Pharmacy represents a significant portion of a healthcare organization's operating expense, closely following salaries and the supply chain. Parkview Healths pharmacy department faces competing priorities on a daily basis - in addition to commitment to medication safety and quality, pharmacy leadership is accountable for financial management. Parkview started a Pharmacy Project with the following objectives:

 Increase accuracy of medication management and delivery through efficient use of resources, communication, and inventory control to improve financial performance while optimizing patient safety.
 Manage Risk Clinical and Compliance
 Increase Productivity
 Improve Financial Return

In order to achieve these objectives Parkview had to assess the entire pharmacy process from procurement to distribution. This process had previously been attempted using financial software solutions, but become a daunting task. To make this manageable and to move the Pharmacy project forward, Parkview implemented an automated process using technology to help identify the performance gaps in the pharmacy processes. The analysis identified the following performance gaps:
 Identified products purchased but missing from the drug master and the chargemaster
 Identified products purchased but missing HCPCS code in chargemaster, both reimbursable and non-reimbursable
 Identified products with invalid NDC values in the spend file and the drug master
 Identified volume reconciliation variances, despite concurrent Pharmacy audit efforts: purchased volume vs. revenue & usage volume
 Identified pricing policy variances: calculated vs. actual
 Identified potential compliance issues, based upon CMS published regulations
 Identified potential cost savings related to less costly generic alternatives

Working through these issues and creating action plans has created a significant return for Parkview that would have been difficult to achieve if the organization had not implemented a process for reviewing the pharmacy department from procurement to distribution. Parkview will review their process of evaluation, and review the specific process improvement opportunities identified and the actions they have take as an organization based on the identified opportunities.