Design of a New Pharmacy Productivity Measurement for an Inpatient Hospital Pharmacy

To provide exceptional patient care, while staying within the financial limits of the system, optimum staffing resources are determined and assessed through productivity metrics.  The optimum metrics included in productivity assessments encompass and account for all key activities provided by a service area.  Currently, inpatient pharmacy productivity, or worked hours per unit of service (WHPUOS), is determined by comparing actual doses dispensed to a calculated earned WHPOUS that is based on fixed and variable factors.  This is an antiquated measurement of pharmacy practice productivity and, unfortunately, does not include other core areas of pharmacy function such as optimum clinical pharmacy practices to enhance patient outcomes, medication safety, and cost avoidance. To further support practice advancement, patient care outcomes which are key to value-based care reimbursement, and to achieve cost-avoidance, new productivity assessments that accounts for literature-supported pharmacy best practices, appropriate allocation and utilization of staffing budget, and encourages top-of-license practices were developed.