PROVIDENCE — Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s Patient-Centered Pharmacy Program has reaped $15.9 million in health care cost savings since its launch in 2014 by allowing pharmacists to operate at the full limit of their licenses to more fully involve them in healthcare delivery.
“A pharmacist’s role today goes far beyond filling and dispensing medication and prescriptions,” said Beth Hebert-Silvia, BCBSRI’s managing director of pharmacy. “Pharmacists are a core part of the healthcare delivery team, collaborating with patients and providers around treatment plans that are often complex and require strict adherence. The Patient-Centered Pharmacy Program empowers pharmacists to identify and close gaps in care, improving patient health while creating a more streamlined care process.”
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Hebert-Silvia said pharmacists in the program are allowed to perform a number of medical functions:
- Modify treatment
- Stop treatment
- Recommend options for beginning treatment
- Order labs for drug effectiveness and safety
- Provide member education
- Disease management protocols
- Provider education
- Close gaps in care
- Recommend alternative drugs
“All things that pharmacists are capable of doing when you allow them to operate at the top of their license,” Hebert-Silvia said.
Pharmacists performing these duties for patients, with the approval of the patients’ physicians, help reduce costs and avoid errors. In some cases, the pharmacists are preventing very serious errors.
For example, Hebert-Silvia said, one pharmacist reviewing lab results they had ordered for one patient taking Coumadin, a blood thinner, showed there was far too much of the substance in her bloodstream.
A quick consult with the patient revealed she had mistaken her doctor’s instructions, taking five 5mg pills instead of one 5mg pill, Hebert-Silvia said. The pharmacist immediately prescribed an antidote, saving the woman’s life.
According to the RI Division of Elderly Affairs, the state has a large number of older residents. With 322,893 residents aged 50 and older, or about 30.2 percent of the population, Rhode Island is ranked No. 9 in the nation for the highest number of older residents.
The relatively large percentage of older residents offered an opportunity to increase patient engagement, lower costs, and improve transitions of care and health outcomes, Hebert-Silvia said.
The program has also won recognition from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s FAST Network, which has awarded BCBSRI with its first Best Practices Prize. The award recognizes Blue Plan innovations that improve quality and value for members they serve in government business – Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.
Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.
