Community pharmacists' beliefs regarding improvement of Star Ratings scores using the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Objectives: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving toward a value-based model, which includes the Five-Star Quality Rating System (Star Ratings). Prescription Drug Plans include multiple pharmacy measures associated with adherence and patient safety that contribute to CMS Star Ratings scores. This study, using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), explored factors associated with community pharmacists' beliefs to improve Star Ratings scores.

Design: Exploratory, qualitative, use of focus groups, and the TPB.

Setting And Participants: Focus groups were performed in conference rooms at the College of Pharmacy main and satellite campuses. Participants were community retail pharmacists with an active Oklahoma license and 1 year of work experience.

Main Outcome Measures: Each focus group was audio recorded and the recording transcribed to documents and analyzed with the use of a hybrid deductive and inductive qualitative approach rooted in a constant comparative framework. Coding of the data back to the TPB constitutes a deductive approach. The generation of themes and subthemes from other coded nodes constitutes an inductive approach. Analysts agreed on common themes, differences in findings, and saturation of the data gathered.

Results: Four focus groups were conducted with 26 participants in 2 categories: pharmacists with and without experience improving Star Ratings. Pharmacists shared and contrasted in salient, normative, and control beliefs about patient outcomes, data, financial implications, staff, technology, and other stakeholders associated with performance of improving Star Ratings. Themes regarding medication adherence, patient safety, and intention were also found.

Conclusion: The TPB was used to explore beliefs of community pharmacists about improving Star Ratings scores. Themes that were identified will assist in future research for measuring intention to improve CMS Star Ratings scores and the development of training and education programs.