Pharmacist assessments and care to improve adult vaccination rates: A report from project IMPACT vaccine confidence.

Background: Neglect of vaccination needs among adults results in a needless burden of hospitalization, suffering, and death. America's community pharmacists deliver a substantial portion of adult vaccinations, yet many Americans still have unmet vaccination needs.

Objectives: This study evaluated rates of vaccine contraindications, acceptance, and willingness to be vaccinated among ambulatory adults.

Effect of an Innovative Immunization Practice Model to Improve Population Health: Results of the Project IMPACT Immunizations Scaled Demonstration.

U.S. adult vaccination rates remain low.

Solutions for Atrial Fibrillation Edvocacy (SAFE): Improving Awareness And Access To Afib Screening For Detection And Referral For Treatment.

Atrial Fibrillation (Afib) can lead to stroke and heart failure, and early detection of Afib is an effective method of preventing these life-threatening conditions. An estimated 2.7 million Americans are living with Afib, a number that is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years.

Evaluating the Impact of Year-Long, Augmented Diabetes Self-Management Support.

This was a randomized controlled study to test a scalable intervention model addressing the need for ongoing diabetes support. The study included individuals receiving care in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with HbA1c >8. The aim of this project was to determine whether augmenting diabetes self-management education (DSME) with support for an economically vulnerable population might better meet patient needs and reduce morbidity and premature mortality.

Evaluation of the Impact of an Innovative Immunization Practice Model Designed to Improve Population Health: Results of the Project IMPACT Immunizations Pilot.

The goal of the initiative was to evaluate the impact of an innovative practice model on identification of unmet vaccination needs and vaccination rates. This was accomplished through a prospective, multisite, observational study in 8 community pharmacy practices with adults receiving an influenza vaccine with a documented vaccination forecast review from October 22, 2015 through March 22, 2016. When patients presented for influenza vaccinations, pharmacists utilized immunization information systems (IIS) data at the point of care to identify unmet vaccination needs, educate patients, and improve vaccination rates.

Patient credentialing as a population health management strategy: a diabetes case study.

When given the opportunity to become actively involved in the decision-making process, patients can positively impact their health outcomes. Understanding how to empower patients to become informed consumers of health care services is an important strategy for addressing disparities and variability in care. Patient credentialing identifies people who have a certain diagnosis and have achieved certain levels of competency in understanding and managing their disease.

Integrating pharmacists into diverse diabetes care teams: implementation tactics from Project IMPACT: Diabetes.

Objective: To describe local implementation tactics used by the 25 Project

Impact: Diabetes communities and partnering organizations to help patients who are disproportionately affected by diabetes.

Setting: Care was delivered in 25 communities within 17 states at federally qualified health centers, community pharmacies, free clinics, employer work sites, medical clinics, physician offices, and other settings.

Practice Description: In addition to pharmacists, practices included physicians, nurse practitioners, dietitians, physician assistants, social workers, behavioral therapists, and other types of health professionals.

Improving outcomes for diverse populations disproportionately affected by diabetes: final results of Project IMPACT: Diabetes.

Objective: To improve key indicators of diabetes care by expanding a proven community-based model of care throughout high-risk areas in the United States.

Design: Observational, multisite, pre-post comparison study.

Setting: Federally qualified health centers, free clinics, employer worksites, community pharmacies, departments of health, physician offices, and other care facilities in 25 communities in 17 states from June 2011 through January 2013.

Clinical and economic outcomes of a pilot project examining pharmacist-focused collaborative care treatment for depression.

Objective: To assess the clinical and economic impact of a pharmacist-focused health management program for patients with depression.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, proof-of-concept investigation.

Setting: Asheville, NC, from July 2006 through December 2007.

Diabetes Ten City Challenge: final economic and clinical results.

Objective: To assess the economic and clinical outcomes for the Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC), a multisite community pharmacy health management program for patients with diabetes.

Design: Quasiexperimental observational analysis, pre-post comparison.

Setting: Employers at 10 distinct geographic sites contracting with pharmacy providers in the community setting.

The Diabetes Ten City Challenge: interim clinical and humanistic outcomes of a multisite community pharmacy diabetes care program.

Objective: To assess clinical and humanistic outcomes 1 year after initiating the Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC), a multisite community pharmacy health management program for patients with diabetes.

Design: Interim observational analysis of deidentified aggregate data from participating employer clients.

