Collin E. Lee, PharmD, BCPS, FGSHP, Corporate Director, Clinical Pharmacy Services at Emory Healthcare
How did you hear about Atropos Health?
I was asked by our hospital system to represent pharmacy in trying out the Atropos Health tool to determine if it could supplement our formulary management and cost-savings initiatives.
What is your primary area of interest?
General formulary management and opportunities to improve cost/value for the system.
What question(s) did you ask Atropos Health?
11 questions submitted over two months
Specifically, one question asked: For patients undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), is there a difference between methylene blue and isosulfan blue in allergic reactions, allergic treatments or tissue necrosis in the peri-procedure window (2 days after procedure)
How did you utilize the insights provided by Atropos Health?
We used Atropos Health to explore formulary and protocol changes. I explored real world outcomes across several drugs looking at cost of care, performance metrics, drug effectiveness, and adverse events. The Atropos Health clinical team provided me with the real-world evidence (RWE) to answer specific questions, which were not robustly answered in published data, in just a few days, saving time. One case of particular interest we ran compared the effects and outcomes of methylene blue and isosulfan blue, which has the potential to save Emory a substantial amount of money. Isosulfan blue has been used for a longer time, however data finds methylene blue to be equivalent for identifying SLN as well as has lower allergic reaction rates. Rates of tissue necrosis were too low to make a comparison. Methylene blue is significantly less expensive (~$6/case vs. ~$500). I took advantage of the large national datasets in the Atropos Evidence™ Network which aided my analysis. I’m also using the RWE to help produce confidence in physicians to increase the rate of change management.
In your own words, please describe Atropos Health.
Atropos Health is a tool which allows providers to quickly ascertain “real-world” outcomes utilizing either internal data or a large national database. It provides beneficial benchmarking ability when it comes to analyzing medication utilization and clinical outcomes.