Expansion and Evaluation of Pharmacist Services in Primary Care

• Main Authors: Katherine J. Hartkopf, Kristina M. Heimerl, Kayla M. McGowan, Brian G. Arndt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Pharmacy
• Subjects: pharmacist; primary care; collaborative practice agreement; patient care extender; comprehensive medication management; quality improvement
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/8/3/124

Challenges with primary care access and overextended providers present opportunities for pharmacists as patient care extenders for chronic disease management. The primary objective was to align primary care pharmacist services with organizational priorities and improve patient clinical outcomes. The secondary objective was to develop a technological strategy for service evaluation. An interdisciplinary workgroup developed primary care pharmacist services focused on improving performance measures and supporting the care team in alignment with ongoing population health initiatives. Pharmacist collaborative practice agreements (CPAs) were developed and implemented. An electronic dashboard was developed to capture service outcome measures. Blood pressure control to <140/90 mmHg was achieved in 74.15% of patients who engaged with primary care pharmacists versus 41.53% of eligible patients electing to follow usual care pathways. Appropriate statin use was higher in patients engaged with primary care pharmacists than in eligible patients electing to follow usual care pathways both for diabetes and ischemic vascular disease (12.4% and 2.2% higher, respectively). Seventeen of 54 possible process and outcome measures were identified and incorporated into an electronic dashboard. Primary care pharmacist services improve hypertension control and statin use. Service outcomes can be measured with discrete data from the electronic health record (EHR), and should align with organizational priorities.