Primary Care Providers Believe That Comprehensive Medication Management Improves Their Work-Life.

PURPOSE: In primary care, clinical pharmacists often deliver a service called comprehensive medication management (CMM). While research has identified that CMM positively influences most aspects of the Quadruple Aim, it is unclear how CMM-both the service and the role of the pharmacist-may influence the primary care provider's (PCP) clinical work, professional satisfaction, and burnout (described here as PCP's work-life). We aimed to identify how PCPs perceive CMM impacts their work-life. METHODS: Sixteen PCPs were interviewed. Interview questions centered on how CMM affects their work-life. After interviews were transcribed, a codebook was developed by 2 researchers and from the codes, themes were identified. RESULTS: PCPs spoke of the pharmacist being an added skillset and resource and a collaborative partner in caring for patients. They also described 7 outcomes of having CMM available that contribute to their work-life. These outcomes were: decreased workload, satisfaction patients are receiving better care, reassurance, decreased mental exhaustion, enhanced professional learning, increased provider access, and achievement of quality measures. Lastly, the PCPs described barriers and areas of opportunity related to CMM. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest PCPs believe CMM, in general, positively affects their work-life. CMM's impact on PCPs aligns with many previously identified drivers of burnout and engagement among providers. These results shed light on how CMM may foster achievement of the Quadruple Aim.

Implementation Science to Advance Care Delivery: A Primer for Pharmacists and Other Health Professionals.

Health care is experiencing increasing pressure to implement evidence-based interventions that improve quality, control costs, and maximize value. Unfortunately, many clinical services and interventions to optimize medication use do not consistently produce the intended humanistic, clinical, and economic outcomes. The lack of conclusive results is believed to stem from the widely recognized research-to-practice gap. The field of implementation science seeks to discover and apply strategies designed to accelerate successful integration of interventions into routine practice. This primer provides an overview of implementation science principles for pharmacists and other health care providers interested in accelerating practice transformation to improve health care delivery and, ultimately, patient care.

Provision of annual wellness visits with comprehensive medication management by a clinical pharmacist practitioner.

PURPOSE: The effectiveness and financial benefit of pharmacist-led annual wellness visits (AWVs) in conjunction with comprehensive medication management (CMM) for older, high-risk patients were examined. METHODS: Eligible patients were 65 years of age or older with three or more chronic medical conditions, taking five or more long-term prescription or nonprescription medications and receiving primary care in a retirement community clinic. The intervention involved two components, an AWV and CMM. The AWV included all Medicare-required components. All participants saw a clinical pharmacist practitioner for an AWV with CMM and additional CMM visits at three and six months. Outcomes included completion of required AWV components, prevalence of medication-related problems (MRPs), classic return on investment, patient satisfaction, and change in rate of hospitalization. RESULTS: Of the 60 eligible patients contacted, 53 (88%) agreed to participate. Patients' mean ± S.D. age was 82.1 ± 5.5 years, and patients used a median of 12 medications (range, 5-27) at baseline. The pharmacist identified at least 1 MRP in 90.6% of patients at the AWV; all patients had at least 1 MRP identified over six months. A total of 278 MRPs were identified: suboptimal drug (32.7%), insufficient therapeutic monitoring (25.2%), undertreatment of chronic condition (16.9%), and suboptimal dose, frequency, or administration (15.8%). Revenue generated by the pharmacist exceeded costs by 38.1%. The rate of hospitalizations did not significantly change after the intervention. CONCLUSION: Pharmacists played a beneficial role in the provision of both AWVs and CMM, facilitating the completion of wellness visits and identifying and addressing MRPs in an older, high-risk population.