COVID-19 has underscored the need for greater availability of virtual care. That's why HealthPRO's contract for Professional & Telepharmacy Services, which began as a Signature contract in 2017, was expanded for use by all members nationally in October 2020.

A Case for Quick Implementation

In December 2020, as the second wave of COVID-19 was gaining traction, South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) was urgently implementing a new telepharmacy services system after their established vendor could no longer provide services.

Thankfully, Northwest Telepharmacy Solutions (NTS) was able to implement their services in less than a week.

When asked what enabled the implementation process to be implemented so quickly, Sammu Dhaliwall, Business Development Manager at NTS, cited HealthPRO’s contracting services.

“By HealthPRO proactively procuring a telepharmacy vendor, the hospital was able to jump on the contract without needing to go through their own procurement process, which would have inevitably caused a delay,” said Sammu.

Importantly, Pawel Przeracki, Pharmacy Manager for SBGHC, noted, “As a member, we know HealthPRO rigorously vets its supplier prior to awarding a contract. This enabled us to very-quickly build the trust and rapport needed to implement a new service, especially within such a short amount of time.”

Given the rural location of SBGHC’s multi-site organization, which serves more than 44,000 Ontarians, the prompt completion of this transition was imperative. The great success of this transition was confirmed by Pawel’s assertion that, “There is no longer a gap in pharmacist coverage at SBGHC.”

Benefits of Telepharmacy

In addition to stating that SBGHC is “very pleased with the service provided by NTS,” Pawel offered that the benefits of having this contract in place have gone above and beyond the telepharmacy service itself. “Access to pharmacists 24/7 is incredible, but through this contract, NTS was also able to help SBGHC secure the supply of a medication for a patient which we did not stock on a weekend. That is invaluable to us and to patient care.”

“Telepharmacy services can provide healthcare facilities with virtual, around the clock access to pharmacists to help meet Accreditation Canada recommendations and provincial College of Pharmacy regulatory standards and guidelines,” said Patricia Macgregor, HealthPRO’s Clinical Director of Pharmacy Innovation.

Staffing Pressures, Pandemic Planning and Expanding Professional Practice Demands Lead to Wider Adoption

“Like most hospitals, staffing has been and continues to be an area of concern,” said Pawel Przeracki; a fact that we have all been witness to over the past few years.

Canada’s shortage of Health Human Resources is a growing concern, which Renato Discenza, HealthPRO’s President and CEO, has commented on in a recent blog post, “If we do not change how we deliver care, at the rate we need, based on how we provide care today, a solution may be mathematically impossible.”

Telepharmacy is offering a solution to this problem, and it would appear that Canada is adopting it. Small sites, large multi-facility sites as well as provincial members are finding benefit in access to these services.

“Within the telepharmacy space, we have greater adoption of services since March 2021,” said Sammu Dhaliwal. “The need for a 24/7 clinical pharmacist to be available in the Computerized Prescriber Order Entry (CPOE) environment is even more pressing from a workflow perspective and many hospitals are turning to telepharmacy to help close that gap.”

Final Thoughts

Since 2021, 47 healthcare facilities have signed on to this HealthPRO contract – a sign that this offering is of great benefit to those struggling for resources or wanting to close the gap between current services and recommended standards of practice. Whether supporting through COVID quarantines or staff burnout – another a worrying outcome of these last years – or service enhancement for patient safety, the pool of pharmacists trained to provide for each hospital are able to offer expert, experienced hospital pharmacy support, greatly impacting patient care.