The Mississippi Delta Health Collaborative Medication Therapy Management Model: Public Health and Pharmacy Working Together to Improve Population Health in the Mississippi Delta.

Introduction: The Mississippi Delta has high rates of chronic disease and is known for its poor health outcomes and health disparities. The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) and the Mississippi State Department of Health partnered in 2009 through the Mississippi Delta Health Collaborative to reduce health disparities and improve clinical outcomes by expanding the UMSOP's evidence-based medication therapy management (MTM) initiative, focused in Mississippi's 18-county Delta region, to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in 4 of those counties.

Methods: Between January 2009 and August 2018, the MTM initiative targeted FQHC patients aged 18 years or older with a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension, and/or dyslipidemia.

Pharmacist linkage in care transitions: From academic medical center to community.

Objectives: To improve the care of patients discharged from the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) after treatment for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; reduce preventable hospital readmissions; and inform future care transition collaborations between hospital teams and community pharmacies.

Setting: Study was conducted at UMMC, UMMC outpatient pharmacies, and targeted community pharmacies.

Practice Description: UMMC is the state's only academic health science center, providing all levels of care.

The Impact of Clinical Pharmacist Integration on a Collaborative Interdisciplinary Diabetes Management Team.

Objective: The national initiative, Project IMProving America's Communities Together (IMPACT): Diabetes, was intended to scale a proven American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation process model, which integrates pharmacists on the collaborative health-care team, in communities greatly affected by diabetes to improve key indicators of diabetes. This article discusses the results from 1 community in Mississippi.

Methods: This national prospective study followed patients with a hemoglobin A (HbA) >7% from September 2011 to January 2013.

Impact of a residency interest group on students applying for residency.

Objective: To determine the impact of a faculty-directed, residency interest group on the knowledge, confidence, and preparedness about residency-related topics of third-year (P3) and fourth-year (P4) pharmacy students.

Design: Faculty members implemented residency interest group sessions on residency and career preparation for P3 and P4 students. Group meetings consisted of four 2- to 3-hour sessions that covered topics such as residency timeline and resources, letter of intent and CV development, proper interview techniques, and navigating the midyear clinical meeting.

A multipreceptor approach to ambulatory care topic discussions.

Objective: To assess the impact of a multipreceptor approach to facilitating topic discussions on students' knowledge and confidence in clinical decision-making during an ambulatory care advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs).

Design: Faculty members with relevant expertise and experience facilitated discussions with fourth-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students regarding 7 ambulatory care topics. A student self-assessment survey and knowledge-assessment instrument was administered before and after discussions.

Patient-centered health care using pharmacist-delivered medication therapy management in rural Mississippi.

Objective: To describe and provide preliminary clinical and economic outcomes from a pharmacist-delivered patient-centered health care (PCHC) model implemented in the Mississippi Delta.

Setting: Mississippi between July 2008 and June 2010.

Practice Description: 13 community pharmacies in nine Mississippi Delta counties.