Meds to Beds Program presented at Premier Breakthroughs Conference

Cliff Niemeier, Executive Director of Pharmacy, and Lynn McArthur, Director of Pharmacy for Baptist Health, attended the annual Breakthroughs Conference in Nashville.

Premier held their annual Breakthroughs Conference in Nashville this year. Breakthroughs is Premier’s annual knowledge sharing and collaboration event designed to bring people, ideas and innovations together to transform healthcare. Cliff Niemeier, RPh, Executive Director of Pharmacy and Lynn McArthur, PharmD, MHA, Director of Pharmacy were invited to present Baptist’s Meds to Beds program and share how it has improved patient safety during one of the conferences risk management tracks. The Meds to Beds is a program that was successfully implemented at Baptist Health Corbin in 2017.

Transitions of care can be an especially difficult challenge for rural hospitals. Cliff and Lynn presented the details of Baptist Health Corbin’s journey to create a successful Meds to Beds program to improve patient safety, reduce unnecessary readmissions and capture cost savings. They described the pharmacist involvement in detailed medication counseling and review of discharge medication reconciliation. Opportunities and challenges involved in implementing a program were shared, highlighting that an engaged multidisciplinary team is key to success. “This was an excellent opportunity to network with other Premier colleagues, and learn how other hospitals are addressing healthcare issues that impact our patients,” said McArthur.