Session Information
Session Type: ACR Poster Session A
Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM
Background/Purpose:
Successful multidisciplinary models exist for the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infectious diseases, kidney disease and psychiatric illnesses. A multidisciplinary team including a pharmacist in the ambulatory care setting has shown to improve patient and population outcomes for various chronic disease states. Rheumatology healthcare providers recognize the burden of rheumatic disease requires an integrated, multidisciplinary team including a pharmacist. Recent data suggests pharmacists can improve adherence and health outcomes in the management of gout. This type of pharmacist-led intervention can easily be extrapolated to other rheumatic diseases. The addition of a pharmacist to the healthcare team can have many benefits, including improving patient compliance and education, serving as a drug information resource, and obtaining insurance coverage. This includes establishing patient relationships, gathering medication histories, preventing, identifying and resolving medication related problems, educating patients and other healthcare providers, monitoring patients and medication effects, and contributing to continuity of care for all patients. Clinical pharmacy services at The Center for Rheumatology (TCFR) have expanded over the past 8 years.
Methods:
The aim of our project is to 1) provide billable pharmacy consult services which systematize practice-wide medication initiation and safety monitoring, 2) provide additional support to practice-wide procedures/protocols related to medication therapy and insurance authorizations, 3) provide evidence of improved patient and population outcomes when a pharmacist is part of the interdisciplinary team in a rheumatology practice, 4) serve as a business model of an innovative practice in pharmacy. Outcome measures include number of reimbursable visits, assessments of medication prior authorizations, denials and peer-to-peer calls, and provider, support staff and patient surveys.
Results:
The pharmacist provides face-to-face problem/medication focused visits which are reimbursed through incident-to billing. Visits are focused on initiation and safety monitoring for high-risk DMARD and osteoporosis therapies. The drug information consult services and insurance authorization assistance have been shown to save providers and support staff time, ranging from 1-3+ hours per week per provider. Providers report the addition of a pharmacist allows them to provide a higher level of care focused on medication therapy and safety, and helps improves patient compliance and anxiety related to medications.
Conclusion:
The addition of a pharmacist to the multidisciplinary team in a rheumatology practice can improve the quality of care delivered to patients, specifically related to medication safety and access by assisting in the prior authorization process and serving as patient advocates. The addition of clinical pharmacy services sets the practice apart from others by improving patient care and serving as an innovative business model for rheumatology practices to include a clinical pharmacist as part of their healthcare team.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Farrell J, Shapiro LS, Miller M. Clinical Pharmacist As Part of the Interprofessional Team Improves Quality of Care in Patients with Rheumatic Disease [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2017; 69 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-pharmacist-as-part-of-the-interprofessional-team-improves-quality-of-care-in-patients-with-rheumatic-disease/. Accessed .« Back to 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-pharmacist-as-part-of-the-interprofessional-team-improves-quality-of-care-in-patients-with-rheumatic-disease/