Omnicell Launches Vision for Fully Digitized, Autonomous Pharmacy at Annual ASHP Midyear Meeting

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnicell, Inc., OMCL a leading provider of medication and supply management solutions and adherence tools for healthcare systems and pharmacies, announced the Company will be showcasing the industry's most comprehensive and customizable platform of medication management automation solutions at this year's American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2018 Midyear Meeting, to be held in Anaheim, CA from December 2-6.

With more than $450 billion spent annually on medication management across the continuum of care, and pharmaceutical costs increasing 10 times faster than hospital revenue,¹ pharmacy leadership is under tremendous pressure to improve outcomes and reduce costs. 

"Radical change in pharmacy care delivery is needed to improve the system," said Randall A. Lipps, chairman, president, chief executive officer, and founder of Omnicell. "As a pioneer in pharmacy automation, we understand the value that technology brings to medication management. And we're on the path to the next transformation through the Autonomous Pharmacy, a digital approach that will allow nurses and pharmacists to move away from manual workflows and operate at the top of their license, spending 100% of their time on patient care."

The Autonomous Pharmacy is a roadmap designed to develop a zero error, fully automated medication management infrastructure that empowers pharmacists, nurses, clinicians, and pharmacy staff to focus on patient and clinician satisfaction, leading to improved patient care, fewer errors, enhanced safety, and new opportunities for growth. Every dose of medication is considered a digital node in the network across the continuum of care. Through a series of autonomous workflows, powered by Omnicell's cloud data platform, pharmacy leadership has access to rich data insights and optimization recommendations to address clinical, operational, compliance, and population healthcare challenges.

To execute on the vision of a fully digitized and autonomous pharmacy, Omnicell is integrating the Company's current offerings and technologies while investing in the most comprehensive set of solutions across three key areas:

• Automation – innovative solutions designed to digitize and streamline workflows
• Intelligence – predictive intelligence that provides actionable insights to better understand medication usage and improve pharmacy supply chain management
• Work – expert services that serve as an extension of pharmacy operations to support improved efficiency, regulatory compliance, and patient outcomes

"Medication is the largest line item in our operating expenses and the fastest growing. Complications like shortages, high drug prices and complicated electronic records make managing medications a challenge," said Rick Couldry, MS, BSPharm, FASHP, vice president, Pharmacy and Clinical Professions, The University of Kansas Hospital. "Health systems need partners like Omnicell who are providing a digital transformation of medication management—leveraging not only automation, but the dynamic data that can be mined from that automation to improve usage, efficacy, and cost efficiency across the continuum of care."

Omnicell will showcase the Company's current product portfolio and vision for the fully digitized autonomous pharmacy in Booth #1440, including the following offerings:

Omnicell Performance Center Clinical and Diversion Insights

Customers of the Performance Center have realized significant savings, on average two to three percent of annual drug spend, through existing capabilities designed to drive inefficiency and waste out of the medication supply chain. Continuing on that mission to improve business and patient outcomes, new capabilities will be available through the Performance Center in 2019.

More than 90% of hospital administrators report that increased drug prices are severely impacting their budgets. As inpatient drug spend continues to outpace payer reimbursement, health systems need to have better insight to the impact of medication usage on the total cost of care.²  Clinical Insights ties medication use with patient outcomes, giving pharmacy leaders the confidence to optimize medication therapy while managing cost.

Customers will have the ability to evaluate medication efficacy in specific patient populations, monitor and track trends among prescribers of "high risk" and "high cost" medication, and leverage comparative analysis within a health system or across Performance Center's customer base.

With controlled substance security and accountability being a high priority for health systems, Performance Center's Diversion Insights offers a unique diversion monitoring service in conjunction with Omnicell Analytics, an advanced diversion detection tool.  Combining skilled clinical resources with advanced analytics, Diversion Insights helps identify potential diversion activity for customers, and quickly brings potential cases to the forefront. Customers are also provided dashboards for monitoring diversion prevention program successes.

XR2 as a Service

With the launch of Omnicell's XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System, health systems are realizing dramatic improvements in inventory control and operational efficiency, including more than 99% medication distribution efficiency with Six Sigma accuracy, and over 20 percent faster turnover of medication inventory. Omnicell is now launching XR2 as a Service, which combines this groundbreaking technology with dedicated resources to support a more comprehensive approach to managing pharmacy medication inventory.

As pharmacist and technician labor requirements have increased significantly over the last 10 years³, these expert resources will help health system pharmacies address labor challenges and implement best practice optimization to achieve clinical and financial goals. XR2 as a Service is designed to scale to organizational growth and maximize the return on pharmacy investment, reducing administrative burden and allowing pharmacy leadership to focus on clinical care.

IV Compounding Workflow Management

Accuracy in sterile compounding is pivotal to hospital pharmacies improving patient safety and managing risk, as 55 percent of healthcare facilities expect to see an increase in in-house compounding volumes over the next three years.⁴ Omnicell's IVX Workflow solution supports best practices in aseptic technique by providing step-by-step instructions to guide technicians in preparing IV doses according to set protocols—safely, accurately, and repeatedly. Powered by a fully web-based software suite designed to manage all aspects of IV compounding workflow operation across a hospital or health system, IVX Workflow offers comprehensive formulary management, remote pharmacist checking, robust reporting and analytics, and integration with pharmacy and hospital information systems.

These innovative solutions, which complement integrated technologies in central pharmacy, clinician workflow, and medication adherence automation, support the next major step toward the Autonomous Pharmacy vision.

To learn more, visit www.omnicell.com or follow along on Twitter using #autonomousrx.

^{1, 2} Trends in Hospital Inpatient Drug Costs: Issues and Challenges. NORC. October 2016.

³ "ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings: Dispensing and administration—2017," American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. June 2018.

⁴ 2018 State of Pharmacy Compounding. Pharmacy Purchasing and Products. April 2018.

About Omnicell

Since 1992, Omnicell has been inspired to create safer and more efficient ways to manage medications and supplies across all care settings. Omnicell is revolutionizing the patient medication experience from hospital to home by empowering providers to keep each patient at the center of care. The Company's autonomous approach to medication management leverages a differentiated platform for hardware and workflow software solutions, real-time predictive intelligence, and performance-driven partnerships to help drive operational, financial, and clinical success for customers.

Supporting the highest level of patient safety is essential to excellent patient care. As a leader in medication and supply dispensing automation, central pharmacy automation, IV robotics, analytics software, and medication adherence and packaging systems, Omnicell is focused on delivering solutions for medication availability, affordability, safety, and adherence. Over 5,000 facilities worldwide use Omnicell automation and analytics solutions to increase operational efficiency, reduce medication errors, deliver actionable intelligence, and improve patient safety.

Omnicell's innovative medication adherence solutions, used by over 40,000 institutional and retail pharmacies in North America and the United Kingdom, are designed to improve patient engagement and adherence to prescriptions, helping to reduce costly hospital readmissions.

For more information about Omnicell, Inc. please visit www.omnicell.com.

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SOURCE Omnicell, Inc.