Abstract 4137479: Integrating Ambulatory Care Pharmacists into Value-Based Primary Care: A Scalable Model for Addressing Cardiometabolic Disease

Background: Chronic disease is common, costly, and complicated. In the shift to value-based payment models, interventions to engage patients and improve disease control are necessary to reduce morbidity, mortality, and cost. The use of ambulatory pharmacists has demonstrated improved management of chronic diseases. Traditionally, ambulatory pharmacists are employed by healthcare systems. In this study, we test if integrating ambulatory pharmacists hired, trained, and managed by a retail pharmacy into value-based primary care (VBPC) clinics improves care. Hypothesis: Integrating a Walgreens pharmacist empowered by collaborative drug therapy management agreements (CDTM) into Village Medical (VMD) clinics will improve indicators of chronic disease control. Aims: Improve hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measurements in patients with hypertension (HTN). Methods: An ambulatory pharmacist was embedded into VMD clinics in Phoenix, Arizona under the supervision of VMD primary care providers via a CDTM. The pharmacist provided education, coaching, and medication management by prescribing and titrating therapies for treating T2D and HTN - enabled by access to pharmacy dispensing data. β was generated from difference-in-differences (DID) analyses with propensity score matched controls. Results: 125 patients had T2D, and 43 patients had HTN in the intervention group with 250 and 86 in the matched control group, respectively. The mean age was 65 years, 54% were female, 2% non-English speaking, and 29% racial/ethnic minorities. The average baseline HbA1c was 9% in the intervention group and 10% in the matched cohort. The average baseline SBP was 146 mmHg in the intervention group and 142 mmHg in the matched cohort. The β in the T2D group was -1.61% (p<0.001) while the β in the HTN group was -10.2 mmHg (p<0.01) for SBP and -2.0 mmHg (p=0.42) for DBP. Conclusion: We saw significant reductions in SBP and HbA1c in the pharmacist-managed group compared with matched controls. These results demonstrate that pharmacist integration into VBPC clinics may improve measures of chronic disease known to be associated with morbidity and mortality.