How Sentara RMH Medical Center Transformed Its Pharmacy with the XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System | Case Study

Sentara RMH Medical Center

Customer Profile

Sentara RMH Medical Center is a 238-bed community hospital providing cardiac, oncology, orthopedic, and mother-baby service lines, among others. It serves a seven-county area in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia and is part of Sentara Healthcare, an integrated healthcare system with 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina.

Location

Harrisonburg, Virginia

Challenge

End-of-life robotics system was unreliable
Cart fill model preferred by clinicians
High costs of medication packaging
Packaging labor costs

Solution

XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System

Impact

Achieved automated dispensing to 99%
Reduced medication packaging by 90%
Reduced pharmacist checking by 90%
Improved automation capacity by 80%
Reduced pharmacist distributive tasking to 5%
Increased inventory turns to 16

The Challenge

For nearly two decades, Sentara used the Omnicell ROBOT-Rx Central Pharmacy Robotic System to automate medication distribution and enable top-of-license practice. The pharmacy team became skilled at optimizing the system for peak efficiency and capacity, particularly as prescribing patterns and patient mix changed. However, as the system reached its upper limits, the team sought new options.

Pharmacy was joined by IT to develop a five-year strategic plan, including a comprehensive assessment of medication distribution models and supporting technology. The objectives included maximizing pharmacist clinical time, supporting nursing's patient care model, reducing manual processes, lowering inventory costs and maximizing inventory turns, and reducing reliance on medication unit-dose packaging.

The Solution

After a thorough review of available options, Sentara's pharmacy leaders chose Omnicell's XR2 Automated Central Pharmacy System. The XR2 system automates medication storage and retrieval to increase medication safety, improve operational efficiency, and maximize inventory control. It provides 100 percent barcode scanning to eliminate human error, supports both cartless and cart fill distribution, and uses advanced algorithms to reduce waste and maintain accurate inventory.

The Impact

The XR2 system automates dispensing of approximately 2,500 patient-specific doses each day, with another 500 first doses similarly automated. Overall, approximately 75% of patient medications are distributed via the XR2 system and delivered to locked nurse servers located within patient rooms. This high level of automation enabled Sentara RMH to transfer pharmacist and technician labor from distributive to top-of-license functions, reducing pharmacist distributive tasking to just 5% and achieving a 90% reduction in pharmacist checking.

Sentara RMH increased its automated storage inventory by 80% — to 45,000 doses — and increased automated line items to 750, while ordering most oral solid medications in blister packages from manufacturers and eliminating consumable costs and packaging labor. "Not only is the XR2 system safer and more dependable, but it allows staff to function outside of supporting robot technology," said Jamin Engel, PharmD, MBA, BCSCP, Interim Director of Pharmacy. "Pharmacists are now checking fewer than 50 manual picks a day, a 90% reduction, through a safer, technology-driven distribution process."

Visit Omnicell.com/XR2 to learn more today.