Antimicrobial Stewardship is complex

As hospitals, healthcare providers, and society find themselves entering a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, renewed attention is being focused on the importance of antimicrobial stewardship in reducing the development of antimicrobial resistance. Recent regulatory changes provide meaningful impetus for health-system pharmacists to evaluate the effectiveness of their antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program. These regulatory changes include:

In this new series of articles from Wolters Kluwer, we aim to deliver concise, practical, and actionable items as a resource to busy clinicians to help them assess their AMS programs and identify opportunities for improvement, and most importantly succeed in meeting any accreditation and regulatory requirements.

'Back to AMS Basics' series, highlights include: 

  • Structuring your AMS program for success 
  • AMS program scope and responsibilities
  • Multi-disciplinary participation to ensure success
  • Measuring antimicrobial use
  • Documenting antimicrobial use and intent
  • Preauthorization and prospective feedback
  • Using evidence-based guidelines to improve prescribing
  • Data analysis in AMS
  • Performance improvement in AMS
  • Using technology to improve AMS program effectiveness
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Are you ready for AUR Reporting next year?

CMS has incorporated Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) reporting to National Health and Safety Network (NHSN) as a required element under the Public Health reporting category within Promoting Interoperability Program beginning in 2024. Talk to your Quality leader about the AUR reporting requirement to determine how to avoid penalties for non-reporting.

To qualify for the Promoting Interoperability program credit, AUR reports must be submitted to the NHSN by a vendor—like Sentri7® Pharmacy AMS—certified for AUR reporting by the ONC and listed on the Certified Health IT Product List (CHPL).

ONC Certified HIT
Customers succeed with Sentri7
  • DECREASE USE OF HIGH-COST ANTIMICROBIALS
  • REDUCE DRUG SPEND & IMPROVE ENGAGEMENT
  • Reduce Variation In Care

A large health system targets high-cost antibiotics to decrease pharmacy spend 

Identifying ertapenem (INVANZ) as a target for five key hospitals, a large health system utilized Sentri7 clinical surveillance to track daily prescribing over the course of a year in the inpatient setting with the goal of substituting to meropenem due to its lower cost and better overall spectrum of activities. The health system was able to decrease overall ertapenem vials thereby reducing spend on this high-cost antibiotic and upholding each hospital's commitment to high-quality care. That’s the Sentri7 difference.  

  • 81% decrease in ertapenem vials reducing overall drug spend

Learn more about this health system’s experience with Sentri7.

Explore more of the Sentri7 difference and its impact on healthcare facilities. 

Aultman Hospital relies on Sentri7 to improve the hospital's ASP performance 

Aultman Hospital’s adoption of Sentri7 enabled pharmacy leadership to regularly track overall antibiotic spending, particularly on high cost and broad-spectrum antibiotics like daptomycin. Aultman was able to integrate its EHR and set up antimicrobial stewardship rules and workflows to prioritize patients in real-time in a centralized dashboard, taking the guesswork out of where the pharmacy team could make the biggest impact on care. That’s the Sentri7 difference.  

  • $2 million in savings through optimizing drug therapies 
  • 95% physician acceptance rate for antimicrobial stewardship interventions  

Learn more about Aultman Hospital’s experience with Sentri7.   

Explore more of the Sentri7 difference and its impact on healthcare facilities.

Pediatric hospital standardizes pharmacy clinical practices  

A nationally recognized pediatric hospital relies on Sentri7’s turnkey evidence-based library to establish a set of rules and metrics to strengthen the pharmacy’s impact on the hospital’s key initiatives, including its antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) and management of drug spend. Reduce pharmacy spending through medication therapy adjustments, increased pharmacist dose evaluations and de-escalation of high-cost medications.  Achieving an additional $1.2 million in hard-cost savings. That’s the Sentri7 difference.  

  • 30% reduction in total use of vancomycin 
  • 372% increase in IV-to-PO acetaminophen conversions  

Learn more about this pediatric hospital’s experience.

Explore more of the Sentri7 difference and its impact on healthcare facilities.

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