OPTICS Clinical Services
Why OPTICS?
Examples of What Consults Can Do
“Fasting blood glucose can roughly estimate HgbA1c. As per the American Diabetes Association, patients that qualify for targeted reductions of < 7% see strong correlations with improvements in health, quality of life, and mortality.”
Hypertension Patients that Recieved a Consult
“A 2001 Lancet article highlights the indication that elevated blood pressures above goal doubles an individual’s risk of stroke and ischemic heart disease.”
Clinical Intervention Examples
Request: Jail with a 350 inmate average population requested Varizig for treatment and of an outbreak of varicella zoster.
Intervention: Diamond OPTICS Clinical Pharmacist reviewed current guidance for Varicella Zoster exposure with the site Medical Direction and Nursing Coordinator. It was noted that only a limited number of patients should receive Varizig and a majority can be managed with Varicella vaccine.
Outcome/Cost-avoidance: Due to the intervention, over $500,000 was avoided in medication expenditure and a more informed decision was made.
Request: County Jail with roughly 400 patients had a provider enter an order for an oncology medication thats dosing exceeded normal prescribing recommendations.
Intervention: Request for Diamond OPTICS Clinical Pharmacist to review the request. Site medical director was contacted and informed that dosing for the agent should be once weekly for 3 weeks then 1 week off. Medical director reviewed request and updated the order to the correct dosing
Outcome/Cost-Avoidance: Due to the intervention the patient did not receive excess doses, reducing the risk for toxicity. Correction of dose also caused a cost-avoidance of almost $100,000/month
Request: Facility requested an order for Daraprim for a patient.
Intervention: Diamond OPTICS Clinical Pharmacist Identified the order and noted the high cost of the medication. Coordinated with the Diamond Compounding Team to determine if an alternative agent could be developed to reduce cost to the facility. The compounding team noted an alternative was available and the OPTICS Clinical Pharmacist contacted the provider to note how to order the compounded alternative.
Outcome/Cost-Avoidance: Patient received appropriate guideline directed therapy and the facility avoided $65,000 per month in medication expenses.
Request: A jail with an average patient population of 500 requested a high dose growth hormone for patient with Growth Hormone Deficiency.
Intervention: Diamond OPTICS Clinical Pharmacist identified excessive dose and immediately contacted the HSA and provider at the facility. Dosing was reviewed and noted that the dose was 10x the correct dose.
Outcome/Cost-Avoidance: Provider re-entered the order for the correct daily dose. The patient avoided excessive dosing of growth hormone which avoided potential adverse effects and toxicity. The facility also avoided over $63,000 per month in direct medication costs.
Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Module
Diamond Pharmacy Services, the largest correctional pharmacy provider in the U.S., has partnered with Sapphire Health to enhance its clinical services with a new module. The Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Module enables pharmacists to collaborate with onsite providers in real time, offering evidence-based, safe, and cost-effective medication therapy recommendations through the Sapphire Health Electronic Health Record.
Rx Surveillanz
Safe drug utilization and error prevention are key priorities for our care team, supported by our pharmacist team through the Medication Surveillanz Monitoring Program.
Ongoing Education
We provide targeted quarterly clinical information summaries focused on cost-effective treatments, new guidelines, and safety updates. The OPTICS team regularly records webinars covering various disease states available on demand to your medical staff.
Clinical Pharmacy Education
Product and Regulation Announcements
Diamond provides routine information on new medications, generic medications, backordered medications, therapies, side effects, proper administration of medications, etc. In addition, Diamond automatically sends memos to your facility when a medication’s color or imprint changes or when new generics are released. Regulatory information is sent to your facility as soon as it is issued.
Reference Materials
Our team supplies regularly updated reference sheets for your medical staff. This includes information on poison prevention, weights and measurements, beyond use medication dating, commonly used abbreviations, insulin guidance, medication stability and alternative administration techniques, do not crush lists, HIV medication charts, and tuberculin skin test posters.
