GHP Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 2018

36 GHP / 2018 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards , Founded nearly 50 years ago and employing over 2,500 clinical, regulatory, and operational pharmacy professionals, CPS is the nation’s oldest and largest provider of pharmacy support services to more than 800 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the United States and Puerto Rico. Since the beginning, the firm has been focused on pharmacy solutions. Starting in 1971 a pharmacy solutions company named DTEC was founded by Jim Coleman in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1978, on the other side of Best Pharmacy Support Service Provider – USA Thanks to almost five decades’ worth of experience in the healthcare market, Comprehensive Pharmacy Services (CPS) is now the largest provider of pharmacy services in the United States, supporting more than 800 hospitals (including LTACH, Behavioral and SNF) and healthcare systems across the country and beyond. Having recently recognised the firm in this years’ Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards we invited James Wilkerson to share an insight into the firmand the services it has to offer. the country, Ed Hirschman, Pharm.D., M.B.A., established an acute care hospital pharmacy management company with 18 employees in San Bernardino, California. These two companies would later join forces under the name Comprehensive Pharmacy Services. In the early 1980s, CPS expanded regionally and grew to 10 clients that included Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) in California, a state-of-the-art acute care and teaching hospital with the second busiest ER in the state. In 1995, we expanded our pharmacy management services in Tennessee, Kansas and Texas. ServiceMaster acquired CPS and DTEC in 1996, and four years later, CPS senior management led by Don Nickleson along with a group of individual investors acquired CPS from ServiceMaster, returning the company to its original pharmacy focus. Then, in 2002, Mr. Nickleson was appointed CEO, and the firm’s executive leadership launched a strategic initiative to build out the company’s capabilities, expand further nationally and solidify its position as the leader in cost- effective, quality pharmacy management. James explores how far the company has come over this time and the success it enjoys today. “Over the years, through a series of acquisitions beginning in 2008, CPS has grown to include clients in 47 states and Puerto Rico with a broad range of services that include a Telepharmacy Suite of Solutions, Ambulatory and Specialty Pharmacy capabilities, 340B support, antimicrobial stewardship, medication management, data analytics and more. “Recently, in 2017, Calvin Johnson (CJ) joined the company as CEO. A West Point graduate, Mr. Johnson grew up HP180046 in the Memphis area, home to CPS’s headquarters. Prior to coming on board with CPS, Mr. Johnson served as President of SODEXO’s Hospital Division. Don Nickleson moved into the position of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Today CPS controls over $2 billion in U.S. drug spend which allows us to leverage our broad and complementary capabilities to help clients improve quality, reduce cost and achieve better patient outcomes. Our mission is to advance pharmacy practice, one patient at a time. We are proud that we are able to offer the best pharmacy technology and process solutions in the industry delivered by our exceptional team of experienced pharmacy professionals. We achieve our mission by staying on top of pharmacy industry issues and challenges so that we can optimize pharmacy operations to yield bigger savings and better patient results.” More recently, CPS has launched two new business entities which it helps “Our recent developments include our acquisition of RxKnights, which we made in 2009, which led to us starting our remote order entry business. Then, in 2016 we re-branded the business as CPS Telepharmacy acknowledging the expanded services and