Clinical and Economic Benefits of Pharmacist Involvement in a Community Hospital-Affiliated Patient-Centered Medical Home

BACKGROUND: The primary goals of an accountable care organization (ACO) are to reduce health care spending and increase quality of care. Within an ACO, pharmacists have a unique opportunity to help carry out these goals within patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). Pharmacy presence is increasing in these integrated care models, but the pharmacist’s role and benefit is still being defined. OBJECTIVE: To exhibit the clinical and economic benefit of pharmacist involvement in ACOs and PCMHs as documented by clinical interventions (CIs) and drug cost reductions. METHODS: This is a retrospective quality improvement study. All interventions made by the pharmacist during the study period were documented using TAV Health. The interventions were then analyzed. Specific identified endpoints included the total number of documented interventions and number of CIs from each category, transition of care (TOC) medication reconciliations performed, discrepancies identified during TOC medication reconciliation, and cost savings generated from generic and therapeutic alternative use. CI categories were collaborative drug therapy management, medication therapy management (MTM), medication reconciliation, patient and provider education, and drug cost management. RESULTS: During the study period (October 2016-March 2017), a pharmacist was in clinic 8 hours per week. Sixty-three patients were included in the study. There were 283 CIs documented, with a majority of the interventions associated with MTM or cost management (94 and 88 CIs, respectively). There were 37 education CIs, 36 TOC medication reconciliations performed, and 28 collaborative drug therapy management CIs. From the 36 TOC medication reconciliations, 240 medication discrepancies were found, with a majority associated with medication omission. A cost savings of $118,409 was gained from generic and therapeutic alternative substitutions. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical benefit of pharmacy services was demonstrated through documented CIs. Pharmacists can have a dramatic and quantitative effect on reducing drug costs by recommending less expensive generic or therapeutic alternatives. Documenting CIs allows pharmacists to provide valuable evidence of avoided drug misadventures and identification of medication discrepancies. Such evidence supports an elevated quality of care.