Forging a collaborative care model

Team up with other healthcare entities, or wither on the vine.



That’s the new reality for community pharmacy, said Kermit Crawford on the eve of his retirement as president of pharmacy, health and wellness for Walgreens. In that powerful post as one of pharmacy’s most visible and vocal champions, Crawford was an early proponent of an integrated, team-based approach to patient care, making Walgreens pharmacy an early adopter of the accountable care organization model and other aspects of health reform.

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“We were the first pharmacy-led ACO,” Crawford declared in a recent interview with DSN. “I believe the model of the future is going to be a collaborative model with strategic partners. No one group will have all of the core competencies, and you’ll need to have strategic partnerships, and you’ll need to understand how to work collaboratively both internally and externally. And it will clearly need to be patient-focused.”



Indeed, said the pharmacy leader, “the next revolution will be around ‘patient-first,’ where customers have more choice, more information and more options for care. And with more information, I think we’ll see more transparency around quality and also around price.”



For Walgreens, that means becoming “the strategic partner of choice — seeking targeted partnerships and pursuing joint initiatives with healthcare providers and payers” through ACO-based physician groups, hospital networks and other partners, said president and CEO Greg Wasson.



“Walgreens is becoming a key part of the community healthcare delivery team, supporting primary care physicians, health plans and health systems to address patient needs and gaps in care,” Wasson added.



Patients themselves are at the center of that collaborative team, said Crawford. “Today, with mobile devices, patients have information in the palm of their hand. And that information will give patients more power, and they will demand that we know who they are.”



“They’ll demand that we have their data at our fingertips, and that we can begin to connect both their information and experience literally from provider to provider, and make it truly seamless and easy for patients to navigate the healthcare environment,” he added. “We’re going to see more of this patient focus, and the result is going to be pay for performance. People are going to expect to meet their goals, and we’re going to get paid for the performance and quality we bring. And I think Walgreens is better positioned to do that than most any other retailer, not only in this country but on an international platform.”