PQA Research Portfolio

Advancing Research in Medication Use Quality

PQA has a portfolio of completed research projects that showcase the wide variety of projects and initiatives resulting from interdisciplinary collaboration with member organizations and quality stakeholders.

Completed Research


The Patient Engagement in Quality Measurement Rubric (September 2019)

  • Description: The Patient Engagement in Quality Measurement Rubric is the first guide to help meaningfully include the patient community (e.g., patients, caregivers, patient advocates) as partners across the quality measure lifecycle. It can be applied in measure conceptualization, specification, testing, implementation, use, continuing evaluation and maintenance. It helps identify whether engagement is meaningful, progressing or low across four patient-centeredness principles: patient partnership, transparency, representativeness, and meaningfulness. It also provides recommended activities to improve patient engagement.
  • Partners: National Health Council, National Quality Forum and a national multi-stakeholder roundtable
  • Research Category: Inform Medication Quality Measure Development and Implementation
  • Publications: The Patient Engagement in Quality Measurement Rubric

 

Pharmacist-Provided Care Survey and Industry Task Force (March 2019)

  • Description: PQA conducted a survey and convened an industry task force to identify opportunities to advance pharmacist-provided care in our evolving healthcare delivery system, which is increasingly value-based. The result of the project is an action guide with recommendations for how pharmacies and payers can foster the adoption of pharmacist-provided care and help patients live healthier, longer lives.
  • Partners: Multi-stakeholder Roundtable
  • Research Category: Promote Best Practices in Medication Use Quality
  • Publications: Strategies to Expand Value-Based Pharmacist-Provided Care Action Guide (Download the report as a PDF)

Access to Care Roundtable (March 2019)

Report Cover
  • Description: Despite legislative changes enacted by the Affordable Care Act, barriers to medication access still exist in the US. One strategy to improve accessibility is through the use of quality measures for monitoring performance and incentivizing quality. The PQA Research Team has convened a multi-stakeholder roundtable to better define medication access, to describe associated barriers, and to identify priority gaps for future quality performance measurement targeting access to medications.
  • Partners: National Pharmaceutical Council, Multi-stakeholder Roundtable
  • Research Category: Inform Medication Quality Measure Development and Implementation
  • Publications: Access to Care: Development of a Medication Access Framework for Quality Measurement (Download the report's Appendix C)

Validation of an Insulin Adherence/Persistence Methodology

  • Description: Given the known complexity of measuring adherence/persistence to injectable treatments and the lack of a quality measure that assesses adherence/persistence to insulin, PQA convened a multi-stakeholder roundtable to identify potential methodologies that PQA further validated for consideration within a quality performance measure.
  • Partners: Multi-stakeholder Roundtable
  • Research Category: Inform Medication Quality Measure Development and Implementation

The Impact of PQA Adherence Measures on Health Outcomes

  • Description: PQA medication adherence measures for hypertension (Renin Angiotensin System (RAS) antagonists), cholesterol (statins), and diabetes medications (excluding insulin) are used to evaluate health plan performance in the Medicare Five-Star Quality Rating System. Limited evidence exists regarding the impact of medication adherence on economic outcomes. Researchers at PQA, the University of Arizona, and Merck & Co. investigated the relationship between PQA’s three adherence metrics on healthcare utilization and expenditures.
  • Partners: University of Arizona, Merck & Co.
  • Research Category: Demonstrate the Effectiveness of PQA’s Measures

Impact of the Appointment-based Model on Health Outcomes

  • Description: The ABM is a pharmacy operations model that utilizes medication synchronization and an appointment with the pharmacist for a medication review. ABMs reduce the number of trips to a pharmacy, improve medication adherence and patient satisfaction. PQA conducted a study to investigate the impact of the ABM of medication synchronization on medical outcomes (e.g., adherence, associated cost) of patients with targeted chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes).
  • Partners: Humana, Publix, and Winn-Dixie
  • Research Category: Promote Best Practices in Medication Use Quality

Improving Adult Immunization Rates & EQuIPP

  • Description: Adult vaccination coverage rates remain well below Healthy People 2020 targets. Improving vaccination rates requires successful information exchange and care coordination between the multiple critical players: the physician, the pharmacist, and the patient. This study investigated whether a pharmacist-led intervention could improve vaccination rates for pneumonia and influenza among individuals enrolled in Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans with Humana, Inc.
  • Partners: Rite Aid, Humana, Pharmacy Quality Solutions, CECity
  • Research Category: Promote Best Practices in Medication Use Quality

Immunization Services Model for Adult Rate Improvement

  • Description: This study investigated the impact of telephonic immunization prompts during regular automated outbound communiqués on vaccination rate improvement among adult patients across community pharmacies in the Northeastern US.
  • Partners: Scientific Technologies Corporation, Voiceport, Kinney Drugs, Price Chopper, Tops Market
  • Research Category: Promote Best Practices in Medication Use Quality
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