On the medication distribution system for home health care through convenience stores, lockers, and home delivery

Medication distribution service can be delivered based on a combination of home delivery and customer pickup. That is, medications are delivered either to customers’ homes directly or to the pickup facilities (e.g. lockers) close to customers’ homes. In Taiwan, there are more than 11,000 convenience stores that provide a 24-h service for customers to pick up the ordered items from e-commerce, which is unique to the world. In the medication distribution system, convenience stores can provide a unique opportunity for customers to more conveniently collect medications at stores, and also can reduce the operating cost for a logistics company providing the medication delivery service. Therefore, this work proposes a medication distribution system through convenience stores, lockers, and home delivery. Under this system, this work investigates how to simultaneously determine employment of convenience store chains, the convenience store locations to be visited, locations of lockers, vehicle routes for convenience stores and lockers, and vehicle routes for customers’ homes, so that the total operating cost is minimized. This work further proposes a genetic algorithm to solve the medication distribution problem. Through simulation, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is able to solve the problem efficiently.

Insights on developing a field hospital formulary and medication distribution process in preparation for a second surge of COVID-19 cases

Purpose The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused health systems across the country to plan for field hospitals to care for patients outside of traditional healthcare settings in the event of a second surge. Here we describe key considerations for the implementation of pharmacy operations and a field hospital formulary at an offsite location within a 2-week time frame. Summary Development of an offsite field hospital formulary is first dependent on the location and patient population defined for the field hospital. Creation of a limited formulary for a planned field hospital in Michigan involved reviewing physical space limitations and drug distribution workflows, assessing current prescribing trends, creating drug categories, and creating formulary guidelines to limit formulary options in each therapeutic category. Ultimately, our institution developed a 140-medication field hospital formulary, a process to enable appropriate use of nonformulary drugs, and a mixed operations model including automated dispensing cabinets and a manual cart-fill process. Although the institution did not have to open the field hospital, the process used for developing the formulary and determining distribution models will allow for an immediate implementation if a second surge occurs. Conclusion A methodical approach to developing limited formularies and pharmacy operations in a field hospital setting will allow health systems to establish efficient and effective medication distribution services in the event of a second surge of COVID-19 cases.