Development of a Standardized Review Process for Drug Inventory Optimization

Purpose: This study will assess whether the implementation of a standardized review process for medication inventory optimization will reveal opportunities to optimize the current physical inventory at Texas Children's Hospital. Methods: A standardized review process for medication inventory optimization was developed and applied to a subset of medications from the hospitals formulary. This was a retrospective application of the process to the current physical inventory at Texas Children’s Hospital and utilized usage data between January 1 and December 31, 2019. Clinical characteristics, operational characteristics and inventory characteristics of each medication were collected to reveal the most appropriate combination of physical inventory for the medications reviewed. Change in carrying costs were assessed by comparing the physical inventory purchased and used in its current state to the recommended combination of physical inventory after applying the review process. Results: A total of 46 assessments were performed on 37 individual medications. There were 36 (78%) assessments that revealed no opportunity to optimize and 10 (22%) showing some opportunity to optimize. Of the assessments with no opportunity to optimize, 22 (61%) were already optimized based on usage, 12 (33%) were only available in a single vial size, and 2 (6%) were emergency response medications. Of these 10 with an opportunity to optimize, 4 (40%) had a low opportunity, 2 (20%) had a medium opportunity and 4 (40%) had a high opportunity to optimize. Of the assessments with a low and medium opportunity to optimize, all 6 (100%) had the opportunity to optimize the combinations of vial size purchased. Those with high opportunity to optimize 2 (50%) required an optimized combination and 2 (50%) can be ordered on-demand. Conclusions: The development of a standardized review process for medication inventory optimization can identify areas of improvement for an institution's medication inventory.