Background: This study analyzed the impact of a pharmacist-managed diabetes clinic on clinical outcomes compared to usual care received from primary care providers (PCPs). This comparison may more definitively demonstrate the value of pharmacist management of chronic disease states.
Methods: Retrospective observational cohort study conducted in patients referred to a pharmacist-managed pharmacotherapy (PT) clinic from July 2009 to October 2014.
Purpose: The implementation of a prescription benefit program for low-income patients emphasizing clinical pharmacist services and strict formulary control is described, with a review of program expenditures and cost avoidance.
Summary: In 2006, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) launched a program to provide a limited prescription benefit to indigent patients under the IowaCare Medicaid demonstration waiver. Sudden dramatic growth in IowaCare enrollment, combined with sharp budget cuts, forced UIHC pharmacy leaders to implement creative cost-control strategies: (1) the establishment of an ambulatory care clinic staffed by a clinical pharmacy specialist, (2) increased reliance on an almost exclusively generic formulary, (3) collaboration with social services staff to help secure medication assistance for patients requiring brand-name drugs, (4) optimized purchasing through the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program, and (5) the imposition of medication copayments and mailing fees for prescription refills.
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