Advanced Practice Pharmacists: a retrospective evaluation of the efficacy and cost of ClinicaL Pharmacist PractitionErs managing ambulatory Medicare patients in North Carolina (APPLE-NC).

Background: Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners are advanced practicing pharmacists in North Carolina that provide disease-specific management. The purpose of this retrospective cohort study was to compare the efficacy and charges from referrals to a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner by the primary care provider, to those managed by a primary care provider alone.

Methods: Patients were separated into cohorts depending if they had at least two appointments with a Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner from November 2008 to November 2011.