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DUBLIN, Ohio, Feb. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In many ways, a hospital pharmacy is all-too-often viewed as a utility or cost center. However, with dramatic changes that are transforming healthcare, hospital administrators need to consider how they can leverage resources and teams, even within the pharmacy, to achieve strategic goals such as improving efficiency, improving patient outcomes and even growing revenue.

According to Mary Baxter, MBA, RPh., vice president and national practice leader for Cardinal Health's Innovation Delivery Solutions business, pharmacies should be expected to add value to every aspect of a hospital's strategic agenda -- and that value-add doesn't necessarily need to involve investments in new tools or resources.

"There is no need to reinvent the wheel – transforming the pharmacy into a strategic asset starts by aligning with strategic hospital initiatives already in place," explains Baxter. "Pharmacy leaders need to think beyond the walls of the pharmacy. They need to engage in initiatives, committees and teams across the hospital, to identify ways they can help executive leadership and multidisciplinary care teams drive their strategic priorities – whether those priorities are related to reducing costs, improving or expanding care."

In a new blog series on Cardinal Health's online thought leadership site, Essential Insights, Baxter reveals four important initiatives that should be implemented to transform a hospital pharmacy into a strategic asset. The "4 F Framework" in its simplest form includes:

• Finding meaningful growth: By ceaselessly looking for new opportunities to generate cost savings and revenue generation opportunities;
• Fixing inefficiencies: Eliminating waste in areas such as purchasing, inventory and workflow to improve operating margins;
• Fulfilling the quality care mission: Integrating pharmacists into patient care to improve medication safety, medication adherence and patient outcomes;
• Following the patient: Empowering the pharmacist to follow the patient through the continuum of care -- past the pharmacy to clinics, nursing homes, patient homes, etc.

To learn more about the "Four Fs" and how implementing these concepts have produced measureable returns for hospital systems of all sizes, follow Baxter's blog series Leveraging the Hospital Pharmacy as a Strategic Asset on Essential Insights.

Cardinal Health's Innovative Delivery Solutions business helps providers transform hospital pharmacies into a strategic asset – delivering value that supports the patient throughout the continuum of care. The team's mission is to provide exceptional clinical, supply chain, analytics and operational expertise to improve patient access, increase quality of care and reduce overall costs. From supply chain management solutions to expert consultative services, Cardinal Health Innovative Delivery Solutions provides a highly comprehensive, universal solution for hospital pharmacies.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $101 billion healthcare services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. As the business behind health care, Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and physician offices focus on patient care while  reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and improving quality. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 100,000 locations each day. The company is also a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company supports the growing diagnostic industry by supplying medical products to clinical laboratories and operating the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #19 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 33,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at cardinalhealth.com and @CardinalHealth on Twitter.

SOURCE Cardinal Health