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 Printer-friendly May 2008 Inside HRSA (PDF - 2MB) |
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Patient Safety & Pharmacy Collaborative Gains Momentum -
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National safety-net organizations were urged to get involved with HRSA’s Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative at an April 30 meeting in Crystal City, Va., sponsored by the Center for Quality and Office of Pharmacy Affairs. The meeting had two main purposes: to provide an update on progress in the Collaborative (see sidebar) and to encourage national organizations to work together and make solid commitments for participating in the Collaborative. A similar meeting aimed at getting state organizations on board was held the following day. “We’ve watched with much interest and enthusiasm as this program has evolved,” Steve Smith, senior advisor to HRSA Administrator Betty Duke, told the audience. “More and more organizations are getting interested, involved and energized to join this effort.” Participants at the meeting — who included leaders of key national associations and organizations, HRSA grantees and other safety net providers — learned how they can advance the three goals of the Collaborative:
The Collaborative is modeled after HRSA’s ongoing chronic disease and organ donation collaboratives and responds to a number of health concerns:
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Integrating clinical pharmacy services into health care delivery is key to improving patient safety, according to a 1999 Institute of Medicine study, To Err is Human. Medication errors injure 1.5 million people every year, and for every dollar spent on ambulatory medications, another dollar is spent to treat new health problems caused by those medications (see Inside HRSA story, November Meeting Highlights New Patient Safety and Pharmacy Collaborative).
Smith gave organizations a specific charge to form Collaborative partnerships with other organizations over the next few months. “It’s time we integrate our work and resources to more effectively help caregivers improve the quality of care,” he said.
The morning session was highlighted by a panel of “high-performing” HRSA grantees who shared how they dramatically improved health outcomes by using the collaborative model and focusing on patient safety and pharmacy services.
Kyle Peters, a pharmacist with the Siouxland Community Health Center in Sioux City, Iowa, described how integrating clinical pharmacy services helped improve the outcomes of care for diabetes patients.
“We educate health care providers, make medications more affordable to patients, and manage the patient’s disease state,” Peters told the group. “If you think prescriptions are difficult to understand, I agree with you,” he added. “That’s why we need pharmacists on board.”
Another HRSA health center representative – Victor Montour, director of Clinica Campesina Family Health Services in Denver – talked about how improved office efficiency helped dramatically boost immunization rates. He also attributed a drop in the percentage of diabetes patients whose blood sugar was out of control to improving patient self-management through small support groups and other group activities.
A third panelist, pharmacist Stephanie Kiser from Mission Hospitals in Asheville, N.C., described how integrating care delivery and moving to patient-centered care resulted in substantial reductions in medical claims and patient costs.
The afternoon session featured a second panel of national organization leaders and HRSA senior staff. Panelists included Chris Hatwig of the 340B Prime Vendor Program/Apexus, Paul Moore of the National Rural Health Association, Kasey Thompson from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and HRSA Associate Administrators Jim Macrae (Primary Health Care) and Joyce Somsak (Healthcare Systems).
One by one, panelists offered their insights and perspectives. “You cannot overlook an initiative like this if you care about the patient,” Moore told the audience.
Macrae, who oversees HRSA’s health center network, noted that health centers serve almost one in 20 people across the country, and one in seven people living in poverty. “I hope the health centers will see patient safety and pharmacy services as a critical part of their program,” he said.
Somsak mentioned the importance of involving young people in the Collaborative, and Ryan Peterson, a 4th-year pharmacy student in the audience agreed, noting that they are “Internet-savvy and bring a different perspective that is important.”
“What can each of us do to align with, benefit from and support the PSPC?” was the question of the day. And as the meeting concluded, enthusiasm filled the room and solid commitments were made to support the goals of the Collaborative.
Chronology |
| 2007 |
Planning stage begins in early spring. April: First “Upward Spiral” meeting focuses on improving health care quality among HRSA grantees by using clinical core measures. November: Second “Upward Spiral” meeting launches the Collaborative. December thru April 2008: Visits to high-performing sites begin (34 site visits to 181 providers). Result: a draft “change package” of leading practices used by high-performing sites to achieve better health care outcomes. |
| 2008 |
Spring: Panel of 40 experts reviews the draft change package and suggests ways to make it more useful to teams. Faculty from the 34 sites visited will help teams learn practices outlined in the package. February: First meeting of the Leadership Coordinating Council. May: Third “Upward Spiral” meeting to encourage national organizations and states to get involved in Collaborative and enroll teams. Team progress will be tracked by measuring patient outcomes. May-June: Enroll teams. August 13-15: First of four Learning Sessions to quickly spread leading practices identified in the change package among teams, who will implement the practices in their organizations on a pilot basis (“Action Periods”). Teams will return for three additional Learning Sessions throughout 2008 and 2009. |
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