|
Currents
Plans are under way to hold a retreat for all Medical Center managers and clinical leaders on July 30. We will use this retreat to outline a two-year tactical plan for carrying out the clinical enterprise strategic plan, which was approved in principle by the MUSC board of trustees in October 1998. As previously communicated, the five-year clinical enterprise strategic plan addresses major focus areas, including ownership and legal structure, clinical enterprise relationships, organizational structure, and infrastructure. The tactical plan will define the Medical Center's priorities and specific objectives that need to be carried out to achieve the more global strategic plan. During a period of several months, we will form work teams to focus on the specific details. Recently, I met with Medical Center administrators for a full day to brainstorm and develop a general framework for the July 30 tactical plan retreat. We agreed that the tactical plan priorities should include implementation of the authority organization, physician involvement in the Medical Center operation, customer service, information-based decision-making, and management effectiveness. We expect to discuss these and other topics in depth at the July 30 retreat. In order to accomplish the transition to an authority, we hope to establish multiple work teams to address key areas, including procurement and materials management, physical plant, human resources, information technology, financial systems, and shared services. We expect these work groups to include staff from the university's administration, UMA, Charleston Memorial Hospital, the state Budget and Control Board, and the Medical Center. I will continue to communicate the details of the planning process as we move forward. Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith, Vice President for Clinical Operations, Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center Pharmacy Services
Why is the Clinical Sciences Building Pharmacy the location to fill employees' prescriptions? The largest number of employee prescriptions are processed in this pharmacy. As a result, we will displace fewer employees with the change. Why is this move being made? The move is part of cost-cutting measures to reduce expenses. Employees are the only group we fill all prescriptions for, regardless of formulary. (All nonformulary items for patients other than employees must be accompanied by a nonformulary request form.) This allows one pharmacy to routinely stock nonformulary items. Inventory is the largest expense of all pharmacies. It is quite expensive to routinely stock these items in three pharmacies instead of one. If you are a patient and an employee, which pharmacy should you use? You should use the CSB pharmacy. Your status as an employee takes precedent over your status as a patient in order to honor your nonformulary status. Additionally, as an employee, you have the privilege of having prescriptions from non-MUSC physicians filled for you or your family members. I work in Rutledge Tower. Can I be excused from this process and use the Rutledge Tower Pharmacy? No. You would not receive the employee privileges of nonformulary prescription processing or having prescriptions from non-MUSC physicians filled. Additionally, we could not guarantee we could monitor your prescriptions for drug interactions if your medications are on file in two different pharmacies. When can I transfer my prescriptions to the CSB Pharmacy? The sooner the better. Each ambulatory pharmacy operation is licensed as a separate entity. The transfer of prescriptions from one licensed entity to another is time-consuming and cumbersome. As you receive new medication orders or need refills of existing prescriptions between now and July 1, we urge you to begin the transfer process. Have you thought of filling prescriptions at the CSB location and then transferring them to another location? We have explored many options. The labor required, as well as the legal implications, prevent us from implementing this option. We will continue to review options in order to offer the best and most economic services. What are the CSB Pharmacy's hours? The pharmacy is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The pharmacy is closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, but offers abbreviated hours on most other holidays, depending on the patient appointment loads on those days. The Audix phone service is available seven days a week, 24 hours a day to call in a prescription order or refill. The numbers are 792-2661 or 1-800-237-0794. How many employees use MUSC pharmacy services? The most recent audit in February 1999 indicated more than 4,000 MUSC employees use this convenient service. When should employees expect to receive a bill for medications received that were part of the mandated deductible from the state? The Pharmacy Billing Department, located in room 219 of the CSB, is loading that data into the new billing system now. The 1999 pharmacy services bills should be received by late summer or early fall. I received a check from Blue Cross Blue Shield for prescriptions I received but did not pay for. How should I handle this? You should take the payment to the nearest MUSC ambulatory pharmacy along with a copy of the explanation of benefits that accompanied the check. Put this information in an envelope addressed to the Pharmacy Billing Department. Glitches in the processing departments in Columbia, S.C., and Parsippany, N.J., created this error. If you do not return the payment, you will receive a bill for the complete prescription service. The Pharmacy Billing Department's phone numbers are 792-9349 and 792-9368. Allyson Hart is the coordinator of pharmacy billing. She can be reached at 792-9354. AREA Award
Authority Bill and Me Issues Update
Announcements ClinLAN95
Department of Laboratory Services
Hospital Communications Update
1. Urgent/emergent—overriding SOS-type audible alert 2. Routine—alert of choice 3. Maildrop—alert of choice For nonclinical/nonprofessional messages such as social events and personal announcements, your SIMON pager now can be programmed to have the same variety of alerts currently provided for routine paging, including silent vibrate or no alert. The SIMON pager can be programmed to sound one alert for routine messages and another for maildrop messages. Similarly, the pager can be programmed to audibly alert for routine messages and not alert at all for maildrop messages. This feature will help users audibly distinguish between professional and informational messages. This new feature will become effective July 1. For detailed instructions, please refer to pages 25 through 27 of the SIMON directory. Y2K Message |