Greetings Phellow Pharmacy Pholks!

I'm in the process of looking into companies that will come into our pharmacy and do my annual physical count for me. In the past we conducted our own annual inventory, but we want to outsource this task. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm located in Central Illinois. Thanks for your time!

Name of Facility: 526

City, State: Teaching

Years as a Buyer: 7+

Having an outside company do your inventory is the BEST! They come in with their computers, their scanners, and most of all, the people who actually WANT to do inventory!

Since I'm from the East, I don't know of any companies in your area, but I can give you a few tips when shopping:
#1 MAKE SURE THEY HAVE YOUR CONTRACT PRICES IN THEIR SYSTEM
Some inventory companies come in and do your inventory, but then they expect you to match their NDC's with your contract prices. That's more work than doing it yourself! Ask if they can load your prices from your GPO or wholesaler without your providing them.

#2 MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A MECHANISM TO BACKTRACK IN CASE OF MISCOUNTS
Again, if there are miscounts, make sure that they come back, at no extra charge, and clean uo their own mess.

#3 MAKE SURE YOU GET A SOLID DATE WHEN TO EXPECT THE REPORT
Don't be shy to ask not only when they expect to deliver your report, but what will be included, how they will break down the report (unit dose vs parenterals, IV's vs Chemo, Bulk vs Floor Stock, etc.)

#4 BE ABSOLUTELY SURE TO MAKE SURE YOUR DIRECTOR IS ADVISED ON THEIR WORK
Directors tend to see the dollars. You've got to show them the value. How they can break down your turnover by categories and the whole rather than just the whole, how they can have the most updated prices to give you an exact dollar count, and how they can produce a nicely-typed (or printed) report to present to his/her supervisor, and how this was done with minimal impact on patient services

And one more plus - if you can get the report in the right form, you (or your MIS Department) can plug the updated prices right into your system! That alone will make your Director, thier director and their director's eyes light up. You suddenly become a magician!

If they fit these criteria, and they keep their costs in line, you've not only got a feather in your cap, but the love and repect of the techs who no longer have to do it anymore

Mike

Name of Facility: Kennedy Health System / 180

City, State: Teaching Hospital

Years as a Buyer: >30 (retired - for now...)

There is a service that can bring in people that take the pharmacy inventory and are fairly good at loading contract prices and getting package size issues and contract pricing ironed out ahead of time. Then they can give you printouts of all items counted for you to check over. They are based near Chicago but travel all over the U.S. They displayed at our 10th conference in Las Vegas. Contacts are Doug Spratt or Michael Samojla, Inventory Management Corporation, 837 N. Lombard, Elmhurst, IL 60126, 800-828-5758, www.hospitalinventory.com. I have dealt with them since way back in the 1970s and can vouch that they know what they are doing and have been doing it a long time. As you know, even a few small package size mistakes, when inventory is taken by personnel unfamiliar with sizes and prices in a hospital, can skew your numbers way out of line. I think this company is highly experienced from what I know of them in the past.

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc./0

City, State: Publisher

Years as a Buyer: 19 Purchasing+GPO/13 Publishing

I'm also located in Central Illinois...actually east Central...Danville to be exact. I have used Med-count for several years and they will be doing our inventory again this year. Here's the contact information:

Med-Count, Inc.
1420 Renaissance Dr.
Park Ridge, IL 60068
phone 888-633-2888

We'll be setting an appointment for our pharmacy next week. It's the most wonderful time of the year

Name of Facility: 200

City, State: Community Hospital Catholic Healthsystem

Years as a Buyer: 25

Our wholesaler rep has a team that will come in and do ours. We didn't do it this year, but we are next year so we don't have to hastle with it, its well worth the price!

Name of Facility: ColleenBump

City, State: Teaching - 270 beds

Years as a Buyer: Less than 1!!!

Colleen
Who is your wholesaler?

Name of Facility: 222 bed

City, State: Acute care teaching hospital Trauma II center

Years as a Buyer: 5 years

Amerisource Bergen

Name of Facility: 526

City, State: Teaching

Years as a Buyer: 7+

We use Cardinal - The inventory is something the rep does separately though. Actually, a lot of the people she uses are buyers who want to do a little extra part time on the side.

Name of Facility: ColleenBump

City, State: Teaching - 270 beds

Years as a Buyer: Less than 1!!!

I'm curious as to what people with automated dispensing machines (pyxis etc.) do with all of the inventory that is in those units. Do you add it to your physical inventory, or figure that once it leaves the department, it belongs to patient?

Name of Facility: 100

City, State: acute

Years as a Buyer: 30+

No, unfortunately. It's still considered stock until it's charged to a patient, since the theory behind automated dispensing machines is that there is 100% accountability.

And it is considered when you're calculating turns. I think they skew the numbers to reflect Pyxis inventory.

Name of Facility: Kennedy Health System / 180

City, State: http://www.pharmacypurchasing.com

Years as a Buyer: >30 but Retired (for now...)

Inventory in the pyxis like Mike said is our stock. We run a hospital wide report and then punch in the numbers..Hard labor but I wish Cardinal could figure out a way to pull numbers from there....

Name of Facility: 222 bed

City, State: Acute care teaching hospital Trauma II center

Years as a Buyer: 5 years

Munira, what we did, since we count on the '100% accountability' claim is run the report and give it to the inventory people. THEY plug in the numbers. How far off could it be if you're keeping a lid on the stock?

Name of Facility: Kennedy Health System / 180

City, State: http://www.pharmacypurchasing.com

Years as a Buyer: >30 but Retired (for now...)

Thanks Mike,
But we do our inventory ourselves. Cardinal never does it and the Hospital will not pay for an independent entity.

Munira

Name of Facility: 222 beds

City, State: Acute care teaching hospital Trauma II center

Years as a Buyer: 5 years

Bummer.

At least see if you can get their handhelds so you can scan your bins.

Mike

Name of Facility: Kennedy Health System / 180

City, State: http://www.pharmacypurchasing.com

Years as a Buyer: >30 but Retired (for now...)

Mike
I use the their handhelds---Made them send these to me so it makes life easier--The worst part is to get the pharmacy ready for the inventory--have the correct bar codes is a wonderful thing---Now that most meds have barcodes on them it makes life even easier. What I also do--for the pills--I cut out the bar code of the brand I purchase and stick it in the back of the bin. This makes life a wee-bit easier!

Name of Facility: 222 Beds

City, State: Trauma II teaching hospital

Years as a Buyer: 5 years