How to go
KETTERING HEALTH NETWORK PHARMACY - FORT HAMILTON HOSPITAL
Where: Inside the Physician Office Center on Cereal Avenue
Hours: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays
More info: (513) 867-4490
OUTPATIENT LABORATORY SERVICES
Where: Inside the Physician Office Center entrance on Cereal Avenue and next to the north entrance on Progress Drive
Hours: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The north entrance location is open 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturdays
More info: (513) 867-4499
HAMILTON — Patients and employees can now have their prescriptions filled without leaving The Fort Hamilton Hospital.
Kettering Health Network Monday opened a retail pharmacy at the hospital, a week after the hospital took over outpatient lab services. Now when entering the Physician Office Center door, there’s a remodeled area with the pharmacy on the right that fills prescriptions, and sells vitamins and medical supplies, sharing waiting space with anticoagulation services. On the left is Outpatient Laboratory Services.
Hospital officials say the changes increase convenience.
“We’re a regular retail pharmacy,” said Kevin Blackburn, Kettering Health director of Kettering Health’s Pharmacy Network.
Kettering Health of Dayton, parent company of Fort Hamilton, has nine pharmacies at five of its hospitals and four health centers, Blackburn said. Most of the pharmacy’s business is targeted to employees as a way for the hospital to reduce its health care costs, he said.
Fort Hamilton and Butler County are the largest employers in the city, according to Butler County Development Department. The hospital has approximately 1,100 employees, including about 20 doctors, said Marielou Vierling, hospital spokeswoman.
But anyone can go to the pharmacy. The hospital always had an inpatient pharmacy, but now the retail pharmacy can fill prescriptions for patients when they’re discharged, Blackburn said. A new concierge service delivers prescriptions to discharged patients.
The pharmacy cost $125,000 to $130,000, plus double that for inventory, he said.
Previously under Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, hospital employees had their prescription plans through Kroger.
On April 4 Fort Hamilton took over lab services from its vendors Tri-State Clinical Laboratory Services and Quest Diagnostics, whose contracts expired, Vierling said. By moving services such as registration, blood draws and other sample collections in-house, it produces faster test results, speeding up the time to a diagnosis, she said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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