Continuing education brings provider partnerships, med sync to the forefront
McKesson ideaShare 2016 may have officially kicked off Monday afternoon with the conference’s Opening General Session, but even before McKesson executives took the stage and this year’s Pharmacy of the Year award winners were announced, many attendees already had been busy in continuing education sessions, learning about new aspects of patient care as well as how to grow their independent pharmacy businesses.
Among the clinical programs, major educational themes this year ranged from trends in value-based reimbursement and the growth in specialty pharmacy to advancing pharmacy-based clinical services and building partnerships with providers in ways that turn pharmacists into key members of the healthcare team
In all, McKesson ideaShare hosted more than 30 CE sessions over the course of the conference. Drug Store News reporters sat in on a number of the sessions. Following is a brief recap from a few of them:
Keeping an eye on quality
As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have begun the transition to value-based payments, it is critical for pharmacies to understand and achieve the key performance measures by which CMS — and soon, a growing number of commercial payers, too — will evaluate and compensate them. Elliott Sogol, VP professional relations for Pharmacy Quality Solutions, talked about the current Star ratings measures in place today and also gave attendees a look at what’s coming next.
Among the new Star Ratings measures for 2016 are evaluations of medication therapy management completion rates for comprehensive medication reviews, as well as display measures for drug-drug interactions. Another, which looks at statin use among people with diabetes, will likely be among the Star Ratings measures by 2019, Sogol said.
Looking to 2017, Sogol outlined a planned suite of asthma measures and medication possession ratio for patients with asthma — as well as a focus on high-risk medications and overuse of opioids.
The opportunity for pharmacists, Sogol said, lies in positioning themselves to improve outcomes by screening high-priority patients and counseling those taking cholesterol or diabetes medications, while implementing medication synchronization. A pharmacy that can implement these solutions and deliver outcomes is also well-positioned to partner with providers as part of the overall patient care team, he said.
“As we see these metrics continue to emerge, you’re probably well aware that hospitals are being penalized if patients are readmitted within 30 days of being released,” Sogol said. “That allows me to recognize that if pharmacy can be involved, we may be able to begin to stop that trend.”
Enhancing prescriber relationships
Tackling the different ways pharmacists can leverage their clinical training with the physician community, Thrive Pharmacy Solutions president Tony Willoughby talked about how pharmacies can partner with local provider groups to help deliver improved outcomes through patient-centric care.
“An integrated pharmacy team,” Willoughby said, “begins with understanding such common ground between pharmacy and providers as declining reimbursements, increased patient volume, a rise in competition and a heightened focus on quality. These trends are forcing all healthcare stakeholders to look to form partnerships and help share financial risk."
“You've got to do your homework and understand what the provider’s pain points are,” Willoughby said. “There are both long-term and short-term areas you can work on, and you want to start where you're solving problems that providers feel the results of quickly.” Often it’s more fundamental pharmacy services like medication reconciliations, chronic care management and medication synchronization before building up to bigger qualitative issues, such as decreasing cost of care, reducing hospitalizations and ER visits, and improving adherence over the longer term, he said.
According to Willoughby, the key for pharmacies looking to partner with providers is to be proactive in seeking out these relationships, be willing to test new ideas fast — and be willing to fail — but to bounce back quickly to test another new idea.
Managing digital listings for independents
Monday morning, Ebus Innovation chief idea officer Elizabeth Estes impressed upon independent pharmacy owners one of the most important things they can do to grow their business — to make sure its digital listings are being seen by potential patients searching for pharmacies online.
According to a 2014 study by Google, 4-out-of-5 consumers used search engines to find local businesses, and 50% who used their smartphones to search visited that business the same day.
Estes helped attendees understand which digital listings and online directories are most important to an independent pharmacy business, and walked through such popular platforms as Google, Bing, Yelp and Foursquare, as well as YellowPages.com. In addition, Estes talked about the types of information and content needed to create an effective digital listing, how to encourage positive reviews online, as well as how to respond to negative reviews in a way that flips the script — and allowing them to highlight the many positives their business offers the community.
Also important, Estes explained, is the need to grow one’s online presence organically, rather than paying to improve search results. Independents can have a natural advantage over big chains because they are naturally more tied into what local customers think is important.
“Creating listings that are optimized for organic search… is so important, because we're not going to compete with Walgreens on a local level,” she said. “We're not going to compete with the amount of money they're going to spend to make sure they're No. 1 in paid listings. But you can beat them because you [created your digital listings] the right way."
Clinical services profit igniter
One of the hot issues in the industry is the greatly anticipated passing of federal provider status legislation for pharmacists under Medicare Part B. Indeed, the potential that provider status holds both to expand access for patients in underserved areas as well as to expand the scope of practice for pharmacy and open up new revenue streams for the industry is a source of much excitement.
But according to Nicolette Mathey, creative solutions specialist at Pharmacy Development Services, there is no need for pharmacists to wait for provider status — there is a host of clinical services that they can offer patients right now that will also add new revenue streams.
In particular, Mathey highlighted several ways pharmacies can partner with local providers to provide support and introduce new services that can be billed through the physician’s office, from annual wellness visits — which can be performed by a pharmacist at the physician’s office — to chronic care management and transitions in care management.
Even if pharmacy operators feel like they aren’t yet ready to partner with physicians, Mathey emphasized that there are a number of other existing services — MTM, immunizations, diabetes education, hormone testing and pharmacogenetics — that can bolster a pharmacy’s billable services while providing areas for pharmacists to offer more services to customers, something she called “upsolutions.”
