Objective: To demonstrate the utility of a community pharmacy-centric workflow for improving access to medications for high-risk, rural persons living with HIV (PLWH) in partnership with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).
Setting: University-sponsored independent community pharmacy and rural FQHC providing care to PLWH.
Practice Description: Patient-centered Pharmacy Program is a service designed to improve access to HIV medications for PLWH in rural Idaho. The service is delivered in partnership with a 340B-covered entity (FQHC).
Practice innovation: The workflow for the service in the community pharmacy is described in detail, including time assessments and descriptions of tools and forms developed for rollout.
Evaluation: Quality improvement initiatives over three years are described.
Results: This service ensures medication access for rural PLWH and is sustainable for the community pharmacy. Expansion of services is feasible for the future.
Conclusion: This partnership may be one that could be implemented at other rural, independent community pharmacies seeking to have outreach to rural patients with chronic medication needs.
Article Type: Clinical Experience
Evidence-based interventions have been shown to improve the quality of patient care, reduce costs, and improve overall health outcomes; however, adopting new published research and knowledge into practice has historically been slow, and requires an active, systematic approach to engage clinicians and healthcare administrators in the required change. Pharmacists have been identified as important agents of change and can enhance care delivery in primary care settings through evidence-based interventions. Utilizing the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) we identify, assess, and share barriers and facilitators to program development, as well as growth and expansion efforts across five discrete, university-subsidized, embedded-pharmacy practices in primary care. We identified two overarching modifiable factors that influence current and future practice delivery and highlight the role of academia as an incubator for practice change and implementation: Data collection and information sharing. Conceptual frameworks such as CFIR help establish a common vernacular that can be used to facilitate systematic practice site implementation and dissemination of information required to support practice transformation.
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