(1230) Patient Care Services Provided Through a Clinically-integrated Network of Community Pharmacies Participating in a Pennsylvania Medicaid Managed Care Organization Multi-services Program

Objectives: The objective is to quantify patient care services provided by pharmacists in a clinically integrated network (CIN) of community pharmacies that participated in a Pennsylvania Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) multi-service payer program. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network (PPCN) is a CIN of over 200 community pharmacies providing enhanced patient care services. In 2022, PPCN established a single contract with a regional Medicaid MCO to provide ten patient care services to their members. These services included medication synchronization, medication reconciliation, adherence packaging, social determinants of health (SDOH) screening, SDOH referrals, health risk assessments, naloxone dispensing and education, COVID-19 vaccine gap closures, home medication delivery, and home visits for pharmacy services. Pharmacists documented the care provided using a pharmacist electronic care plan (eCarePlan) and were reimbursed for these services as designated in the payer contract.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of existing eCare plan data from August 2022 to May 2023 from the multi-service payer contract. Deidentified data to be analyzed includes number of participating pharmacists and pharmacies, number of patient encounters, encounter type (ie. initial visit or follow-up), encounter method (i.e. in-person, telephonic), and type of service provided. Data will be analyzed with SPSS, and descriptive statistics will be used to characterize the data. This project was reviewed by the University's IRB and was designated as not human subjects research.

Results: There were 18,205 patient encounters for eligible services among 84 participating PPCN pharmacies. Data analysis is ongoing.

Conclusions: Preliminary analysis demonstrates implementation of a Medicaid MCO multi-service payer program within a statewide clinically integrated network of community pharmacies. There is limited research that utilizes Pharmacist eCarePlan data from community pharmacists to evaluate the enhanced patient care services they provide. This new data source can serve as an essential tool to advocate for the role of community pharmacists. Community pharmacy networks across the nation can learn from Pennsylvania’s success with implementing multi-service payer program contracts. Participating pharmacies within multi-service payer programs can tailor services to meet the local needs of their patients and community.