Expanding Pharmacy Services
to Improve Patient Outcomes
Learn how Albertsons succeeds with new pharmacy services.
Nikki Price, Director of Managed Care at Albertsons Companies, and her team are responsible for medication adherence and clinical gap closures. They connect pharmacy teams with EQUIPP and health plan payers to implement and execute new pharmacy services designed to improve patient care through performance-based contracts.
Partnering to Improve
Patient Outcomes
Albertsons is teaming up with PQS to bridge the gap between payers and providers, aiming to broaden pharmacy services by expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice. This collaboration stems from a shared vision: elevating the pharmacist’s role to allow them to fully utilize their expertise while ensuring fair compensation for their enhanced services.
The partnership’s primary objective is to improve patient outcomes. Albertsons is committed to promoting community health, reducing hospital admissions, and lowering overall healthcare costs. As Nikki explains, “Through this partnership with EQUIPP, our pharmacy teams really help improve medication adherence and provide that point of care testing for health plans, all of which at the end improves patient outcomes.”
By leveraging pharmacists’ skills and accessibility, this initiative seeks to create a more efficient and effective healthcare network. Patients benefit from expanded services at their local pharmacies, while the healthcare system as a whole may see reduced strain on resources and improved overall patient health.
“Through this partnership with EQUIPP, our pharmacy teams really help improve medication adherence and provide that point of care testing for health plans, all of which at the end improves patient outcomes.”
A Quadruple Win: Collaboration in Healthcare
“(PQS) is very responsive to our needs and provides that critical data to help us make decisions and react accordingly. So by getting the data from EQUIPP and the analytics dashboard, in that, we can really start tailoring approaches and strategy, towards different plans, for different pharmacies, even down to the patient level.”
Nikki reveals how a collaborative approach in the healthcare industry is creating wins across the board. This innovative strategy benefits health plans, pharmacies, patients, and vendors alike.
Health Plans: Optimizing Costs and Improving Measures
Health plans are experiencing significant advantages through this collaborative model. By leveraging the expertise of providers and pharmacies, they’re able to decrease costs while simultaneously improving their star measures.
Pharmacies: Boosting Revenue and Job Satisfaction
For pharmacies, the benefits are twofold. Not only do they see an increase in reimbursement for their services, but they also gain the invaluable personal satisfaction that comes from directly impacting patient health.
Patients: The Ultimate Beneficiaries
“The patient wins ultimately,” Nikki emphasizes, “because they’re the receiver of these services, helping them keep healthy and maintain lifestyles that they’re used to.” This patient-centric approach ensures that those who need care the most are reaping the rewards of this collaborative effort.
Vendors: Bridging the Gap with Technology
Vendors like PQS play a crucial role in this equation. By harnessing the power of data and technology, they’re able to connect all parties across the healthcare industry, facilitating seamless communication and empowering success.
This quadruple win scenario demonstrates the power of collaboration in healthcare. By working together, we’re not just improving individual sectors – we’re revolutionizing the entire healthcare landscape.
Optimizing Pharmacy Programs: A Strategic Approach
Albertsons deploys a comprehensive strategy when implementing new pharmacy initiatives. The approach centers on three critical factors: patient impact, financial viability, and workflow integration.
Albertsons prioritizes understanding the rationale behind each initiative, ensuring their pharmacy teams are fully aligned with the patient-centric objectives of the programs. A thorough evaluation of the financial implications is conducted for each program to ensure its sustainability and value proposition. Operational efficiency is paramount, therefore, programs need to integrate seamlessly into our pharmacists’ existing workflows, thereby enhancing adoption rates and overall effectiveness.
Implementation strategy involves clearly communicating the patient-focused objectives to pharmacy teams, optimizing processes to maximize pharmacist efficiency, and conducting ongoing performance assessments. It is important to also explore opportunities for program expansion with payer partners.
The successful implementation of new programs requires coordinated efforts across multiple departments within Albertsons, including Managed Care, Clinical Services, Pharmacy Operations, and Systems and Information Technology. This cross-functional collaboration ensures a holistic approach to program development and execution.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians play a crucial role in executing these innovative programs. Their dedication and expertise are instrumental in delivering exceptional patient care and valuable services. They are the front-line implementers who bring these initiatives to life.
Embracing Primary Care Services
Nikki Price’s message to Pharmacies:
“Now is the opportune time to partner with payers and patients, as pharmacy has demonstrated that we can provide these services easily. You have to make it easy. You know, logistics are very key. You have to streamline it. But really as, we really need to get to a steady state, as more pharmacies get involved, the better it is for the pharmacy industry.”
Nikki Price’s message to Health Plans:
“We’re frontline. We’re convenient. We’re easy to use. But really we are a healthcare professional that has, you know, six years of experience or more depending upon either residency, a fellowship and so on that really can practice to the top of their license and provide these services so that health plans can improve their Star Measures.
As Star Measures evolve, health plans are going to need pharmacy that much more. Pharmacists are necessary for social determinants of health screenings, for blood pressure screenings, A1c, and managing the patient from a total disease state for diabetes. Pharmacies can work with health plans in these areas.
Health plans should also look at pharmacies within grocery stores that have that nutritional component.”
Nikki adds, “Health plans can look at us as a lower cost provider, an easy provider to use, more convenient, but also one that can provide the utmost greatest service, to their patients.”
Tap our expertise to improve patient and
business outcomes
With 10+ years of quality measurement expertise and deep pharmacy knowledge, PQS provides best-practices to develop innovative quality strategies to support more effective interventions.
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