On October 19, Texas Children’s Specialty Pharmacy celebrated another milestone with a brand new, specially designed space that will enhance operational efficiency and service to more than 1,700 patients. The Specialty Pharmacy’s call center and dispensing operations moved from the Abercrombie and Mark A. Wallace Tower buildings to its new home on the eighth floor of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI).
“Previously, the Specialty Pharmacy dispensing team worked from the Abercrombie basement in small rooms making work flow processes difficult,” said Josephine Hurtado, Director for Specialty Pharmacy. “Additionally, the operation had so many manual workflows requiring checks and balances to be in place to minimize the opportunity for error. Not only is the new space at the NRI ergonomic and lean, new technology from McKesson HVS has been implemented to improve the prescription filling process such as integrated bar code technology and workflow automation which guarantees efficiency and the safest patient care. The team is excited to embark on this new endeavor.”
Specialty Pharmacy began four years ago and serves numerous clinics including Neurology, Endocrine, Rheumatology, Pulmonary, Renal, Hematology-Oncology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Retrovirology, Pulmonary Hypertension, Transplant Services, Allergy and Immunology, Prader-Willi, and also serves Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.
The Specialty Pharmacy team provides service to many patients with complex and chronic conditions that require comprehensive, ongoing communication and management for their medications which are typically expensive. The team collaborates with physicians to manage medication-related issues as part of the plan of care. Texas Children’s Specialty Pharmacy patients have direct access to pharmacists who are dedicated liaisons to assist them in navigating the many complex aspects of specialty drugs including insurance authorization, financial assistance and therapy adherence.
For over the last several months, the Specialty Pharmacy team has been engaged in the design of the new space and have considered every aspect of the project to bring this massive undertaking to fruition.
“Every detail has been addressed in the most thoughtful manner,” said Rosemary Nguyen, assistant director of Specialty Pharmacy. “This expansion will enable us expand our patient volume and to provide the best patient care. The ability to improve our workflows allows the team to continue to focus on improving health outcomes by reducing the administrative burdens that patients typically experience with specialty medications and therefore provide an extraordinary level of service and patient experience as part of an overall plan of care.”
