Photo By Michelle Gonzalez | A pharmacy technician reviews medication requests getting filled through the...... read more read more
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md.– Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center staff from the main and Post Exchange pharmacies continue to provide medications to TRICARE beneficiaries during a systems outage that has affected military pharmacies worldwide and some national retail pharmacies since Feb. 21, 2024.
Kimbrough’s pharmacy teams are processing prescriptions through a manual procedure until the system outage is resolved. The temporary change to processing prescription requests stems from a cyberattack on Change Healthcare, the nation’s largest commercial prescription processor.
Despite the manual procedure, the main and refill pharmacies are processing and filling requests with normal completion times.
“We processed and filled the backlog of requested medications and we’re focusing on day-of and same-day requests,” said Sarah Shearin, the deputy chief of pharmacy. “The outage is not impacting patient care.”
It is unknown at this time when the issue will be resolved. However, Shearin noted that pharmacy teams have a plan in place to fill requests.
“Priority is given to urgent and acute medication needs before filling routine requests,” Shearin said. “There may be delays in filling prescription refills.”
Shearin added that patients can expect to get medications as they normally would. “There may be potential delays at pick-up as the pharmacy staff may have more questions for patients.”
During the initial days of the outage, leadership and staff from different departments were present in the pharmacy lobby and throughout the facility to communicate the outage to patients and what the next steps were.
For Shearin, the outage emphasized the importance of teamwork.
“The importance of good communication and expressing it to as many individuals across the [Military Treatment Facility] as quickly as possible was highlighted, and really made a difference in our ability to fill 5,000 plus prescriptions in three days.”
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2024 16:03 |
| Story ID: | 466107 |
| Location: | FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 311 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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