Supporting team-based health model through Health Alliance, care coaching

More and more, the success of any healthcare delivery model in the United States will depend on the ability of all members of a patient-care team — physicians, pharmacists, hospital systems and health plan payers included — to collaborate effectively on a longterm plan of care that’s focused on successful outcomes and disease prevention.

(To view the full Special Report, click here.)



That was the rationale behind Rite Aid’s launch two years ago of its pioneering Health Alliance program, a health-management collaboration among local healthcare providers that offers comprehensive care and support to people with chronic and multiple health conditions. And it drove both the company’s purchase in April 2014 of Boston-based Health Dialog Services — a provider of health coaching, shared decision-making and healthcare analytics — and its just-completed acquisition of EnvisionRx, a leading pharmacy benefit management firm.



All three ventures are aimed at providing a more integrated system of care that expands access, improves outcomes and provides individual patients with the specific support they need. Rite Aid’s goal: To build the resources needed to remake itself as a full-service retailer of healthcare services that is aligned with other healthcare providers and positioned for the new, outcomes-based payment models in the U.S. system of healthcare.



“Integrated healthcare delivery models and team care,” said EVP of Pharmacy Robert Thompson, “are the wave of the future, and the way to ultimately control healthcare costs while delivering better care. We’re trying to build a broad range of capabilities to participate in that environment.”



Health Alliance, supported by Health Dialog and its care coaches, provides a way for Rite Aid to collaborate with local health systems on a range of long-term, pharmacy-based ancillary services for participating chronic care patients. Among those services are pharmacist-delivered programs like comprehensive medication reviews, medication therapy management and ongoing counseling; and coaching on healthier lifestyles and wellness by in-store care coaches trained by Health Dialog.



“Rite Aid pharmacists and our in-store care coaches work with the physician and the patient on an ongoing basis to improve the patient’s overall health and self-management abilities,” explained Thompson. “The care team members collaborate with the patient to establish health goals, eliminate barriers and create a personalized healthcare action plan in coordination with the patient’s physician.”



Local and regional health systems are beginning to embrace the idea. “Over the last couple of years,” Thompson said, “Rite Aid Health Alliance has grown from just a concept to becoming very well established within 60 Rite Aid stores, with seven different provider organizations across the country. And we are very pleased not only with the reception we’ve had from the provider organizations, but also with the results we’ve been driving.”



Programs such as Health Alliance, Thompson added, combine the pharmacists’ expertise around pharmaceutical care with behavioral and lifestyle management provided by professionally trained care coaches, all in conjunction with the local physician.



“Every interaction is measured, documented and reported back to the physician,” Thompson said. “And we take biometric measurements along the way that track our progress.”



“What we’re seeing is that these patients are receiving the highest quality patient care experience one can receive in the drug store setting,” he said. “The response from our patients has been outstanding. They’re really beginning to learn how to deal with their disease state, how to improve the quality of their life and how to get well sooner and stay well longer.”



Health Dialog provides both the training for the care coaches staffing Rite Aid stores and the analytical and shared decision-making tools that allow the chain to track patients’ progress and coordinate care with other members of each patient’s care team. “We acquired Health Dialog because that’s the engine behind Rite Aid Health Alliance, and we wanted to have those capabilities as part of our core operation,” Thompson explained. “We see many other opportunities relative to Health Dialog.”