Every PQA member is involved in the fight against COVID-19, which is affecting every aspect of healthcare, including medication use quality. PQA wants to share with you some of the ways our member are addressing COVID challenges as the relate to:

• Access to care -- Social distancing, unemployment and current or anticipated financial difficulties for millions of Americans is affecting access to care and access to medications.
• Drug shortages -- Early refills, drug substitutions, off-label use and supply chain interruptions may all contribute to drug shortages sparked by this crisis.
• Pharmacist empowerment -- As the nation's most accessible health care professionals — and through telehealth — pharmacists are being empowered to provide critical patient services; however, this work is not without risk, which also needs to be addressed.

This week, we will debut an individual blog post dedicated to each of these three areas. The posts will include links to the actions our members are taking. The lists are far from exhaustive and will be updated periodically. We welcome additional online and publicly available resources that our members would like to share. You can email suggested links to us at [email protected]. 

Laura Cranston, RPh
PQA Chief Executive Officer

The COVID-19 crisis is greatly affecting medication use, services and quality. Early refills, potential shortages, drug substitutions, reduced clinical visits and looming financial challenges for patients will all have an impact on medication adherence, patient outcomes and quality measure performance. At the same time, the expansion of telehealth services and growing roles for pharmacy staff could lead to innovative, long-term solutions for improving medication safety and appropriate use.

PQA is launching a blog.

It's a new information channel to keep you updated on our work -- in measure development, research, education and convening.