Situation:

Expansion of community pharmacists’ scope of practice due to changes to Provincial regulatory standards, a ten-year milestone of growth and innovation, and new leadership led the Faculty to embark on an operational review of the UBC Pharmacists Clinic. Strategy and Decision Support was engaged by the Associate Dean Practice Innovation to support the Faculty with recommendations to improve the Pharmacist Clinics’ financial sustainability, functional areas and staffing alignment, operational efficiency, and to strengthen alignment with the Faculty’s strategic objectives.

Our Actions:

• Collaborated with the Associate Dean Practice Innovation and Assistant Dean Operations and Strategic Initiatives to define the scope of the review and identify key opportunity areas for exploration and analysis, with regular check-ins to ensure alignment and validation throughout the project
• Conducted exploratory interviews with clinic staff, clinicians and clinic management to gather insights on areas of excellence, improvement, and opportunity
• Consulted with key decision-making roles to develop a current and ideal state governance matrix and recommendations
• Engaged with peer clinics and conducted a literature review to identify best practices, lessons learned, and opportunities for enhancement from both an operations and governance perspective
• Forecasted the financial impact of a number of prioritized revenue and cost containment opportunities, using a custom-designed scenario-based financial model
• Validated recommendations with leadership to ensure feasibility, organizational buy-in, and actionability

Results:

• A set of recommendations for the desired state governance structure including a matrix of realigned decision and advisory roles and responsibilities, and implementation considerations
• A set of recommendations for operational improvements in key areas of opportunity
• A set of recommended revenue and cost containment opportunities, including an assessment of financial impact
• The recommendations were validated by Faculty leadership and implementation is being planned