ASHP names Sutter hospital medication safety center of excellence

Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., has been named an ASHP Certified Center of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice, becoming the first Sutter medical center to earn the designation.

The designation recognizes pharmacy departments that demonstrate high levels of pharmacy practice, medication safety and patient care. The effort began in late 2023 and took about 18 months of preparation, according to an Oct. 8 news release. The team reviewed 12 ASHP standards and nearly 600 data points across inpatient, infusion, specialty and ambulatory pharmacy services.

The process led the pharmacy department to build a more formal pharmacy quality program and strengthen how it measures and improves its practices. One change patients can see is the expansion of Meds in Hand, a discharge program that lets eligible patients leave the hospital with their prescribed medications. A pharmacist reviews the medications, helps resolve insurance or authorization issues, delivers the drugs before discharge and educates patients and families.

Sutter pharmacy teams are beginning evaluations at other hospitals, and Alta Bates Summit’s experience is informing efforts to strengthen pharmacy quality and medication safety across the system, the health system said.

The designation remains rare. ASHP’s list of certified hospitals stood at 10 systems as of last year, among them Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health, Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare, Chicago-based UChicago Medicine, San Diego-based UC San Diego Health and Los Angeles-based Keck Medicine of USC. OSF HealthCare became the first mid-to-large integrated health system to earn it, and Lee Health was the first multisite system to do so.

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