Setting: 29 employers at 10 distinct geographic sites contracting for patient care services with pharmacy providers in the community setting.

Definition of medication therapy management: development of professionwide consensus.

Objective: To describe events leading to development of a professionwide consensus definition of medication therapy management (MTM) and attendant programs and services and present the document (definition, services, and program requirements) resulting from the process.

Data Sources: Author's own knowledge and records of events.

Summary: Following the late 2003 passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, the pharmacy profession had a need to act quickly to define MTM so that a consensus definition would be available as regulations implementing the Medicare Part D benefit were being written.

Patient self-management program for diabetes: first-year clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes.

Objective: To assess the outcomes for the first year following the initiation of a multisite community pharmacy care services (PCS) program for patients with diabetes.

Design: Quasi-experimental, pre-post cohort study.

Setting: 80 community pharmacy providers with diabetes certificate program training who were reimbursed for PCS by employers in Greensboro, N.

Regional osteoporosis screening, referral, and monitoring program in community pharmacies: findings from Project ImPACT: Osteoporosis.

Objective: (1) To identify patients at risk for osteoporosis through community pharmacy-based bone mineral density (BMD) screening, to refer at-risk patients to primary care and/or specialty practice physicians, and to follow-up with at-risk patients; (2) to treat and manage osteopenic and osteoporotic patients referred to the pharmacy for medication therapy management services; and (3) to test a payment methodology for pharmacists who deliver community health management services to a population at risk for or diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Design: Single-cohort observational study.

Setting: Ukrop's Super Markets, Inc.

Pharmaceutical care services and results in project ImPACT: hyperlipidemia.

Objective: To demonstrate that pharmacists, working collaboratively with patients and physicians and having immediate access to objective point-of-care patient data, promote patient persistence and compliance with prescribed dyslipidemic therapy that enables patients to achieve their National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) goals.

Design: Observational study.

Participants: 26 community-based ambulatory care pharmacies: independent, chain-professional, chain-grocery store, home health/home infusion, clinic, health maintenance organization/managed care.

Health care trends, Part 2. The new health care team. Panel discussion.

In Part 2 of this third annual panel discussion, six experts talk about the growing diversity of health care providers and what it means for consumers and physicians. Americans are getting their wellness and health care services from a wider variety of non-physician practitioners than ever before. The number of allied health and alternative providers with direct patient access is likely to continue growing.

Designing solutions for securing patient privacy--meeting the demands of health care in the 21st century.

Objectives: To define the issues surrounding patient privacy, examine the political context in which debate is taking place, and present a novel technology model for addressing privacy, confidentiality, and security in 21st century health care.

Summary: The discussion of privacy addresses one of the basic issues in health care today--the tension between the needs of the individual patient for privacy and confidentiality and the needs of society to effectively manage health care practices and control health care costs. Patient concerns for privacy, confidentiality, and security are legitimate, and can usually be reduced to issues that potentially affect an individual's employment, ability to get and maintain health coverage, and have control over his or her records and care.

Use of hand-held computers to record and analyze intervention data.

Using the Wizard to document clinical activities has been well received by the clinical staff. What had previously been a dreaded task has become an ongoing part of daily activities. The revised Clinical Activity Log also provided the staff pharmacists with an easier method of documenting their clinical activities.

An analysis tool to investigate theft or tampering of controlled substances.

The authors describe a quantitative analysis method to investigate narcotic theft or tampering on a nursing unit. It provides procedure to follow after any suspected tampering or outright theft of controlled substances. Several methods to review all current controlled substance activity for a given nursing unit and their possible relations to the loss are described.

Design and implementation of an electronic investigational drug accountability system.

A software system designed to maintain protocol-specific investigational drug accountability records is described. The University of Texas M. D.

QARx: the quality assurance prescription.

The QARx program provides the necessary tools for organizing and effectively implementing a quality assurance program for a pharmacy department that truly offers the ever-elusive potential for creating an environment that promotes on-going quality improvement for the department. Eventually there will be a plethora of criteria sets available so that a pharmacist will be able to just choose the pertinent indicators from the shelf (if you choose not to create your own). There is an option to import criteria sets from the utilities menu, and the availability of pertinent sets should provide an attractive option for actually selecting certain readily available sets of indicators, monitors, and outcomes to be automatically imported into your existing quality assurance plan.