Five For Friday, October 7: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality
Collaboration is one of PQA's greatest attributes, and our measure development process is the embodiment of how our diverse member organizations reach consensus on evaluating medication use quality. The public comment period is an important part of our systematic and transparent consensus-based process.
This week, we opened a public comment period on one health plan performance measure being considered for endorsement and four PQA-endorsed health plan performance measures that are being considered for retirement. Learn more about these measures and comment opportunities below.
We also highlight our members' insights on food and nutrition, pharmacy automation and value-based care. If you have news you'd like for us to spotlight in an upcoming Five For Friday, send us an email!
--Ben Shirley, CPHQ, PQA Director of Performance Measurement
Facing a fragmented healthcare system and nutrition access inequities across the U.S., Kroger Health, sees its food-as-medicine work as a major solution. The company’s emphasis on making stronger connections between health and food comes at a time when chronic diseases are on the rise in the U.S. Food as medicine is not a new endeavor for the grocery company, and Kroger Health currently offers telenutrition, food boxes, a nutritional scoring system called OptUp and Welsana, a diabetes prevention program.
Leveraging Automation to Free Up Pharmacists for Services
Walgreens is turning to robots to ease workloads at drugstores as it grapples with a nationwide shortage of pharmacists and pharmacist technicians. The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain is setting up a network of automated, centralized drug-filling centers that could fill a city block. The ultimate goal: give pharmacists more time to provide medical services such as vaccinations, patient outreach and prescribing of some medications.
Driving Value-Based Care for Medicare Beneficiaries
Walmart and UnitedHealth Group announced the beginning of an initial 10-year, wide-ranging collaboration. Together, the companies will work to bring together the collective expertise of serving millions with affordable health services that improve health outcomes and the patient experience. The end goal, the companies said, is serving seniors and Medicare beneficiaries in value-based arrangements through multiple Medicare Advantage plans.
Provide Comment on PQA Measures for Endorsement and Retirement PQA invites comments on the following health plan performance measures being considered for endorsement and retirement.
Endorsement
Retirement
- Antipsychotic Use in Persons with Dementia: MDS (APD-MDS)
- Initial Opioid Prescribing at High Dosage (IOP-HD)
- Initial Opioid Prescribing for Long-Acting or Extended-Release Opioids (IOP-LA)
- Use of Opioids at High Dosage and from Multiple Providers in Persons without Cancer (OHDMP)
Your Next Engagement Opportunities
Network, Learn and Collaborate with PQA
- PQA's next Quality Essentials Webinar is Thursday, October 20, 1-2 pm ET. During this Quality Essentials Webinar, members from PQA's Performance Measurement Team will review the Persistence to Basal Insulin (PST-INS) health plan performance measure. Register today!
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Register for PQA's 4th Quarter 2022 Stakeholder Advisory Meeting, Wednesday, October 26, 1-2 pm ET. PQA SAMs are members-only events that are held quarterly to share current and relevant measure development and maintenance updates with members. A registration link is available in the Member Resources Library.
- The 2022 PQA Leadership Summit, is November 10-11, at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Va. The summit is an invitation-only meeting, where our multi-stakeholder members will discuss value-based care. PQA member Key Contacts will receive registration information. Questions? Email us.