Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health’s newly appointed chief pharmacy officer is focused on expanding the system’s enterprise pharmacy strategy and positioning pharmacy as a key driver of value-based care.
Kristen Kruszewski, PharmD, recently stepped into the systemwide role and said one of her first priorities is evaluating how pharmacy services can better support Cone Health’s participation in value-based care models. The health system is part of Washington, D.C.-based Risant Health, an organization backed by Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente that focuses on advancing value-based care through a pluralistic model.
Among the initiatives underway at Cone Health is a centralized pharmacotherapy service designed to support patients and clinicians across the system. The program allows patients to connect directly with pharmacists for medication questions and follow-up care, while clinicians can refer patients for comprehensive medication management.
The goal is to close gaps in care and reduce hospital readmissions by strengthening medication education and follow-up after discharge.
“We can have the prescribers refer into us, but we can also have patients that can directly communicate,” Dr. Kruszewski said. “It’s one of the ways that we’re trying to help with reducing readmissions and really living our value-based care model.”
Dr. Kruszewski’s previous experience at Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger, which is also part of Risant Health, is shaping how she approaches enterprise pharmacy development at Cone Health. Historically, enterprise pharmacy has not been a major focus for the organization, but she said leaders increasingly recognize the need to align pharmacy services across the health system to accelerate growth and efficiency.
“One of the things that we are doing is looking at potentially doing some structural realignment,” she said. “How can we figure out which bucket things should be working in and create efficiencies that we haven’t necessarily seen when every area within the department is operating independently?”
Part of that strategy involves identifying services that can be centralized across pharmacy operations to create economies of scale and ensure teams are operating from a consistent playbook.
Technology is also playing a growing role in the system’s pharmacy strategy. Cone Health is investing in AI tools and automation to streamline tasks such as prior authorizations and pharmacy benefits verification.
The system has also implemented a centralized prescription fill model. More than 60% of prescriptions are now filled at a central facility and distributed back to retail pharmacies, helping reduce staffing pressures while improving efficiency.
“By doing that, we’ve been able to use our automation to enhance and create efficiencies and economies of scale,” she said.
Dr. Kruszewski said workforce shortages remain a challenge, so Cone Health is focusing on developing its workforce internally. The system launched a pharmacy technician academy that trains employees for technician roles and covers the cost of their education in exchange for a work commitment.
Since launching in 2023, the program has become a key pipeline for staffing the pharmacy workforce. Thirty-five students have graduated from the academy, with nearly 89% achieving national certification and most remaining with the health system after completing their training.
Looking ahead, Dr. Kruszewski expects the chief pharmacy officer role to become more common across health systems as pharmacy takes on a larger strategic role in care delivery. While many pharmacy leaders currently operate deeper within organizational structures, she believes health systems will increasingly bring pharmacy leadership into executive-level discussions.
“I do expect that that will be the standard more often than not,” she said.
As the role evolves, pharmacy leaders will need stronger business and strategic skills alongside clinical expertise.
“We spent many years trying to be the people who focused on cost cutting,” Dr. Kruszewski said. “Now we’re changing the framework to show how pharmacy can drive both clinical and financial value for the organization.
“Our goal is really: How can we keep patients out of the hospital and advance people’s health?”
The post Not just ‘cost cutting’: How Cone Health is repositioning pharmacy appeared first on Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.
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