Journal of Developing Drugs
Open Access
ISSN: 2329-6631
+44 1478 350008
ISSN: 2329-6631
+44 1478 350008
Molly Billstein Leber
Stanford University, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Develop Drugs
Escalating pharmaceutical costs and the rapid entry of high tech and specialty drugs to the market pose a major challenge to effective formulary and fiscal management. As pharmaceutical expenses have continued to increase, most organizations have been faced with a shrinking operating margins. Formulary and medication supply chain are often identified as opportunities to reduce expenses. Standardizing the medication formulary is often the first step to standardizing and improving patient care and processes. Formulary standardization has been shown to improve safety as well as gain efficiencies. However, it can prove to be quite challenging, often requiring large shifts in culture. Often there is not a clearly defined formulary process, which results in limited adherence to policies and inefficiencies in procurement, prescribing, and distribution. Creating a centralized, multidisciplinary approach to formulary management across an organization allows identification of best practices and ensures changes are uniformly implemented across the organization. Improving the medication use process minimizes many sound-alike products and helps eliminate the inefficiencies of obtaining patient-specific non-formulary products. Increased cost-efficiency can be seen by eliminating duplicative therapies, optimizing market share within committed volume contracts, avoiding use of expensive therapies unnecessary in the acute care setting, and developing evidence-based criteria for many high impact drugs.
Molly Billstein Leber, PharmD, BCPS, is currently Manger, Drug Use Policy and Formulary Managment at Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) and the Clinical Coordinator of the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) Formulary Integration Committee (FIC), which was recently created to standardize the independent medication formularies and drug use policies to enhance medication safety, increase cost savings and promote evidenced based practices. She obtained her PharmD at the University of Montana and completed an ASHP-accredited Pharmacy Practice Residency at YNHH. She has worked at YNHH as the Medical ICU Clinical Pharmacist and Anticoagulation Clinical Specialist and is Clinical Adjunct Faculty for the University of Connecticut.
Email: molly.leber@ynhh.org