4 Steps to Improving Pharmacy Quality Measures with your Medication Adherence Solution
With more and more third-party contracts looking at quality measures to determine things like DIR fees and performance reimbursement opportunities, operating a pharmacy is no longer about just filling prescriptions. Your business is scored on how well you work with your patients to help them understand and adhere to their prescription regimens and treatment plans.
Starting early in the calendar year is critical to get the maximum financial benefit. Don’t know where to start? Begin with your medication adherence program. If you do not have a plan in place already, it is not too late to get started.
Here are 4 Steps to help you Improve your Pharmacy Quality Measures with your Medication Adherence Solution
1. Understand How to track your scores
95% of community pharmacies have access to Pharmacy Quality Solution’s EQuIPP Dashboard. The metrics reported on this platform are used and reported by PBMs and Health Plans and can also be used by your pharmacy to view your quality measures and track your progress. The 3 core measures that are determined based on medication adherence are: Cholesterol PDC, Diabetes PDC, and RASA PDC. The medication adherence program you offer to your patients can have a large impact on these scores.
2. Identify the Patients Affecting your Quality Measures
Not only does the EQuIPP Dashboard report your quality measures, it also provides information about the patients who are not adhering to their medications at the levels considered optimal by the standards created by Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Knowing which patients are poorly performing and affecting your quality measures is the first step towards making an improvement.
3. Implement the Appointment-Based Model
Patients who are struggling to take their medication correctly or on-time may require a more hands-on approach. The Appointment Based Model allows the patient one monthly visit to speak with the pharmacist and discuss any changes in their health or challenges with their treatment plan. Reducing the number of trips to the pharmacy to one monthly visit makes it easier for the patient to not miss refills or “first-fills”.
4. Incorporate a Comprehensive Compliance Packaging Solution
It is great for your patients to pick up their medications all in one visit, but what happens once they get home? Managing multiple medications can be challenging without a method of understanding how they should be taken and the importance of the time of administration. Implementing a Comprehensive Compliance Packaging Solution that allows your patients to pick up all of their medications, expertly organized by dose time will increase the patient’s adherence to their medications and allow you to raise your quality measures; the first step to reducing DIR Fees.
What are your next steps?
Ask about Medicine-On-Time’s Performance Program. Learn how to mitigate DIR fees and realize new performance payout opportunities with our hands-on program that shows you step-by-step, how to make your adherence program work for you.
Read Pharmacy First’s white-paper on Medicine-On-Time’s MOT Complete system and see how it is proven to improve PDC scores by over 30% for low-performing patients.
Need help starting an Appointment Based Model? Medicine-On-Time offers resources and solutions to help you implement, streamline, and market your Appointment Based Model.