Overview

The Bristol Bay region of Alaska covers approximately 35,000 square miles and 40 million acres – an area the size of the entire state of Oklahoma. The Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation (Indian Health Services) operates 22 clinics and serves a native population of nearly 6,000 individuals living throughout 28 communities. BBHC is committed to providing quality healthcare with competence, compassion and sensitivity.

However, the vast distances between villages, their remote locations, the harshness of the territory’s terrain and it’s severe weather made this a challenging mission for BBAHC practitioners and staff. The lack of comprehensive pharmaceutical care meant a lower standard of care, decreases in medical adherence, plus an increased probability of worsening outcomes.

Solution

It is with these challenges in mind that four BBAHC clinics joined the over 120 other Alaskan clinics that made the move to the PickPoint^® Remote Dispensing System.

The participating BBAHC clinics immediately improved medication security, accountability, and dispensing while their patients enjoyed a much higher standard of care. Prescription medications were dispensed at the clinic immediately—eliminating the traditional wait time of days or even weeks.

PickPoint^® Remote Dispensing System accommodates for most common bottle and package sizes – the large cabinet they selected stores up to 90 rows (1,080 individual SKUs) of prepackaged items. (Smaller cabinet available stores up to 54 rows (648 individual SKUs) of prepackaged items.) Plus, it provided these immediate benefits:

• Improve medication security, accountability, and dispensing
• Pharmacists review all prescriptions before loading and dispensing
• Takes care of patients at the clinic immediately
• Increased Rx capture rate with direct point-of-care dispensing
• Provide pharmacy services at a fraction of the cost
• Improved inventory management and turns

Tested & Approved

While the concept of remote dispensing was a simple decision for Bristol Bay, picking a proven partner was an even easier one! Thanks to the PickPoint^® Remote Dispensing System’s proven track record of success, it has delivered vastly improved pharmaceutical care to IHS Health Centers including over 132 locations in Alaska alone. Plus, the PickPoint^® Remote Dispensing System met these requirements:

• Joint Commission and HIPAA-compliant
• Meets the Same Standard of Care
• Available on ECAT
• DoD Certified Security Protocols
• Interface agnostic
• SOC 2 Type 2 compliance
• In use by over 140 sites worldwide

Service & Support

Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation also required a partner who would be there every step of the way – including system planning, delivery, installation, training, and ongoing support. PickPoint^® exceeded expectations and overcame the challenges that Bristol Bay Health Corporation’s remote location provides– such as harsh terrain, high and fluctuating winds and even some of the highest tides in the world.