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.
A new article on this work has been published by the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. The work was supported by a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award (EASCS-22304).
Centered around a series of workshops with more than 50 participants, including patients and representatives from community pharmacies, payers, academic institutions and other stakeholders, the project led to a set of PCOR priority topics.
The top five prioritized topics were:
- Develop a business case with consistent standards of practice to address patients' social needs in community pharmacies
- Develop training for pharmacists and pharmacy staff and assess readiness to address SDOH to effectively address patients’ social needs in community pharmacies
- Identify existing resources for patients
- Build patient-pharmacist relationships/trust
- Incorporate SDOH screening/initiatives into existing pharmacy workflow
In addition to the new article, you can review the workshops’ summary.
PQA’s work includes a focus on SDOH because addressing the complex circumstances in which individuals are born and live is important to advancing medication use quality and helping individuals achieve good outcomes.
For an additional SDOH resource, see the PQA Social Determinants of Health Resource Guide. Now in its third edition, the guide profiles 40 real-world SDOH services that are promising for improving the quality and safety of medication use.