Experience

Medical Center finds way to improve patient satisfaction by developing 24/7 outpatient pharmacy

Challenge/Goals
Provide patients with access to important medications after urgent care, ED or surgery discharge
Process

Maine Medical Center came to Visante wanting to improve its services and patient care. Greg Burger, Visante’s SVP and expert in ambulatory pharmacy, worked with MMC’s Brian Marden and Andrea Lai to determine the need to create a new 24/7 outpatient pharmacy, the first of its kind in the state of Maine. With many patients residing in the rural parts of Maine with little or no access to pharmacies, this type of service would be especially valuable.

Results

A key aspect of the program was the improvement in managing medications at discharge. Previously, nearly a third of discharges did not receive prescriptions after leaving the hospital. Now, there is a significant improvement in this critical area of patient care.

The MMC expanded pharmacy services strategy resulted in a rapid return on its investment to the medical center while greatly improving care to patients. MMC is pleased with staff response and the public’s enthusiastic acceptance of the new facility.

We have been incredibly impressed with the professionalism and expertise that the entire Visante team has demonstrated throughout our partnership with them.

Brian Marden, MMC
Maine Medical Center