Implementing a Letter Template to Expedite Specialty Medication Appeal Letter Submission.

Background: Prior authorizations (PAs) for biologic medications, used to treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), are often denied by Pharmacy Benefits Managers and can require a complex appeal process for patients to gain access to medication.

Objective: This quality improvement project evaluated the impact of implementing a standardized appeal letter template and customizable clinical rationale letter content on specialty pharmacist workflow and workload in an integrated Hospital Health System Specialty Pharmacy (HSSP) IBD clinic.

Practice Description: This initiative was conducted in an IBD outpatient clinic at a tertiary academic medical center with an integrated HSSP whose specialty pharmacists work collaboratively with providers to manage specialty medications.

Development and implementation of a laboratory monitoring dashboard to reduce treatment gaps in inflammatory bowel disease.

Purpose: Patients receiving biologic therapy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require routine laboratory monitoring to ensure the safety and efficacy of therapy. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the implementation of a dashboard to prevent treatment gaps by prospectively identifying patients with IBD and outdated laboratory results receiving biologics.

Methods: We performed a pre/post analysis of dashboard implementation to assess the number of patients with overdue laboratory work resulting in treatment gaps.

Health-system specialty pharmacy role and outcomes: A review of current literature.

Purpose: Specialty medications can have life-altering outcomes for patients with complex diseases. However, their benefit relies on appropriate treatment selection, patients' ability to afford and initiate treatment, and ongoing treatment optimization based on patient response to therapy. Mounting research demonstrates the benefits of the health-system specialty pharmacies (HSSPs) in improving specialty medication access, affordability, and outcomes.

A cross-sectional analysis of persistence to disease-modifying therapies in treatment naïve and experienced patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis at a health-system specialty pharmacy.

Background: Patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) are maintained on disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to prevent disease progression. Reported persistence rates to DMTs are varied and concerningly low. Limited data exists on long-term persistence rates and reasons for DMT discontinuation in patients with RMS.