CPF FUNDED GRANT DETAILS

The first objective of this project is to demonstrate the impact a pharmacist can make on the attainment of therapeutic goals collaboratively set by and collectively undertaken within a Patient Centered Medical Home -PCMH-, comprised of a physician who has alerady expressed interest, a PGPA pharmacist, the patient, and other health care professionals. In striving to accomplish this, the pharmacist will contribute to the integrated team her expertise in providing comprehensive medication management services including individual consultations and patient education. Although the role of a pharmacist in the PCMH has been demonstrated in academic settings, community pharmacists are still exploring how to expand their scope of practice to include participation on multidisciplinary teams that fully employ their knowledge and skills towards the improvement of quality of care and patient outcomes. Therefore a second objective of this project is to, over the course of one year, compile evidence that demonstrates: 1- to physicians the viability and value of incorporating a pharmacist into a PCMH practice, and 2- to the broader healthcare delivery system billing and business models which can, in a second phase, be expanded across a network of independent pharmacies in order to meet the needs of patients within a larger geographic region. The limited number of insurances within Michigan currently reimbursing for PCMH models will necessitate the participation of a patient population diverse with respect to disease states and therapeutic targets. The pharmacists influence will thus be evaluated not only by measuring a cohorts progress towards healthy benchmarks but also by tracking: 1- the identification and resolution of medication related problems in an efficient fashion, 2- the adoption of healthy medication-use behaviors by patients, and 3- the physician and patient satisfaction with the program. The design and impact of this program will be submitted for inclusion in peer review journals and presented at conferences with the intent of later implementing the model on a larger scale and thereby supporting the evolution of pharmacy practice.