PQA and the Patient Advocate Foundation convened a diverse group of patients and pharmacy stakeholders in 2022 to identify and prioritize patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) topics and evidence needed to improve social determinants of health (SDOH) screening and interventions in the pharmacy setting.
PQA released today an important report that we believe is a key step towards improving the quality of care for individuals using oral anticancer medications (OAM).
Recommendations to Improve the Quality of Oral Anticancer Medication Use is a new report from the PQA Quality Innovation and Research Initiative for Oncology. It shares the consensus-based recommendations of 23 national experts and patients, who were convened by PQA, to prioritize opportunities for improving the quality of oral anticancer medication (OAM) use.
PQA offers a variety of student and professional programs, including a Masters of Public Health (MPH) Practicum Program, which provides internship opportunities and field experience to MPH students across all public health disciplines. The program’s foundation begins with the applicant’s interests to foster skill development in health services research methods, quality measurement, research communications and diverse stakeholder engagement.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) developed the “Medication Access Framework for Quality Measurement” to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) that hinder patient medication access and contribute to poor health outcomes. Released in March 2019, the framework identifies seven key areas patients encounter while accessing medications and the structural, financial and personal barriers patients face within each. Named the Medication Access Patient Journey (MAPJ), those seven areas are:
PQA is investigating the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on pharmacy and medication access by using a multi-stakeholder perspective to analyze current gaps in knowledge and interventions that currently exist in pharmacy settings.
