CPF FUNDED GRANT DETAILS

Poor adherence to drug therapy is a well recognized problem contributing to worsened health outcomes including morbidity and mortality, increased healthcare utilization, and substantial increases in healthcare expenditures. Poor medication adherence results from multiple barriers including drug cost, side effects, and a patients lack of understanding of their disease and the complexity medication regimens. Community pharmacists are in an ideal position to resolve many of the identified barriers to adherence due to their insight into medication regimens and frequent patient contact. The goal of this project is to create a reproducible model that pairs student pharmacists with community pharmacist mentors to improve medication adherence through personalized telephone calls utilizing medication and disease state counseling, medication regimen management, and motivational interviewing. In addition to the benefit of improved adherence for patients, other potential values could include developing enhanced rapport, increased patient loyalty, and decreased overall healthcare expenditures through pharmacist interventions. Through enhanced pharmacist-patient relationships, further pharmacy programs could develop taking advantage of increased pharmacy visits.