Community pharmacists' perceptions of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of a value-based care model for...

BACKGROUND: HealthPartners is an integrated health plan offering comprehensive medication management (CMM) under a value-based care model called Partners in Excellence (PIE). In PIE, participating organizations are incentivized to conduct CMM visits and are eligible for bonus payments if they achieve quality and engagement metrics. Engagement in PIE from community pharmacies has been lacking. Implementation science, specifically the assessment of implementation outcomes, provides key insights into the uptake of patient care services, such as CMM, into practice. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the PIE program from the perspective of community pharmacists and pharmacy managers. METHODS: Semi-structured, one-on-one qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of 14 pharmacists and pharmacy managers participating in the PIE program. Interviews were coded inductively, and then codes were mapped to the implementation outcomes of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility. RESULTS: Twelve codes emerged from the interviews. Four codes (targeted conditions of PIE, achieving PIE metrics, comprehensiveness of PIE, and confusion and barriers) were mapped to acceptability; 3 codes (CMM documentation and billing, fitting CMM into limited time with patients, and community pharmacy's role in patient care) were mapped to appropriateness; and 1 code (collecting clinical patient information) was mapped to feasibility. Four codes (CMM payment model, targeting patients for CMM, personnel for CMM, and patient/provider buy-in of CMM) were considered a combination of more than 1 outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Although the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the PIE program was generally positive, participants cited a number of implementation challenges related to documentation and billing and producing a sustainable CMM model. The results shed light on how a value-based care model for CMM is perceived within community pharmacies and could inform the development and implementation of similar quality-based CMM programs. DISCLOSURES: This study was funded by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation and the UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation. Pestka is affiliated with the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and reports grants from NACDS Foundation and UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation for the conduct of the study; she has also received grants from UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation and NACDS Foundation outside the submitted work. Stoa and Sorensen are also affiliated with the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. Blanchard is employed at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This work was presented as a virtual poster at the 2020 American College of Clinical Pharmacy Annual Meeting, October 19-30, 2020.