Becker's Healthcare Podcast: Rita Shane, PharmD, Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer at Cedars-Sinai
Becker's Healthcare Podcast recently interviewed Rita Shane, PharmD, vice president and chief pharmacy officer at Cedars-Sinai, about how she and other experts are addressing key challenges in the field of pharmacy.
Shane told Becker's Healthcare Podcast host Laura Dyrda that one of the issues she has observed is the “polypharmacy problem,” in which a patient with multiple chronic diseases is prescribed five or more medications by different doctors. Taking multiple medications puts a patient at higher risk of hospitalizations, fractures and adverse drug interactions.
“What I want to do is prevent harm from medications and make sure they're being taken properly and that the orders are really carried out with the intent the physician had when he or she determined the diagnosis and created the treatment plan,” Shane said.
To address the problem, Shane said she is working with a California state senator to pass a law requiring a hospital pharmacy staff member to review a patient’s medication history when they are admitted to and discharged from a hospital.
Shane told Dyrda that another ongoing challenge in pharmacy is handling the burgeoning number of cell and gene therapy drugs that treat an array of diseases.
“Gene therapy and biologics are making a difference in diseases that in the past we couldn't treat, and how we navigate the complexity associated with the cost, the efficacy, the durability and the financing of that is fascinating,” Shane said.
Shane said she works with a committee comprised of bioethicists, physicians and other pharmacists to discuss access, patients’ insurance, the number of people who need treatment and the safety of a new drug.
“Navigating these drugs is a team sport,” Shane said.
Click here to listen to the entire segment of Becker's Healthcare Podcast.