Filtered by author: Rachel Cormier Clear Filter

Predictors of Adherence to Oral Anticancer Medications: The Impact of Out-of-Pocket Costs

Biopharmaceutical innovation has led to an increase in the availability of oral medications to treat cancer. Oral anticancer medications (OAMs) are much more convenient for patients and avoid the inconvenience and administration costs of having to receive treatment at a doctor’s office or outpatient infusion center, allowing patients to self-administer oral medication at home One challenge with OAMs however is nonadherence.  Research has shown that almost half of patients on OAMs do not take their medications as prescribed.  

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Q&A with PQA Board Vice-Chair Michael Taday

PQA’s Board of Directors represents a diverse group of thought leaders and experts in healthcare, who understand how medication optimization improves patient outcomes and supports a value-based care system. Their expertise helps PQA advance the safe and appropriate use of medicines. This blog is one in a series profiling PQA's Board members.  

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Five For Friday, July 15: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

Each month PQA hosts a Quality Forum Webinar which focuses on best practices and emerging trends in medication use quality, medication services and other initiatives that can improve health care quality. 

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Summer Students Build Medication Use Quality Knowledge

PQA provides healthcare quality experience to students from a wide variety of disciplines. This summer, we are hosting three students through our PQA Summer Executive Internship sponsored by Pharmacy Quality Solutions and MPH practicum program.

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Adherence Solutions for Patients Living With or at Risk for HIV

This guest blog is one in a series by sponsors of the 2022 PQA Annual Meeting on the application of measures into daily practice. The views shared in this series are those of the author and do not reflect any PQA positions

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Five For Friday, July 1: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

At PQA, our research develops evidence to support meaningful quality measures, demonstrates the value of medications and pharmacist-provided care, and fosters collaboration within the healthcare system to address social determinants of health (SDOH) and improve medication access. 

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Quality Forum Review: Increasing Safe Medication Disposal

The PQA Quality Forum Webinar is a regular, recurring series on healthcare quality topics with a focus on medication use and medication services. It is a forum for educating and engaging with PQA members and quality-focused healthcare professionals.

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Q&A with PQA Board Secretary Vikki Ahern

PQA’s Board of Directors represents a diverse group of thought leaders and experts in healthcare, who understand how medication optimization improves patient outcomes and supports a value-based care system. Their expertise helps PQA advance the safe and appropriate use of medicines. This blog is one in a series profiling PQA's Board members. 

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Procurement and Use of Social Determinants of Health Among Healthcare Stakeholders

Healthcare providers increasingly recognize the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH). PQA is exploring the role of pharmacists and pharmacy services in addressing patients’ SDOH, including SDOH screenings and additional services that address barriers to medication access and increase medication adherence. Although there is a growing focus on SDOH in healthcare, there is little information on how organizations collect and use SDOH data to support patient care and outcomes.  

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Five For Friday, June 17: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

This past January, PQA published the first edition of the PQA Social Determinants of Health Resource Guide. The guide features 20 real-world SDOH services that are promising for improving the quality and safety of medication use.

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Q&A with Aeja Jackson, Postdoctoral Fellow in Real World Evidence, Population Health, and Quality Research

PQA, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Janssen Scientific Affairs have collaborated to jointly host a "Postdoctoral Fellowship in Real World Evidence, Population Health, and Quality Research." The two-year fellowship aims to prepare an individual for a career in healthcare quality-related outcomes research. 

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Five For Friday, June 3: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

Pharmacists and pharmacy teams are an essential part of the health care delivery system. As pharmacies expand patient services, they need tools to demonstrate their value.

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Developing PQA Measures Through Public Comment and Endorsement

PQA follows a systematic, transparent and consensus-based developmentprocess to ensure that measures are important, scientifically acceptable, feasible and usable. This approach produces strong, consistent results, but it also takes time. 

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PQA Welcomes Four New Members

PQA is a non-profit organization with 250 diverse members across healthcare. Our members include community and specialty pharmacy organizations, pharmacists and other healthcare providers, pharmacies, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, life sciences, technology vendors, government agencies, health information technology partners, researchers, accrediting organizations and academia.

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Q&A with Mel Nelson and DeBran Tarver on Evaluating CMR Services

A comprehensive medication review (CMR) is a medication therapy management (MTM) service designed to systematically collect and assess patient medication information and identify medication therapy problems (MTPs) to develop a care plan for resolution. To ensure Medicare Part D plans are actively engaging in annual CMRs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) added the PQA measure, Completion Rate for CMR, to the Medicare Part D Star Ratings Program. This measure assesses the annual percentage of completed CMRs for eligible beneficiaries.  

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Five For Friday, May 20: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

In a new Population Health Management article, PQA’s Melissa Castora-Binkley, Lisa Hines and I explain how medication adherence quality measures are relevant and high-impact.

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Q&A with PQA Senior Director of Performance Measurement Rachel Digmann

PQA’s talented staff is dedicated to improving medication safety, adherence and appropriate use. As experts in measure development, research, education and convening, they lead the implementation of PQA’s quality initiatives to support better medication use and high-quality care. This blog is one in a series profiling PQA's staff. 

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Top Posters at the PQA Annual Meeting

The 2022 PQA Annual Meeting poster session featured 24 quality improvement and research projects. Sponsored by Pharmacy Quality Solutions, the session provided an opportunity for authors to showcase their work and for attendees to engage in insightful dialogue about health care quality.  

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Patients and Pharmacists Addressing Social Determinants of Health Together

Although many pharmacists have partnered with public health entities and providers to address and improve challenges associated with social determinants of health (SDOH), there has not been a pharmacy screening tool developed with patient input.  

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PQA Appoints 17 Individuals to Serve on Health Plan PDC Composite Measure TEP

PQA has appointed 17 individuals from member organizations to serve on a technical expert panel (TEP) to review and provide input on draft specifications for a health plan measure concept: Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) Composite. 

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