Medicare part D community outreach train-the-trainer program for pharmacy faculty

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Public Health Initiatives
• Geriatric Care

Background:

• Medicare Part D is a complex prescription drug benefit program.
• Pharmacy students can play a vital role in assisting beneficiaries with plan selection.
• The Partners in D initiative aimed to equip pharmacy students with the necessary skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the train-the-trainer component of the Partners in D program.
• To assess the impact on faculty knowledge, skills, and confidence in training pharmacy students.
• To determine the adoption and implementation of the curriculum in pharmacy schools.

Main Methods:

• Faculty from six California pharmacy schools received training on Medicare Part D and outreach strategies.
• Pre- and post-intervention surveys measured knowledge, skill with the Medicare Plan Finder tool, and training confidence.
• Curriculum implementation and subsequent outreach event data were collected.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in faculty knowledge of Medicare Part D and skill with the Plan Finder tool.
• Faculty confidence in training pharmacy students increased significantly.
• Five of six participating pharmacy schools adopted the Partners in D curriculum, leading to 21 outreach events serving 186 Medicare beneficiaries.

Conclusions:

• The Partners in D train-the-trainer program is a practical and effective model.
• The program successfully enhanced faculty capacity to train pharmacy students on Medicare Part D.
• This initiative demonstrates potential as a national model for Medicare Part D patient education.