use. The complexity and overall scope of the PMS expand when integrated within an inpatient hospital CPOE (Computerized physician order entry) system.
Answering the question of why it is so will be our main goal of this post, with an increased focus on functionality, development complexity, and maintenance requirements.
What functions each system is expected to have?
Let’s start with a standalone PMS.
A standalone pharmacy management system is typically used in retail or community pharmacies. The primary focus there is on the sale and dispensation of medications. The tasks usually narrow down to:
- Handling inventory management
- Automating billing processes
- Managing prescriptions
It’s worth mentioning that doing all that must also comply with legal and regulatory standards. Legal and financial penalties in the healthcare industry are significant.
Tracking inventory levels in real-time and generating purchases when stock levels are low –are some of the key examples of what a standalone PMS should do. Of course, in most cases, there’s more to a standalone PMS than just that, they often manage customer profiles and keep medication histories in order.
Insurance claims and traditional CRM features
A standalone PMS must also process and manage insurance claims. The way it’s usually done is that these systems are being integrated with third-party billing software. That’s how they facilitate insurance reimbursements while keeping the whole process smooth for both the pharmacy and the patient.
Pharmacies don’t want to miss the opportunity to engage with customers, so customer relationship management (CRM) features are something every standalone PMS has. Thanks to them, you get occasional messages about prescription refills or just promotions.
When PMS gets integrated within a hospital CPOE system
The role of a PMS becomes much more complex when integrated into a hospital’s CPOE system. In that case, not only it must handle the traditional pharmacy functions but also integrate with the hospital’s broader system, including EHR (Electronic Health Records).
This integration is there so that when physicians place medication orders through the CPOE, those orders are automatically routed to the pharmacy. There these orders are:
- Reviewed
- Prepared
- Dispensed
The key functional difference in a scenario like that is that the system must be able to support medication administration throughout the hospital. It must coordinate with other hospital systems to make sure that medications are delivered accurately and on time.
One example would be when the system might need to track the preparation and delivery of intravenous (IV) medications. Procedures like that require complex workflows a numerous safety checks to prevent errors.
Additional compliances are also in place when working with a CPOE system. The system must now comply with regulatory requirements in the field of tracking and reporting of controlled substances.
Optimizing the costs
Even with all the regulations governing healthcare software, there’s space for customization and individualization in both standalone and hospital-integrated PMS.
Customization means that only the necessary features are implemented in order to:
- Optimize your investment
- Increase system performance
A retail pharmacy is likely to invest a bit more into a robust CRM module to make the most out of customer interactions. Integration into a hospital’s facility shifts more focus should be put on the integration with, for example, laboratory systems for medication reconciliation and patient records.
An effective way to achieve this level of customization is to partner with custom healthcare software development services. These are the providers of individualized software solutions that satisfy the unique needs of each healthcare provider all while ensuring that the system is future-proof and easy to maintain.
All of this impacts the development
The development of a standalone pharmacy management system is more or less straightforward because of a relatively short list of tasks such a system must be able to do.
The core technologies used to develop it include:
- Relational databases for inventory management
- Secure payment gateways for processing transactions
- APIs for integration with third-party billing software
The system must be reliable and not an overly difficult task because the scope of its functionality is quite limited, especially when compared to a hospital-integrated system. Developers of a standalone PMS focus on optimizing the system for speed and usability for the pharmacy staff to efficiently manage inventory, process transactions, and handle customer interactions.
It’s different with a hospital CPOE
Developing a PMS that is integrated into a hospital’s CPOE system is more complex, including among others:
- The communication with multiple subsystems:
- The HER
- Laboratory systems
- Patient monitoring systems
The use of advanced integration technologies and standards (like HL7) is important to make different healthcare systems exchange data both accurately and securely.
Security and Scalability
Security is an important aspect. The protection of patient data as it moves between systems cannot be overlooked and implementation requires security measures like encryption, secure data transmission protocols, and role-based access controls. Keep in mind that each hospital has its own specific workflows that vary depending on the size and the institution.
This is important, particularly in the context of scalability and redundancy.
The system must remain operational during the failure of other systems and must handle large volumes of data. Often solutions include cloud-based infrastructure or microservices architecture, which allows different components of the system to be updated or scaled independently.
Conclusion
Integrated within a hospital’s CPOE system or not, pharmacy management systems play a critical role in healthcare delivery.
Understanding their differences helps healthcare providers to design or upgrade PMS systems most effectively.
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Last Updated on October 16, 2024 by Marie Benz MD FAAD