Reducing Errors in the Healthcare Industry

Unless you work in the medical field, you’ve most likely never heard of McKesson. You may have seen a box of tissues bearing its logo at your doctor’s office or signed your credit card receipt with one of tits pens, but have you ever wondered what it is or what it does? Today, McKesson is involved in healthcare distribution and healthcare information systems and is one of the largest healthcare providers in the U.S. It was ranked at number 15 on the Fortune 500 in 2011 with revenue in excess of $108 billion.

Founded in 1833 as a company that imported botanical drugs and sold them wholesale, McKesson has grown into a medical powerhouse, distributing more than 30 percent of the pharmaceuticals used in the U.S. each day and supplying healthcare information technology systems to more than 70 percent of the country’s larger hospitals. It has pioneered technologies that make patient tracking and treatment safer for the patient and easier for healthcare providers, thus improving the quality of healthcare throughout the U.S.

Although the company did face a scandal in 1938, which lead to the Securities and Exchange Commission to enact more stringent laws regarding public companies using independent auditing companies to verify their financial information, it came back stronger and has gone on to become one of the oldest continually operating companies in the country.

In a medical community that is continually overworked and understaffed, life threatening mistakes occur when medical personnel are rushed and key pieces of information are overlooked or there is failure to properly identify a patient. McKesson is continually working to reduce the possibility of errors with better information tracking systems and barcode scanning programs that ensure that the patient receives the correct treatment all the time. These types of systems are critical to the continued success of the healthcare industry in the U.S.