With a responsive line of barcoded unit-dose oral solutions, a growing liquid unit-dose offering, as well as individually wrapped inhalants, AHP continues to deliver on it’s commitment to supporting pharmacy efficiency.
Company Background
Located in Columbus, Ohio, American Health Packaging (AHP) is an industry leader in manufacturing serialized, barcoded unit-dose (UD) medications provided for the healthcare marketplace. As a UD manufacturer, AHP’s commercially-available UD products are available to hospital, institutional, and long-term care pharmacies nationwide through partner GPOs and wholesalers.
AHP’s reputation for quality is supported by a 30+ year history of broad manufacturing expertise — operating a facility that is registered with the FDA, fully adherent to cGMP guidelines, and licensed by the DEA to package Schedule II-V controlled substances. Synonymous with unit dose, following years of success and leadership in the production of oral solids, AHP expanded their offering and now includes liquid unit-dose cups, inhalants, and powder/granule oral suspension.
Product Overview
AHP is committed to supporting pharmacy efficiency through a diverse range of both high-utilization and niche treatments. Producing nearly 600 UD oral solid SKUs for the healthcare marketplace, AHP’s broad selection of products are produced with quality components and printed with legible barcodes that facilitate effective execution of BCMA initiatives. Their wide selection of products reduces the gap between what pharmacies are forced to repackage themselves, and what is commercially available on the market — supporting health systems nationwide in their efforts to create efficiencies throughout the chain of care.
AHP’s tailored offering of UD oral liquids provide similar efficiency, safety, and cost-savings benefits as their oral-solids products. Product features include right-sized packaging, thoughtful tray design, differentiated labelling, and accurate barcodes. AHP’s unit-dose inhalants provide efficiency and feature individually-wrapped vials and pouches barcoded to the dose level. AHP oral solids, liquids, and inhalants include major therapeutic classes and product groups to meet unique pharmacy needs. They are continuously evolving to meet the changing demands of caregivers and staff to support more effective medication procurement strategies.
As facilities nationwide compete to demonstrate they provide the highest quality of care, AHP UD supports caregivers as they strive to promote positive outcomes for patients. Pharmacies simultaneously strive to be cost-effective as they provide necessary resources for caregivers.
Additional Product Modules
AHP UD supports these objectives while providing cost-savings opportunities. Sourcing pre-packaged UD allows pharmacies to obtain adequate supply while mitigating capital expenses, such as those related to repackaging equipment, bulk supply, and labor.
Benefits for Health Systems
- Patient Safety: Ensuring the right medication is given to the right patient at the right time — and in the right strength — is imperative. Pharmacies can facilitate effective execution of these “rights” by providing caregivers with as many products in a pre-packaged UD format as possible. Removing repackaging tasks from the pharmacy eliminates a potential point of failure during the UD process as medications arrive to pharmacies ready to dispense.
- Pharmacy Efficiency: Pharmacies strive to process orders and supply the proper medications to caregivers for their patients as quickly as possible. Adding potentially-complex repackaging steps to the procurement process not only harms the ability of pharmacy to supply caregivers effectively, but also removes clinicians from their core patient care competencies. In addition, pre-packaged UD often allows for products to be sourced more quickly than third-party repackaging can support.
- Cost-Savings Opportunity: Health systems that choose to package on-site must consider all direct costs, such as purchasing capital equipment for packaging areas and paying highly trained clinical professionals to perform, manage, and support non-core work. AHP UD products allow for pharmacies to avoid these costs while also shifting the potential costs associated with packaging errors. The pre-packaged format also prevents additional fees that may result from utilizing third-party repackaging services.
- Liability Management: Pharmacy repackaging operations can be subject to distractions from a variety of sources. An active pharmacy environment can encourage lapses in concentration and present opportunities for staff error. Since these errors may vary in gravity and place liability on the facility and caregivers, mitigation of risk is key. Unit dose from American Health Packaging can help shift liability burden away from staff.
Hitting the Mark for BCMA, USP <800> Support
Effective execution of BCMA initiatives require medications that scan correctly at the bedside. With a robust, growing, unit-dose portfolio AHP provides reliable access to UD treatments. AHP products promote safety towards BCMA and efficiency in pharmacy while freeing up internal resources. AHP UD supports pharmacies as they strive for compliance with USP General Chapter <800> guidelines. As pharmacies craft effective procurement strategies to meet the needs of their facilities, protecting patients and caregivers alike from potential harm while handling hazardous drugs is a priority. AHP’s UD portfolio has a number of NIOSH/USP <800> products already packaged for bedside dispensing which supports compliance to USP <800> handling procedures.