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

Research is a strategic growth priority for PQA. It has great potential to enhance and support quality improvement initiatives.

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The Importance of SDOH and Pharmacist Intervention

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.

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Medication Adherence Measures Help Medicare Beneficiaries Avoid Up to $46.6 Billion in Health Care Costs

What is the impact of the three medication adherence measures used in the Medicare Part D Star Ratings program?

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Quality Forum Review: Prioritizing Pharmacy Measure Concepts for Value-Based Agreements

The PQA Quality Forum Webinar is a recurring series on healthcare quality topics which focus on medication use and medication services. The quality forum creates an opportunity for education and engagement with PQA members and quality-focused healthcare professionals.

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

This fall and into 2022, there are numerous opportunities for PQA members to participate in our measure development process. As a consensus-based and member-driven organization, this is the moment for you and your organization to inform and influence decisions on measures across the development and stewardship continuum. Read more about the opportunities below.

This week, we are highlighting the importance of technology in team-based care and two ways pharmacists are partnering with other providers and system stakeholders to improve care and outcomes. If you have work you'd like for us to spotlight in an upcoming Five For Friday, send us an email.

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Participate in PQA's Measure Development Process

This fall and into 2022, there are numerous opportunities for PQA members to participate in our measure development process. As a consensus-based and member-driven organization, this is the moment for you and your organization to inform and influence decisions on measures across the development and stewardship continuum. Here's what's coming up soon. Information on each of these will be emailed to members as we get closer to the opportunity.

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Five For Friday, August 6: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

A 2021 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report for PQA’s three adherence measures showed the economic benefits of medication adherence in Medicare Part D, with an estimated $27-$46.6 billion health care costs avoided over a five-year period.

We'll share analysis of this report soon, but you can access it below and see the letter PQA CEO Micah Cost sent to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, noting PQA's work to improve adherence and address disparities.

This week, we are sharing the ways our members are reducing vaccine disparities, investing in the future of pharmacist-provided care and evaluating comprehensive medication management in value-based care models. If you have work you'd like for us to spotlight in an upcoming Five For Friday, send us an email



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The Importance of Quality Measures and How Your Pharmacy Can Be More Engaged

This guest blog is one in a series by sponsors of the 2021 PQA Annual Meeting on emerging trends in medication use quality. 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 23: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

PQA is developing standard pharmacy performance measures that would be appropriate for pharmacy accountability, once assessed against standard measure criteria and endorsed by PQA members. We have four measure concepts in development and one has already moved to testing.

We're also wrapping up a project with the Community Pharmacy Foundation (CPF) to build consensus on additional metrics that will promote sustained innovation in community pharmacy services. See the Pharmacy Today article below and attend our August 5 Quality Forum for insights from the CPF project. 

This week, we are sharing the ways our members continue to lead the pandemic fight, while addressing disparities and advancing team-based care. If you have work you'd like for us to spotlight, send us an email. We want to hear from you, and we want to share more stories like the ones below.



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PQA Welcomes Five 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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Health Equity

This guest blog is one in a series by sponsors of the 2021 PQA Annual Meeting on emerging trends in medication use quality. The views shared in this series are those of the author and do not reflect any PQA positions.

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The Future of Pharmacy is Value-Based

This guest blog is one in a series by sponsors of the 2021 PQA Annual Meeting on emerging trends in medication use quality. The views shared in this series are those of the author and do not reflect any PQA positions.

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Students Build Medication Use Quality Knowledge this Summer

PQA provides healthcare quality experience to students from a wide variety of disciplines. This summer, we are hosting five students through our internship and MPH practicum programs. They are adding medication safety, adherence and appropriate use experience to their professional training. We recently invited them to answer five questions about the work they are doing, where they're going in their careers and how they hope to apply their PQA knowledge to their professional advancement.

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Five For Friday, July 9: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

PQA is developing a social determinants of health (SDOH) resource guide that will document real-world SDOH services, including screening, referring or intervening, conducted by or involving pharmacists or pharmacies. The guide will provide details on interventions that are promising for improving the quality and safety of medication use.

We need your help to identify promising or proven interventions! You can read about how to contribute below.

This week, we are sharing three ways our members are aligning incentives to support integrated care, incorporating the patient voice across their work and ensuring that patients are not left behind in medication adherence.

If you have work you'd like for us to spotlight, send us an email. We want to hear from you, and we want to share more stories like the ones below.





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We Need Your Help to Build an SDOH Resource Guide

PQA is developing a social determinants of health (SDOH) resource guide that will document real-world SDOH services, including screening, referring or intervening, conducted by or involving pharmacists or pharmacies. The guide will provide details on interventions that are promising for improving the quality and safety of medication use.

We need your help to identify promising or proven interventions!

There is no current resource that catalogues pharmacist and pharmacy-centered SDOH services. This guide will provide health care professionals with ideas and examples of SDOH services they can implement.

To maximize the guide’s depth and value, PQA invites submissions to be considered for inclusion. Based on PQA member input provided at last November's Leadership Summit, we are most interested at this time in interventions that address:
  • Screening for Unmet Needs
  • Cost of Medications
  • Cultural or Literacy Barriers
The initial guide will focus on these areas, but we welcome submissions on other interventions.
You are invited to provide robust details, but if you only have limited information, we want that, too. We recognize that many SDOH efforts are in their early stages, or you may have only seen them in a presentation or news story.

Our staff will research any partial examples to develop a more complete profile of the intervention. Any submissions provided may be published in the guide and promoted in PQA’s communications or educational programs.

The initial guide will be published by the end of 2021, and we plan to update and expand it in the future. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at [email protected].

 
 
 

The Patient Voice in Medication Therapy Management

The PQA Quality Forum Webinar is a recurring series on healthcare quality topics which focus on medication use and medication services. The quality forum creates an opportunity for education and engagement with PQA members and quality-focused healthcare professionals.

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Five For Friday, June 25: Celebrating Success in Advancing Medication Use Quality

As a member driven organization, people are what makes PQA great and effective in building consensus to advance medication use quality. PQA is a rare association where different and often competing sectors work together towards a common goal -- improving patient care and outcomes.

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Q&A with PQA Executive Fellow Alexis Caronis

Alexis Caronis is the 2021-22 PQA Executive Fellow. She is a PharmD graduate from the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy. Caronis joined PQA June 1 and has hit the ground running with support for PQA's social determinants of health initiatives and student programs.  

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Q&A with PQA Board Vice Chair Mike Duteau

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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Quality Forum Review: Implementing Sustainable SDOH Programs in Community Pharmacies

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.

PQA’s April 22, 2021, Quality Forum welcomed a panel of experts to discuss implementation of sustainable social determinants of health (SDOH) programs in community pharmacies. Initial efforts have been promising, and presenters noted the need for more research, specifically in reimbursement.

David Jacobs, PharmD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Buffalo, began the conversation by defining SDOH in community pharmacy.

Jacobs said SDOH are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes and is defined by the World Health Organization as “conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age.” The five categories of SDOH are:





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