Lunch break symposium supported by Cencora
Chair(s)
Annie Tran Manley, Pharmacy Practice Solutions, Cencora, Accelerate Pharmacy Solutions
Introduction:
Health systems worldwide are confronting converging pressures: workforce shortages, rising operating costs, supply chain instability, increasing regulatory complexity, and growing expectations for equitable access to high-quality, affordable care. These forces are challenging traditional pharmacy operating models and creating urgency for new approaches that improve resilience, efficiency and sustainability. This session explores centralisation not simply as an operational strategy, but as an innovation framework for reimagining pharmacy services within health systems.
Using a leading US case study from Henry Ford Health (HFH), this session will highlight how a Centralised Pharmacy Service Centre was designed to transform fragmented, site-based services into an integrated enterprise model supporting pharmacy operations, distribution, compounding, supply chain optimisation, and scalable shared services. Speakers will discuss how this innovative model, developed through collaboration between HFH and Cencora, created a platform for innovation, strengthened operational resilience, enhanced resource stewardship, and positioned pharmacy as a strategic contributor to health system performance.
Importantly, this session is not about replicating a single US model, but about sharing transferable principles that can inform pharmacy practice globally. Participants will explore how centralisation can serve as a catalyst for advancing integrated care delivery, enabling new service models, supporting workforce sustainability, reducing variation, and improving access to safe and efficient medication-use systems. The session will also examine practical considerations in design, governance, implementation, and change management, offering lessons applicable across diverse practice settings.
Attendees will leave with actionable insights on how centralised pharmacy models can move beyond traditional efficiency goals to function as a strategic framework for innovation, enabling pharmacy to play a larger role in healthcare transformation.
Programme:
| 08:00 – 08:10 | Opening and Introduction |
| Moderator |
| 08:10 – 08:30 | Case study presentation: “Reimagining pharmacy services: Centralisation as an innovation framework for health systems” |
| Rox Gatia, Vice President, Pharmacy Shared Services, Henry Ford Health |
| 08:30 – 08:40 | Audience Q&A and facilitated discussion |
| 08:40 – 08:45 | Key takeaways and closing remarks |
Learning objectives:
1. Identify core design and operating considerations health systems should evaluate when assessing centralised pharmacy services as a resilience and growth strategy.
2. Explain how health system–industry partnerships can support the design, funding and evolution of centralised pharmacy service centres beyond traditional wholesaler relationships.
3. Describe practical lessons from a US health system case study that leaders can adapt when planning or scaling centralised pharmacy operations.
Take home messages:
Centralised pharmacy services offer health systems a practical path to improve resilience, scale operations, and steward limited resources. When led by health systems and supported through purposeful industry partnerships, these models can be adapted across settings to support sustainable growth and patient access.