“It's the mindset of ‘What else can I do for you?’” Mathey said. “A lot of times pharmacists don't like [to do that sort of thing]; they don't like how it feels to be a salesman.” But Mathey offered attendees a different way to loo
Among the clinical programs, major educational themes this year ranged from trends in value-based reimbursement and the growth in specialty pharmacy to advancing pharmacy-based clinical services and building partnerships with providers in ways that turn pharmacists into key members of the healthcare team
In all, McKesson ideaShare hosted more than 30 CE sessions over the course of the conference. Drug Store News reporters sat in on a number of the sessions. Following is a brief recap from a few of them:
Keeping an eye on quality
As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have begun the transition to value-based payments, it is critical for pharmacies to understand and achieve the key performance measures by which CMS — and soon, a growing number of commercial payers, too — will evaluate and compensate them. Elliott Sogol, VP professional relations for Pharmacy Quality Solutions, talked about the current Star ratings measures in place today and also gave attendees a look at what’s coming next.
Among the new Star Ratings measures for 2016 are evaluations of medication therapy management completion rates for comprehensive medication reviews, as well as display measures for drug-drug interactions. Another, which looks at statin use among people with diabetes, will likely be among the Star Ratings measures by 2019, Sogol said.
Looking to 2017, Sogol outlined a planned suite of asthma measures and medication possession ratio for patients with asthma — as well as a focus on high-risk medications and overuse of opioids.
The opportunity for pharmacists, Sogol said, lies in positioning themselves to improve outcomes by screening high-priority patients and counseling those taking cholesterol or diabetes medications, while implementing medication synchronization. A pharmacy that can implement these solutions and deliver outcomes is also well-positioned to partner with providers as part of the overall patient care team, he said.
“As we see these metrics continue to emerge, you’re probably well aware that hospitals are being penalized if patients are readmitted within 30 days of being released,” Sogol said. “That allows me to recognize that if pharmacy can be involved, we may be able to begin to stop that trend.”
Enhancing prescriber relationships
Tackling the different ways pharmacists can leverage their clinical training with the physician community, Thrive Pharmacy Solutions president Tony Willoughby talked about how pharmacies can partner with local provider groups to help deliver improved outcomes through patient-centric care.
“An integrated pharmacy team,” Willoughby said, “begins with understanding such common ground between pharmacy and providers as declining reimbursements, increased patient volume, a rise in competition and a heightened focus on quality. These trends are forcing all healthcare stakeholders to look to form partnerships and help share financial risk."
“You've got to do your homework and understand what the provider’s pain points are,” Willoughby said. “There are both long-term and short-term areas you can work on, and you want to start where you're solving problems that providers feel the results of quickly.” Often it’s more fundamental pharmacy services like medication reconciliations, chronic care management and medication synchronization before building up to bigger qualitative issues, such as decreasing cost of care, reducing hospitalizations and ER visits, and improving adherence over the longer term, he said.
According to Willoughby, the key for pharmacies looking to partner with providers is to be proactive in seeking out these relationships, be willing to test new ideas fast — and be willing to fail — but to bounce back quickly to test another new idea.
Managing digital listings for independents
Monday morning, Ebus Innovation chief idea officer Elizabeth Estes impressed upon independent pharmacy owners one of the most important things they can do to grow their business — to make sure its digital listings are being seen by potential patients searching for pharmacies online.
According to a 2014 study by Google, 4-out-of-5 consumers used search engines to find local businesses, and 50% who used their smartphones to search visited that business the same day.
Estes helped attendees understand which digital listings and online directories are most important to an independent pharmacy business, and walked through such popular platforms as Google, Bing, Yelp and Foursquare, as well as YellowPages.com. In addition, Estes talked about the types of information and content needed to create an effective digital listing, how to encourage positive reviews online, as well as how to respond to negative reviews in a way that flips the script — and allowing them to highlight the many positives their business offers the community.
Also important, Estes explained, is the need to grow one’s online presence organically, rather than paying to improve search results. Independents can have a natural advantage over big chains because they are naturally more tied into what local customers think is important.
“Creating listings that are optimized for organic search… is so important, because we're not going to compete with Walgreens on a local level,” she said. “We're not going to compete with the amount of money they're going to spend to make sure they're No. 1 in paid listings. But you can beat them because you [created your digital listings] the right way."
Clinical services profit igniter
One of the hot issues in the industry is the greatly anticipated passing of federal provider status legislation for pharmacists under Medicare Part B. Indeed, the potential that provider status holds both to expand access for patients in underserved areas as well as to expand the scope of practice for pharmacy and open up new revenue streams for the industry is a source of much excitement.
But according to Nicolette Mathey, creative solutions specialist at Pharmacy Development Services, there is no need for pharmacists to wait for provider status — there is a host of clinical services that they can offer patients right now that will also add new revenue streams.
In particular, Mathey highlighted several ways pharmacies can partner with local providers to provide support and introduce new services that can be billed through the physician’s office, from annual wellness visits — which can be performed by a pharmacist at the physician’s office — to chronic care management and transitions in care management.
Even if pharmacy operators feel like they aren’t yet ready to partner with physicians, Mathey emphasized that there are a number of other existing services — MTM, immunizations, diabetes education, hormone testing and pharmacogenetics — that can bolster a pharmacy’s billable services while providing areas for pharmacists to offer more services to customers, something she called “upsolutions.”
“It's the mindset of ‘What else can I do for you?’” Mathey said. “A lot of times pharmacists don't like [to do that sort of thing]; they don't like how it feels to be a salesman.” But Mathey offered attendees a different way to loo