Agency History

State government today faces intense pressure to reduce service-delivery costs. Nowhere has this pressure been more unyielding than in the area of healthcare. Increasing costs in the provision of health care have been a major challenge for state government in meeting budgetary goals.

Historically, pharmacy services have been a significant part of this increasing cost. Year after year, medication costs increased at a rate greater than inflation. The demand for clinical pharmacy services was on the rise while the quality of health care services provided by state institutions, was increasingly being questioned.

In 1992, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had in its charge approximately 4,000 inpatients housed at 22 facilities in three different agencies. Concerned about quality and cost issues, a study was commissioned to assess pharmacy services in the departments of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Public Health.

The study concluded that it was feasible to consolidate and standardize pharmaceutical services and to integrate pharmacy services across the three agencies - the Office For Pharmacy Services was begun.

The success of the program was evident in September, 1998, when the Office For Pharmacy Services broadened its responsibilities to include the provision of pharmacy services to 22 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Correction facilities, bringing the total number of beds serviced to over 15,000.

Program Overview

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office For Pharmacy Services provides comprehensive pharmacy services to public sector healthcare organizations in a cost-effective, clinically responsible manner. The Office practices "state-of-the-art" pharmacy delivery; establishes up to date clinical pharmacy practice; assures full regulatory compliance; implements and maintains the latest pharmacy computer software; and provides for all aspects of budgeting and purchasing including reporting, forecasting, and accounts payable. The State Office For Pharmacy Services is dedicated to meeting the healthcare needs of agencies within the Commonwealth with a comprehensive and unique pharmacy program.

Our program begins with:

  • Assessment of an agency's current pharmacy services:
  • evaluation of adherence to state and federal regulations; preparedness for JCAHO and HCFA surveys;
  • evaluation of the formulary process;
  • determination of effectiveness of budgeting, purchasing, and contracting;
  • assessment of client needs

Our program offers:

  • Extension of our existing state pharmacy services contracts
  • Effective system for selecting prime vendor
  • Programs for inventory control, purchasing, and budgeting designed to reduce inventory, decrease purchasing costs, improve the accuracy of forecasting and provide better reporting

Our program will:

  • Provide precise monitoring of high cost medications
  • Provide accurate and useful operational and clinical reports
  • Provide drug treatment guidelines for use with new, high cost medications
  • Provide comparative data with similar institutions to allow administrative benchmarking
  • Provide standardized policies and procedures which can be customized as needed
  • Provide Medication Usage Evaluations on a regular basis
  • Provide medication usage consults for patients with particularly difficult medication problems
  • Provide educational services for pharmacy and agency staff
  • Monitor and document medication usage
  • Monitor and address medication dispensing errors
  • Monitor adverse drug reactions and provide a statewide comparison
  • Assist in the establishment of a model adverse drug reaction reporting program
  • Provide up to date drug-drug and drug-food interaction monitoring
  • Provide written drug information for patients in both English and Spanish
  • Provide guidance in all matters of drug therapy from the State Pharmacy and Therapeutics Advisory Committee
  • Provide professional drug information services

We currently provide complete pharmacy services to the following:

The Massachusetts of Department of Mental Health

  • Worcester State Hospital
  • Westboro State Hospital
  • Taunton State Hospital
  • Lindemann Mental Health Center (Boston)
  • Quincy Mental Health Center
  • Corrigan Mental Health Center (Fall River)
  • Cape Cod and the Islands Mental Health Center (Pocassett)

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation

  • Fernald Developmental Center (Waltham)
  • Hogan Regional Center (Danvers)
  • Monson Developmental Center
  • Templeton Developmental Center
  • Wrentham Developmental Center

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health

  • Lemuel Shattuck Hospital (Boston)
  • Western Massachusetts Hospital (Westfield)
  • Tewksbury Hospital
  • Massachusetts Hospital School (Canton)

Houses of Correction

  • Franklin County House of Correction
  • Hampden County House of Correction
  • Plymouth County House of Correction

The Massachusetts Department of Correction

  • Bay State Correctional Center (Norfolk)
  • Boot Camp (Bridgewater)
  • Boston Pre-Release
  • Bridgewater State Hospital
  • Massachusetts Alcohol & Substance Abuse (Bridgewater)
  • Massachusetts Treatment Center (Bridgewater)
  • MCI Cedar Junction (Walpole)
  • MCI Concord
  • MCI Framingham
  • MCI Norfolk
  • MCI Gardner
  • MCI Plymouth
  • MCI Shirley
  • Northeastern Correctional Center (Concord)
  • Old Colony Correctional Center (Bridgewater)
  • Pondville Correctional Center
  • Southeastern Correctional Center (Bridgewater)
  • South Middlesex Correctional Center (Framingham)
  • Sousa-Baranowski Correctional Center (Shirley)

Soldier's Home

  • Holyoke Soldier's Home

Conclusion

The Office For Pharmacy Services provides the Commonwealth of Massachusetts an integrated system benefiting several separate, and distinct agencies. By standardizing policies and procedures, medication distribution systems and personnel systems, we have been able to raise the quality of pharmacy services and realize significant economic benefits.

We have provided savings through consolidation at the initiation of the contract and again when we moved from two central filling sites to a single site. The savings have been realized in reduced staffing while simultaneously developing greatly improved clinical services. This is the first time a public initiative of this magnitude, involving privatization, standardization, and consolidation across multiple agencies, while retaining state direction and control has been successfully undertaken.

The Office of Pharmacy Services is committed to the highest possible quality of service at the lowest reasonable cost. We constantly promote rational drug therapies which include strategies to reduce medication costs through reduction of medication overuse and through the use of less expensive but equally effective treatments.

Contact Us

To contact the Office For Pharmacy Services call or write to the Director:

Louis Dell'Olio, Director
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Office of Pharmacy Services
365 East Street
Tewksbury, Massachusetts 01876
(978) 858-2100
This information is provided by the Bureau of Public Health Facilities within the Department of Public Health.