JCR Introduces Medication Reconciliation Consulting Service

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 15 Apr 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Joint Commission Resources (JCR) announced the launch of its medication reconciliation consulting service, a new consulting product in partnership with Simpler HealthcareSM. JCR is a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission.

Medication errors are a persistent concern in the U.S. From September 2004 to July 2005, United States Pharmacopeia received 2,022 reports of medication reconciliation errors. In addition, The Joint Commission's sentinel event database includes reports of more than 350 medication errors resulting in death or major injury. Of those, 63 percent related, at least in part, to breakdowns in communication, and approximately half of those would have been avoided through effective medication reconciliation-a process used to prevent medication errors by comparing a patient's medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking.

Improving an organization's medication reconciliation process not only improves patient safety, it can also improve the organization's bottom line. Adverse drug events add approximately $8,750 to the cost of a patient's hospital stay, according to the Institute of Medicine report, Preventing Medication Errors.

The goal of JCR and Simpler Healthcare'sSM medication reconciliation consulting service is to create a process that continually strives towards zero defects, using Lean methodology. This consulting program offers immediate short-term improvements in the medication reconciliation process and teaches organizations how to instill those changes for long-term sustainability.

"Effective medication reconciliation is an integral part of mitigating risk to patients," says Karen H. Timmons, president and CEO, JCR. "JCR is pleased to partner with Simpler HealthcareSM to bring organizations this important innovative tool for improving patient safety by leveraging JCR's expertise in medication safety with Simpler's Lean expertise."

"Simpler HealthcareSM is very pleased to lend our Lean transformation methodology to the challenging, critical-to-quality process of Medication Reconciliation," says Marc S. Hafer, president Simpler Holdings, Inc. "Our partnership with JCR's experts in clinical coaching has produced a winning approach to eliminating errors related to unreconciled medications, adverse drug events, and the patient harm that results in the absence of standardized work."

The expert consultants from JCR and Simpler HealthcareSM will guide clients by using a step-by-step process to assess the current state of their medication reconciliation process, perform strategic improvements to the process and confirm that the improvements have been sustained. They will do this by identifying the root causes of errors, creating and implementing plans to remove waste and increase patient safety, and coaching the process owners on how to achieve continuous improvement and sustainability.

The partnership of JCR and Simpler HealthcareSM merges JCR's proven clinical expertise and knowledge of medication systems with the expertise of Simpler HealthcareSM in system-wide transformation in health care. The result is fewer medication errors, a reduction in the potential for patient injury, and the development of a sustainable cycle of continuous improvement.

Joint Commission Resources