(1130) Pharmacists’ Perspectives Towards a Mental Health Outreach Program Implemented to Promote Health Equity

Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess pharmacists’ perspectives towards the implementation of a program aimed at reducing mental health inequities by conducting a 45-day follow-up call to patients starting therapy with an antidepressant, anxiolytic, or antipsychotic medication.

In the United States, it is estimated that more than 1 in 5 adults suffer from a mental illness. Mental health illnesses can be treated with medications; however, not everyone has access to the proper treatment they need. Racial and ethnic minority groups often face barriers to getting adequate mental health treatment. Examples of barriers that prohibit ethnic minorities from receiving proper treatment include lack of insurance, language barriers, culturally competent providers, and mental illness stigma. Understanding the barriers that exist can allow healthcare providers to aid in eliminating mental health disparities and offer feasible solutions to patients regarding accessing adequate resources for treatment of psychiatric disorders.

In 2022, the Chicago Health Equity Incubator Phase 2 program was launched. The program was piloted over a 1-year span and focused on pharmacist consultation to patients living in communities with high rates of mental health disparities across eighteen pharmacies in Chicago. The program involved outreach calls made to patients who were newly prescribed an antidepressant, anxiolytic, or antipsychotic medication 45 days after the prescription was dispensed. Monthly feedback and discussion sessions were implemented for pharmacists to have the opportunity to give insights about the benefits and disadvantages of the program to better understand the challenges patients face with accessing and adhering to their medications so that pharmacists could offer impactful solutions.

Methods: A qualitative thematic analysis of ten thirty-minute recorded sessions of a group of pharmacists will be conducted. We will manually code for common themes relating to pharmacists’ perceived impact on improving health equity and supporting health equity needs of vulnerable patient populations. A standard question set was used to guide conversation regarding pharmacist perceptions about their experiences with the program. Questions that were asked during the group discussion session inquired about patients’ receptiveness to the pharmacists’ consultation, patient comfort level with the pharmacist, and overall thoughts on program success or challenges. The questions were asked to the group as a whole and pharmacists answered questions voluntarily. An analysis will be performed to identify any patterns from the phone calls and themes will be derived from the patterns found. IRB approval will be sought.

Results: Pending data analysis

Conclusions: Pending results