Hospital Compounding: More Than a Pharmacy Issue

Hospitals may procure finished pharmaceutical products from drug manufacturers and wholesalers. For a wide variety of patient care settings, however, clinicians may need to alter the standard dosage, dosage form, route of administration, or other features of a manufactured drug therapy. These changes to drug products, which involve interacting with the finished drug substance in a way that changes its final form prior to administration, typically implicate diverse state, federal, and accreditation body regulations on pharmaceutical compounding. Most health care providers are familiar with pharmaceutical compounding mainly through their interactions with pharmacies and outsourcing facilities. Because providers operate some distance from the activity of compounding and its associated regulatory burdens, they view compounding regulations primarily through the lens of business-to-business transactions. Because of their unique position as primary sites of care and medical administration, hospitals are more directly impacted by compounding regulations.