White Paper
Avel eCare Pharmacy
How Emerus Health Found Innovative Solutions Utilizing Remote Pharmacy
As the nation’s first and largest operator of micro-hospitals, Emerus, a health system with 30 facilities across the U.S., realized a need for 24/7/365 pharmacy services to assure patient safety and enhance its clinical performance and outcomes.
Emerus has an additional 25 facilities in development, so finding solutions to challenges in terms of medication safety and pharmacy services in their free-standing emergency rooms and inpatient floors led them to Avel eCare.
“We began using Avel eCare Pharmacy in 2015, and we appreciate the wide range of benefits the service offers, and how it bolsters our pharmacy services,” said Tamarah Walker, PharmD, System Director of Pharmacy for Emerus. “It’s an obvious benefit during overnight or weekend settings, but even during times when our local pharmacy is fully staffed and open, we use Avel eCare to double-check approaches and get additional opinions, allowing us to provide the best possible care.”
This collaboration includes ongoing strategic partnerships, customized to client needs, as well as antimicrobial stewardship protocols, medication review and real-time video, all via telemedicine. Avel eCare Pharmacy can provide the support needed to eliminate the need for new hires.
“Incorporating Avel eCare Pharmacy helps us to maintain consistency of care across all of our facilities, and allows our local pharmacy teams to extend their capabilities and services. We appreciate how the service is always collaborative, adding expertise to our care teams, no matter where they are or what types of cases they face.”
In addition to pharmacist support, registered nurses can use the service any time of the day or night for reviewing medications to avoid adverse drug events (ADEs). Clinicians can interact with the Avel eCare Pharmacy team to receive consultation and support as they address presenting patients – without waking a pharmacist who is not on duty.
“The assistance provided goes beyond the ED or inpatient floor, because it allows us to avoid allergy issues, it helps us with more rapid medication reviews, verifications and reconciliations,” Walker said. “Pharmacist-directed interventions and monitoring all are parts of how we use Avel eCare, and they combine to reduce the risk of ADEs across the board.”
