JPS plan on drug backlog unveiled

By Bechetta Jackson

June 15, 2000 Web posted at: 12:25 PM EDT (1625 GMT)

FORT WORTH, Texas (Fort Worth Star Telegram) -- Feeling heat from an angry public and frustrated Tarrant County commissioners, JPS Health Network officials announced plans yesterday that they say will ease prescription backlogs that have plagued the network for weeks.

But commissioners, and some patients, remain skeptical that the JPS reaction will fix the problem.

By the end of the month, JPS will open a Pharmacy Service Center on the first floor of the JPS Outpatient Building at 1500 S. Main St.

More important, JPS officials said, pickup and drop-off services at the central pharmacy on West Rosedale Street will be slowly phased out. The Rosedale facility will be used for processing and distribution only -- as was originally intended.

"We are changing the system to better accommodate our patients," said JPS Chief Executive Officer Tony Alcini, whom commissioners have held responsible for the pharmacy problems. "We believe this will significantly reduce many of the problems that we have."

However, Commissioner Dionne Bagsby, who has been the most vocal critic of the pharmacy's problems, said: "I hope this isn't another knee-jerk reaction. I hope this plan has been carefully studied and evaluated."

Bagsby said a number of logistical problems, such as the lack of parking at the JPS Outpatient Building, will have to be worked out.

Patients discharged from John Peter Smith Hospital, and people who receive ambulatory care at the JPS Main Campus and the JPS Health Center for Women, will be able to get prescription medication at the service center.

It will be twice as large as the Rosedale pharmacy and have sufficient seating, Alcini told the commissioners.

The action by JPS came the day after a forum at which people dependent on the county- supported pharmacy told of fears that their health will be compromised by a prescription backlog caused by moving most pharmacy services to a central location.

Filling prescriptions from one place was expected to save the network $800,000 a year. The move to centralization affected nearly 28,000 JPS employees and indigent county residents.

The outpatient pharmacy at John Peter Smith Hospital closed after the central Rosedale Street pharmacy opened in December. Since then, most of the pharmacy services at the Arlington, Diamond Hill, Northeast and Stop Six neighborhood health centers have been shut down.

Because of a computer software glitch, patients who use the Rosedale pharmacy have had to wait as long as six hours in some cases to get medication for severe or chronic problems. The wait is down to about two hours, Alcini said.

Commissioners vowed to hold Alcini accountable -- especially because they continue to get telephone calls from patients concerned about the long waits.

"I keep hearing from people in the public, and members of your own staff, who say these problems are not fixed," Commissioner Glen Whitley told Alcini. "There seems to be distrust on all sides. I have a feeling someone is going to get barbecued before this whole thing is over."

After the commissioners' meeting, Whitley said he believes Alcini's job should be reviewed.

"I'm not sure he's the right person to lead the hospital," Whitley said. "People are hurting over there and we need to do something pretty quick."

Alcini said a few problems are sure to arise with the processing of 45,000 prescriptions a month and about 2,600 a day.

"We're doing everything in our power to correct the problem," he said. "Some people are just worried about what they experienced a month or two ago. We have to work on getting our patients' confidence back."

Closing the Rosedale pharmacy to walk-in traffic means that pharmacists will be able to fill prescriptions without having to stop every time someone walks through the door, Alcini said.

Patients will have to rely more on neighborhood pharmacy centers, he said.

Indeed, JPS patients who are not treated at John Peter Smith Hospital, the Main Campus or the Health Center for Women should get prescriptions refilled through their neighborhood pharmacy center or by mail, network officials said. At the neighborhood centers the drop-off and pickup service turnaround averages three days, and the wait for mail service averages seven days, network officials said.

"We're trying to get them to go to the neighborhood centers," Alcini said. "Rosedale was never meant to be a pickup and drop-off location."

People waiting inside the Rosedale pharmacy yesterday said the opening of the service center at the JPS Outpatient Building is not guaranteed to help the backlog.

"You have to get input from the people," said Paul Childers Sr., who waited a little over an hour yesterday afternoon to pick up heart and lung medication. "What they need to do is restore full pharmacy service to the neighborhood clinics."

Shirley Hunter, a south side resident, said she'd like to see both the Rosedale pharmacy and the service center open.

"The way things have been going, they might need both of them," said Hunter, a diabetic who also has heart trouble and high blood pressure.

She acknowledged that the Rosedale pharmacy has made progress.

"Everybody's usually fussing in here," Hunter said. "They're real quiet today, so I guess that means things really are getting better."

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