Flip the Pharmacy's impact on comprehensive medication management performance

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Health Services Research
• Medication Management

Background:

• Community pharmacies are forming clinically integrated networks to partner with healthcare payers.
• The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network (PPCN) initiated a comprehensive medication management (CMM) program with a Medicaid managed care organization.
• Some PPCN pharmacies participated in the national practice transformation initiative, Flip the Pharmacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if Flip the Pharmacy participation was associated with increased CMM encounter rates in a statewide network.
• To compare CMM encounter rates between participating and non-participating pharmacies.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective quantitative study design was employed.
• Data on CMM encounters and eligible members were extracted from monthly reports.
• Generalized estimating equations were used to analyze the association between Flip the Pharmacy participation and CMM encounter rates.

Main Results:

• Pharmacies participating in Flip the Pharmacy recorded 1.67 times the overall rate of CMM encounters compared to non-participating pharmacies.
• Flip the Pharmacy participants showed a 2.06 times higher rate of follow-up CMM encounters.
• Controlling for pharmacy site type and hours, Flip the Pharmacy participation remained associated with higher encounter rates.

Conclusions:

• Participation in Flip the Pharmacy was linked to greater engagement and completion of CMM encounters within a payer program.
• Practice transformation initiatives are crucial for the sustainability of community pharmacy services.
• This study highlights the positive impact of national programs on community pharmacy's role in patient care payment models.