ABC Veterinary Hospital is a small animal hospital located in the southwestern part of the U.S. with three full-time\u2013equivalent doctors and revenue of about $2.5 million in 2021. Like many practices, the practice has been swamped during the pandemic and struggling to find and retain the number and quality of employees it needs to operate smoothly.<\/p>\n
Leaders at the practice never thought they had an inventory problem. They never ran out of medications, they had the drugs and supplies they needed to take care of patients and they assumed they had a high level of profitability because they were never short of cash for paying bills or owner distributions.<\/span><\/p>\n Over the past few months, however, the management team noted some changes:<\/span><\/p>\n The obvious solution was to implement a better inventory control system. Components of this system needed to include:<\/span><\/p>\n The management team started by fully counting all inventory and updating their PIMS inventory module with correct product names, quantities, prices and units of measurement. They then created a written list of each step that needed to be accomplished during each of the inventory phases. For example, up until now, when a box of product was delivered, the instructions were simply \u201csomeone needs to unpack this box, make sure that everything we were supposed to get is in there and put the stuff on the shelves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The new protocols are much more detailed. Examples of a few steps include:<\/span><\/p>\n The practice manager also reviewed the practice\u2019s PIMS inventory module for capabilities the practice hadn\u2019t been using. One feature of particular help for this practice was the setting of automatic reorder points for frequently ordered items.\u00a0 <\/span>Prior to ordering, the practice now reviews the reorder point report and integrates any necessary items into the order.<\/span><\/p>\n The practice also integrated a new electronic controlled drug logbook with its PIMS. This technology reduces the time needed to enter and reconcile controlled drug usage and improved the practice\u2019s compliance with DEA and other controlled drug regulations. <\/span><\/p>\n Specific individuals were selected to do this work, rather than leaving it to anyone with the spare time. Appropriate training was provided and the management team is making sure these team members have the time to accomplish their tasks when they need to be done.<\/span><\/p>\n Controls were put into place to monitor the system going forward, including regular inventory counts, review of employee purchases, medical record audits, review of PIMS inventory reports, and comparison of inventory costs to published benchmarks and historical numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n The results were very positive. Almost immediately, controlled drug discrepancies disappeared by using the electronic logbook and the practice stopped running out of product. Employees liked knowing what their specific job responsibilities were and receiving the training and time to do their jobs well. It became clear that there was likely an employee stealing flea\/tick and heartworm preventives, although the practice was not able to find definitive proof as to who the culprit was. Fortunately (at least for this practice), the suspected employee quit while the new controls were being put into place and this part of the problem resolved itself. The practice now has a system in place that would better allow management to identify a culprit.<\/span><\/p>\n When we think of innovation, we tend to think first of amazing new technology. Innovation, however, can be any change a practice makes that improves its operations. In this case, innovation included both \u2014 a change in the practice\u2019s manual systems as well as the use of improved technology.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With more work and less staff as a result of the pandemic, inventory can fall to wayside and open the way for theft and mismanagement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":22403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clinic-innovation-guide-2022","column-consultation-case-reports","clinical_topics-merchandising"],"acf":{"hide_sidebar":false,"hide_sidebar_ad":false,"hide_all_ads":false},"yoast_head":"\n\n
The Treatment<\/h3>\n
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The Implementation<\/h3>\n
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The Results<\/h3>\n