MERIDIAN, Idaho — St. Luke's recently opened a new 330,000 square foot Consolidated Services Center in Meridian aimed at improving healthcare access across Idaho by ensuring life-saving medications are both available and accessible when patients need them most.
The facility, which spans the size of six football fields, integrates both pharmacy and supply chain operations under one roof, making it one of only a few such centers nationwide.
Take a look inside St. Luke's massive new facility, solving Idaho's medication access challenges:
"Ensuring safety and quality in this very sterile environment," said Kelley Curtis, Chief Pharmacy Officer at St. Luke's, while giving a tour of the new center.
The new pharmacy space allows St. Luke's to package prescriptions in-house and deliver medications directly to patients' homes.
This direct-to-patient approach is designed to prevent hospital stays and make a significant difference in each patient's health journey.
"And we have a hazardous side as well. So to do chemotherapy, or hazardous drugs, we've also built this space out," Curtis added.
The massive warehouse includes secure storage areas dedicated to life-saving and high-risk medications, ensuring vital treatments remain readily available during critical moments.
"Shortages are a huge challenge, drug shortages, supply shortages– it's continuing to get worse and worse. And drugs are getting more expensive and need to be highly monitored as we continue to try and control costs," Curtis explained.
Nearly 10 years in the making, the facility offers ample space to stockpile essential supplies, helping to prevent delays in critical care.
"Having this facility allows us to do strategic buys, to buy in bulk, [and] to identify supplemental or alternative vendors that we can buy products from when our preferred vendor doesn't have what we need. And allowing it to keep a stockpile here means that we can address those shortages before they become problematic," said Adrian Wengert, vice president of supply chain and procurement for St. Luke's.
Staff from across the St. Luke's system are currently touring the site to familiarize themselves with the new resources now available to them.
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