Hub-and-Spoke-Workflow

KitCheck is a robust product that can save you time and money. There are a few workflows that can integrate KitCheck with your hospital. Hospital systems that have a centralized restocking/distribution facility for their kits and trays use the Hub-and-Spoke workflow. 

The Hub-and-Spoke method features two main entities: 

• Hub - This is a central facility that is affiliated with a specific hospital system. The central hub specializes in tagging and restocking. The spoke locations send their kits and trays to the hub to be refilled.
• Spoke - The spoke is an individual hospital that rely on a hub to restock their kits and trays. 

The spoke hospitals send their kits and trays to the hub warehouse to be refilled and then the hub sends those kits back to each spoke for distribution around the hospital. 

Use Cases

The Hub-and-Spoke method can vary slightly based on three basic models to charge spoke hospitals for medications:

• Charge spoke sites for only consumed medications 
• Charge spoke sites for all medications, including expiring soon and recalled medications
• Do not charge spoke sites for any reason, account for all medication losses in the budget of the hub facility

Let's explore specific workflows for the first two requirements. The key difference in workflows between these two scenarios is at what point in the process and which location scanning takes places between the spokes and the hub. 

Charge Spoke Sites for Only Consumed Medications

In this scenario, you only want spoke sites to be charged for medications that are marked as Consumed. Medications are marked as consumed if they are missing from the intake RFID scan after being received from the hospital floor.

Let's say the hub is working with Spoke #1. In this case, the scanning workflow is as follows:

1. At the hub, the hub operator logs in to KitCheck under the hub's login. 
2. The kits/trays are RFID scanned at the hub, under the hub's login.
   Consumed Medications

   When the kit/tray is RFID scanned at the hub, all missing (presumed consumed) medication is noted, as per a regular scan. Because the kit/tray was barcode scanned recently at Spoke #1, item consumption is attributed to the most recent facility.
3. The kit/tray is refilled and RFID scanned again to ensure their contents are correct. 
4. The kit/tray is barcode scanned and the location is updated.
   1. Location changed to At Hub if they will wait in the hub for a period of time. 
   2. Location changed to In Transit if they are being sent directly to Spoke #1. 
5. Kits/trays are shipped to Spoke #1. 
6. Spoke #1 barcode scans the kits/trays to indicate they have received them. 
7. Spoke #1 updates the location to the spoke site's pharmacy. Once they know where the kit/tray is going, they barcode scan it again to update the kit's location. 
8. The spoke pharmacy redistributes the kits and trays around the hospital.
9. When the kits/trays are ready to be refilled, they are gathered and sent to the spoke pharmacy. 
10. Kits/trays are barcode scanned in the spoke pharmacy and the location is updated.
    1. Location change to At Pharmacy if they will wait in the spoke pharmacy for a period of time. 
    2. Location changed to In Transit if they are being sent directly to the hub. 
11. Kits are shipped back to the hub and the process repeats.

Charge Spoke Sites for Consumed Medications with Exceptions

In this scenario, you want spoke sites to be charged for all medications, including those that have been Consumed, Expired, Expiring Soon, or Recalled. In this use case, the hub will remove medications that are recalled or expiring soon and send them back to the spoke site for processing. 

Let's say the hub is working with Spoke #2. In this case, the scanning workflow is as follows:

1. At the hub, the hub operator logs in to KitCheck under the spoke hospital's login. 
2. The kits/trays are RFID scanned at the hub under the spoke hospital's login.
   Consumed Medications

   When the kit/tray is scanned at the hub, all missing (presumed consumed) medication is noted, as per a regular scan. When the hub scans the kit/tray from the spoke's login, all data for expired, expiring soon, and recalled medication is made available to the spoke for auditing. 
3. Expired and recalled medication is removed from the kit/tray and set aside for separate processing. 
4. The kit/tray is refilled and RFID scanned again under the spoke site's KitCheck profile to ensure their contents are correct. 
5. The kit/tray is barcode scanned under the hub's KitCheck profile and the location is updated. This should be done when all the kits/trays are processed. 
   1. Location changed to At Hub if they will wait in the hub for a period of time. 
   2. Location changed to In Transit if they are being sent directly to Spoke #2.
6. Kits/trays are returned to Spoke #2. 
7. Spoke #2 barcode scans the kits/trays to indicate they have received them. 
8. Spoke #2 updates the location to the spoke site's pharmacy. Once they know where the kit/tray is going, they barcode scan it again to update the kit's location. 
9. The spoke pharmacy redistributes the kits and trays around the hospital.
10. When the kits/trays are ready to be refilled, they are gathered and sent to the spoke pharmacy. 
11. Kits/trays are barcode scanned in the spoke pharmacy and the location is updated.
    1. Location change to At Pharmacy if they will wait in the spoke pharmacy for a period of time. 
    2. Location changed to In Transit if they are being sent directly to the hub. 
12. Kits are shipped back to the hub and the process repeats.