A framework to increase prescription capture from health-system clinics

To develop and implement an interprofessional framework to increase the capture of health system-generated prescriptions within health system-owned pharmacies.

Low prescription capture rates within a health system's internal pharmacies led to an interdisciplinary process improvement effort. A framework was developed to assess the baseline prescription capture rate, select clinics for improvement, understand clinic workflows and key drivers of pharmacy selection, design strategies to increase prescription capture, implement targeted efforts, and measure the effectiveness of the intervention(s). Employing this framework provided revised workflows for nursing and medical assistant staff scripting and for referral of patients to internal pharmacies. These workflows were pilot tested at 3 system clinics. Results indicated that overall prescription capture increased by 2.9 to 4.1 percentage points (range, 10 to 86 prescriptions per month) and specialty prescription capture increased by 11.6 to 26.7 percentage points (range, 4 to 26 prescriptions per month) for each clinic within the first 2 months. A total of 99 new patients were referred to internal pharmacies within the first month.

Development and implementation of a framework to increase prescription capture from health system clinics helped increase capture, enhanced clinic engagement and knowledge about pharmacy services, and supported positive clinic-pharmacy relationships.