Alexandria, VA (September 18, 2017) – With an increasing focus on the use of specialty medications, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) released its Specialty Core Measure Set to assess adherence and persistence for several important specialty therapies. This set of three PQA-endorsed measures includes:
Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C: Completion of Therapy;
Adherence to Antiretroviral Medications; and
Adherence to Non-Infused Disease Modifying Agents used to Treat Multiple Sclerosis.
Additionally, PQA’s draft measure, Adherence to Non-Infused Biologic Medications Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis, is in the testing phase and is anticipated to be added to the Specialty Core Measure Set in early 2018 (pending PQA endorsement). PQA developed these measures to address the gap in specialty measures in the marketplace.
“PQA is excited to announce the Specialty Core Measure Set. These health plan level measures fill a gap in the market and will have a positive impact on appropriate medication use and patient outcomes. We look forward to adding new measures to this Core Set to address a broad range of clinical conditions,” stated William Lademann, Senior Vice President at PQA.
PQA’s Specialty Core Measure Set used in its entirety, or individually, enables health plans and pharmacy benefit managers to understand the impact of their quality initiatives to support the health and outcomes of specialty patient populations. Prescribed medications are often the backbone of treatment for specialty conditions, and ensuring adherence to those vital therapies is a key component of a comprehensive care strategy. This Core Set can be paired with a plan’s service-level metrics, patient experience metrics or other metrics, to holistically assess members’ medication use. PQA highlighted its Specialty Core Measure Set with the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy’s (NASP) Clinical Outcomes Committee, as the measure set can support collaboration between health plans and specialty pharmacies. The Core Set provides meaningful measures to demonstrate the positive impact of specialty pharmacy services.
About PQA
Established in 2006, PQA represents pharmacy providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, academia, consumer advocates, community pharmacies, health technology vendors, life sciences organizations, and other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of the medication-use system.
PQA’s mission is to:
Improve the quality of medication management and use across health care settings with the goal of improving patients’ health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.
PQA provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluating the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to healthcare improvement initiatives. For more information about the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, please visit www.PQAalliance.org or contact us at 703-347-7963.
