The pharmacy at OSF Saint Francis serves 5,000 patients each month.
Did you know OSF Saint Francis Medical Center has a retail pharmacy on its campus? The Medi-Park Pharmacy is a unique small business based within the hospital, filling a variety of needs.
Located on the first floor of the Hillcrest building, Medi-Park Pharmacy is a traditional pharmacy in every sense. It provides over-the-counter medications, fills prescriptions, does special compounding of medications for pediatric patients, and offers an array of toiletry items, greeting cards, snacks and even a Fannie Mae candies franchise. There is short-term parking available outside the front door and an adjacent parking deck for those who drive up for service.
Since coming to OSF HealthCare a little over two years ago as director of retail pharmacy services, my goal has been two-fold: to give the best in-house pharmacy access to our patients and to expand services for our employees.
Meds to the Beds
In 2012, as part of OSF HealthCare’s work as a pioneer ACO (Accountable Care Organization), OSF Saint Francis staff made follow-up phone calls to patients within 48 hours after they were discharged and found that 25 percent of them had not taken the medicine they were prescribed. It was a concerning statistic that led the center to pilot its “Meds to the Beds” program under the direction of nursing leadership.
Jen Hopwood, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care, explains the program’s benefits. “The Meds to the Beds program… ensures that our patients have the necessary medications they need to follow their post-discharge plan of care,” she says. “Too often, patients do not fill their prescriptions for any number of reasons, and we know this increases their risk of readmission. Providing this service not only helps eliminate any unnecessary risk associated with patients not having their medications, it also has a positive impact on the patient’s experience because they don’t have to arrange to make an extra stop before they go home.”
In addition, Meds to the Beds ensures the patient has access to the exact medication his or her doctor has prescribed. Some pharmacies in outlying areas may not have the needed medication for a couple of days if it has to be ordered and delivered to that pharmacy.
To take the burden off the nursing staff, our pharmacy services specialists speak with each patient at the bedside. They hear all the time how patients love having their post-discharge medications brought to them because once they leave the hospital, they can go right home.
Convenient, Personalized Service
Another focus for the pharmacy is on our employees. OSF Saint Francis has about 6,000 employees working a variety of shifts in multiple locations. About seven months ago, the Medi-Park Pharmacy began a delivery program, five days a week at regularly scheduled times, to six sites off the main OSF Saint Francis downtown campus. This is a benefit to employees who now don’t have to take time over lunch or rush to a pharmacy before it closes to get their medications filled.
The OSF HealthCare Medi-Park Pharmacy serves 5,000 patients each month; 1,200 of those are discharged from OSF Saint Francis and take advantage of the Meds to the Beds program. We feel the personalized service provided onsite—including a consistent staff to care for patients—truly sets us apart in a specialized small business world. We encourage everyone to stop by and check us out. iBi
Greg Puszkiewicz is director of retail pharmacy services at OSF Saint Francis, Inc. The Medi-Park Pharmacy is open 8am to 10pm, Monday through Saturday, and 10am to 10pm on Sunday.
