Medical Facilities To Support Digital Records Through Equipment Upgrades

Like every other type of information system in the U.S, medical records are going digital. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the digital medical records profession is expected to grow by over 20 percent in the next decade; an increase that dwarfs other, similar professions in the medical field. As long-term care facilities and clinics get up to speed with hospitals, equipment upgrades—digital tablets, laptop arms for medication carts—will help aid the transition for medical personnel.

Electronic medical records aid long-term care facilities in more than just convenience. Being able to call up medical records from anywhere helps medical aids offer better treatment, no matter where you need it.

But when purchasing medication medication carts for long term care facilities, having digital medical records on board could save lives. According to a study by Practice Fusion, the average person will have 19 different doctors in their lifetime. That means 19 different medical charts and records to sift through for each patient that comes through the door. In a long-term care facility, when a patient has a chronic illness throughout a long lifetime, this number can be doubled.

Having digital records onboard your med cart guarantees that all those records are close at hand at all times. These records can assist in offering patients the proper dosage, preventing complications and negative side-effects from occurring.

Another way medical care facilities are benefitting from technology is with the use of medication management systems. By finding the right pharmacy services provider to partner with, medical facilities can streamline ordering, all while keeping an eye on their patient's medical records and knowing what dangerous mixtures to avoid. Digitizing this process makes everything searchable and keeps records close at hand so that facilities can save money and not waste medications that sit on the shelf past their expiration date.

Because long-term care and rehab facilities tend to have smaller staffs than hospitals, needs for medication management systems are different. Many facilities are looking for a solution that can be integrated with their existing administrative software. This process may take a little longer, but facilities can save hours by avoiding long training sessions getting workers up to speed with new software processes. As such, many medication management platforms can now mix easily with popular software platforms in use across the country.

Learn more about digital medical records from this report from Mashable.com.

Medical Facilities Save Money With Medication Carts

2012 is upon us and, with a new year comes new financial headaches. Medical facility administrators, like many business professionals are looking to cut costs in the first quarter, implementing cost-saving measures that can hang on throughout the year. The simplest measure may be something as simple as buying new medication carts for your staff.

Medication carts help your staff keep their unit dose plans organized, ensuring patients get the right medication. But they can also protect your organization against wasteful spending resulting from careless mistakes. Below are just a few of the ways these carts can save your long term care facility thousands in 2012.

Medication Theft: In 2010, according to the CDC, about 12 million Americans reported nonmedical use of prescription painkillers. And almost a half-million emergency room visits in 2009 were linked to people misusing or abusing otherwise legal drugs. Treatment costs health insurers an estimated $72 billion a year. Every year, medical centers, hospitals and nursing homes are victims of massive prescription drug thefts that can cost thousands to replace. With locking shelves and unit cases, med carts prevent these thefts from happening on your watch.

Malpractice: One of the largest line items for medical facilities is malpractice insurance. Many malpractice claims come from medication errors. Patients getting the wrong dosage or getting pills mixed up can cause chaos in your facility or worse; could injure your patients. Carts can help you keep organized so you never have to worry about medicines ending up in the wrong hands.

Improve Your Look: The fastest way to improve your bottom line is to get more patients. That's why it is important for your facility to make a good first impression. By updating medication carts, it shows that you have respect for medications, that you take treatment seriously and that your facility is run by professionals who will sweat the details all year round.

Long Term Medication Care Requires Pharmacy Services

As a facility offering long-term care, you have to take care of a variety of issues. The staff at your facility has to address routine tasks such as cleaning, feeding patients, and ensuring that vital parameters of the patients are stable. To help offer proper long-term care, you can outsource your pharmacy services. By using a reputed pharmacy that meets your needs, you can expect medical computer carts to be filled and ready to use at the correct time.

If you are looking for pharmacy services for long-term medication care, you should outsource the search process. Many facilities have benefitted from taking the help of RxCareAssurance. Log in at http://www.rxcareassurance.com/ to obtain professional help in locating a pharmacy that supplies filled medical computer carts. We at RxCareAssurance have a database of member pharmacies from which we recommend ones that best meet the criteria you deem essential for your long-term care facility.

We work with the pharmacy services you decide on to deliver filled medical computer carts on schedule. The carts are sleek, come in three different sizes, in a variety of colors, and can be used with different medication systems such as OPUS cassettes, unit dose packets and auto packaging.

RxCareAssurance makes periodic personal visits to the medical care facilities to offer solutions for any challenges that arise in the safe and quick dispensing of medication. Our long experience with care facility operations helps us optimize the pharmacy services using medical computer carts.

Save Money with Short Cycle Dispensing

Pharmacies that utilize short cycle dispensing can certainly increase their bottom line in many ways.

