Involvement of a pharmacy department in a hospital's transition to patient-centered care.

This article will describe our hospital's transition to a patient-centered care environment as a response to rising costs within the hospitals and a desire to improve the quality of patient care through systems improvement. The involvement of pharmacy managers in the new organizational structure will be detailed, as well as their new roles and responsibilities as care center leaders. The traditional pharmacy management structure has been replaced by a team approach to decision making and problem solving. Challenges exist to the pharmacy managers as they reorganize to accommodate new responsibilities within the care centers. Opportunities exist within this setting to support pharmaceutical care.