Health Mart to host second series of Town Hall meetings to improve Medicare Part D Star Ratings
SAN FRANCISCO — Health Mart on Monday announced that it is hosting its second series of Town Hall meetings, “Pharmacy Quality Measures: Action Steps for Improvement.” The Health Mart Town Hall meetings will be held in 108 cities across the country through early 2015.
“By attending the Health Mart Town Hall meetings, independent pharmacies can learn how to measure and improve their performance in support of Medicare Part D Star Ratings and gain credit for the quality care they provide,” said Steve Courtman, president, Health Mart. “Research has shown that improving patients’ medication adherence has a sizable impact on decreasing total healthcare costs. There is tremendous opportunity for pharmacists to be recognized for the outcomes they drive beyond dispensing.”
Designed to help pharmacies recognize the importance of CMS’s Five-Star Quality Ratings and improve their store’s performance, the second series of Town Hall meetings will provide a comprehensive review of the key medication-related quality measures that pharmacies have the most ability to impact. The meetings also will show pharmacy owners how to benchmark their pharmacy’s performance and evaluate their progress. Emphasizing action steps to improve quality performance, the meeting allows attendees to leave with a plan based on their EQuIPP data to improve quality measures specific to their pharmacy.
Health Mart has partnered with Pharmacy Quality Solutions to provide franchisees access to the EQuIPP pharmacy-performance data so they can understand their current performance on medication-related Part D Star Ratings measures. The medication-related metrics are triple-weighted and can significantly influence a drug plan’s total Star Rating score. To help members interpret and improve their quality-measure performance, Health Mart’s pharmacist-led training team has developed Health Mart University CE courses and other tools to help pharmacies implement activities that drive adherence, reduce medication risks and close medication gaps.
Supporting patient medication adherence and identifying and intervening in gaps in patient care are areas where Health Mart pharmacies are poised to excel due to pharmacists’ strong personal patient relationships. Health Mart recently developed an exclusive program with Pharmacy Development Services to help members improve patient outcomes and quality-measure performance, with a focus on medication synchronization and quarterly medication reviews.
Pharmacy owners, pharmacists and technicians can register for the Town Hall meetings at www.healthmartevents.com.