Typically, medication has been dispensed for a period of a month at a time, ensuring that the patient has ample supply and will not suffer from lack of medication. In some ways, this has taken the onus off of the doctor prescribing the medication and putting all responsibility on the patient who has to see to it that they take their doses at the proper time and that they do not waste anything.

With the move to short cycle dispensing at long-term care facilities, pharmacies are providing unit dose in seven to 14-day cycles. There has been some resistance in moving to the system for the simple reason that it's going to cost more implementing any type of new dispensing cycle. The idea behind this initiative from the CMS is that a short dispensing cycle will reduce the waste of pills that are associated with a month-long prescription. Over the 30-day period, there is a greater chance that drugs will not all be taken as prescribed, and there will be resulting losses by the patient which will translate into increased costs to the pharmacies and Medicare, as well as drug companies in general.

By moving to the seven-day dispensing cycle, there has been an estimation of 3 to 17 percent savings in medication costs to Medicare as well as 50 to 75 percent savings in wasted pills for the person using the medications. It is therefore in the best interest of pharmacies to adopt this plan and move to a system that is more efficient and less wasteful. RX Care Assurance has been providing this type of service for more than 30 years.

Medication Carts Make Organizing and Transporting Medication Easy and Secure

As the volume of medication increases, med carts have increased in importance and complexity. Today an open cart with bottles of pills or even individual cups of medicine for each patient is not feasible. With so many new pills coming onto the market, the increase risk of litigation and the prevalence of narcotics theft, the manner in which medication is distributed has to be safer from error, as well as pilfering, than ever before.
Hospitals are more hectic than ever; with personnel cutbacks, an aging population and more complex procedures becoming the norm, the distribution of medication is a more stressful and demanding job than ever before. This is why, as any nurse will attest, the most up to date med carts are a necessity and not a luxury. In addition to drawers with movable dividers, the medication cart medication cart must have an automatic locking area for the more attractive, addictive drugs. When rushing to deliver medication, you do not want to have to wonder if the narcotics are safe nor do you want to have to rely on memory to know if you have the right meds for the patient.
Nurses know there is no such thing as being too careful or too organized when it comes to patient care. Companies that make med carts know this and are always looking for ways to make their products more appealing. The ideal cart features an electronic lock, so there is no question of a lost key endangering lives or a nurse’s career. For the most security, an electronic lock coupled with a proximity card that allows for a record of who is taking drugs out of the cart and when, helps keep everyone honest and safe.

Rising Medical Costs Put Elderly In Poverty

A census report out this year shows that rising medical costs have increased the number of adults in poverty to 16.1 percent. With elderly poverty historically falling below 10 percent, census surveyors compiled data examining elderly poverty after taking day-to-day expenses, medical bills and medication costs into consideration. The unorthodox spike due to these expenses has drawn further examination into medication management systems and the cost savings of elder care.
With costs of prescription drugs rising steadily every year, many chronic pain and pre-existing condition patients are seeking assistance from pharmacy services firms. Elder care facilities work with patients and insurance companies to create the best combination of medicines to make patients as comfortable as possible.
Chronic Pain: From back pain to migraines, chronic pain causes daily struggles for victims that wake each day with pain. Medications can help but, since no one reacts the same way to drug regimens, patients often experiment with dosages and brands before finding a treatment plan that works best. With medication management services, your assigned pharmacist sees you in the elder care facility from day to day, checking in on your side effects and constantly tailoring your management so you get to the correct unit dose faster.
Pre-Existing Conditions: Complicated diseases like diabetes and cancer have dedicated drugs to help you live a better life. But as you and your doctor search for a medication plan, you may find that the side effects of many medications are worse than the disease. Living at an elder care facility can save you money by finding the correct combination of drugs to treat your disease and minimize side effects.

Pharmacy Service for Facility Needs

Not all facilities that provide long-term care have the same needs or requirements for extending care to their residents and patients. In the United States alone, there are more than 9 million Americans over the age of 65 who require long-term care. Whether it be the care of a nursing home, assisted living or in-home care, the number of individuals who need long-term care is increasing yearly.

There are a number of long-term care alternatives for individuals who require different needs. Some of the most basic needs that individuals need assistance with as they age are bathing, feeding, monitoring medication, dressing and even going to the bathroom. Because there are so many different needs, managing facilities which extend long-term care can be a difficult task.

Many facilities require the services of a pharmacy. However, finding the right pharmacy to provide the needs for the facility isn't as easy as assuming any pharmacy will do. RX Care Assurance helps facilities find pharmacies based on their capabilities and how they align with the specific needs of the facility.

Having professional in the long-term care business assist your needs helps you to better care for your residents or patients. Each facility is different from the next, meaning that each facility has specific needs. Finding pharmacy services that tailor to the needs and requirements of your facility is the difference between extending exceptional care to your residents or just simply caring.