Navigating future uncertainty with innovation: Becker's Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit 2024

The future is always uncertain. However, the events of the last few years have underscored at least one certainty healthcare leaders can rely on — more disruption is coming. To prepare for what comes next, hospital and health system pharmacy leaders are embracing technology to adapt to the industry's relentless pace of transformation and unknown future challenges. This was a recurring theme during panel discussions at Becker's Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit.

During a panel discussion focused on predicting future trends, Christy Norman, PharmD, senior vice president of pharmacy services at Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare, discussed how predictive technology helped her organization navigate the national shortage of IV fluid that disrupted healthcare services around the nation. More than 80% of healthcare organizations across the country faced IV shortages in late 2024 after Hurricane Helene disrupted operations at Baxter's plant in North Carolina. In response to this challenge, many systems delayed elective or nonemergency services to conserve IV supplies. Emory, however, did not.

"We leaned into data and actually engaged outside of our health system. We did some predictive modeling with Georgia Tech and built out an IV dashboard that told us how much we were using per case and what we could do to reduce that," Dr. Norman said. "That was a decision that we wouldn't have historically made. If something like this had happened in the past, we would have pulled back. Instead, we adapted quickly and leaned into data to drive our decisions."

Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger is also leveraging data in new ways to improve inventory management. During a session focused on technology that's currently producing successful results for pharmacy services, Kelly Guza, PharmD, associate vice president of acute pharmacy services at Geisinger, detailed the system's inventory management transition. Over the last two years, Geisinger has integrated a new EHR inventory module across all its hospitals, retail pharmacies and other care delivery sites. The technology can assess usage trends to predict future needs and also allows for the real-time tracking of medications and other supplies. This not only eliminates waste and supports compliance, it also supports a better experience for patients and staff.

"The module gives you a real-time, live view across the system of the inventory available," Dr. Guza said. "Now we don't have the problem of someone in the hospital pharmacy at midnight calling every pharmacy and every hospital to track down a specific drug. They can easily look in our inventory system and find it."

Robotic dispensing and clinical decision support systems were also cited during summit sessions as technology that can not only reduce manual workloads but also enable pharmacists to focus on higher-value activities like clinical consultations and patient education.

While panelists expressed optimism about the power of technology to support positive change, many also expressed considerable concern about coming disruption. The uncertain future of the 340B program, for example, loomed large.

"One big risk for all of us to keep on eye on is the future of the 340B program," said Amy Gutierrez, PharmD, vice president and CPO with Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth. Dr. Gutierrez emphasized that regulatory changes and evolving rebate models could reduce program funding.

"This is a big risk for us because we are so reliant on it. It's such an ingrained part of hospitals' infrastructure." Dr. Gutierrez said. "I think there's going to be changes coming to 340B in the future that we'll have to navigate."