Pharmacy Curricular Reform

Interprofessional Education

Community Outreach

Community Clinics

Helene Levens Lipton, PhDDepartment of Clinical Pharmacy, UCSF School of Pharmacy

Philip R. Lee Institute of Health Policy Studies, UCSF School of Medicine

Marilyn R. Stebbins, PharmDDepartment of Clinical Pharmacy, UCSF School of Pharmacy

Partners in D: Improving Medication Access for the Underserved

Co-Principal Investigators:

Curricular ReformChallenge: Health professional school curriculum is closely guarded and can be slow to react to new changes in health policy, even when policy will have a significant impact on health professionals, such as the passage of the Medicare Part D drug benefit.

Solution: Train and deploy a new workforce of highly skilled Part D pharmacist patient advocates by combining core concepts into required pharmacy coursework and offering advanced training in Part D through an elective open to all pharmacy students.

Results: Since 2007, ≥ 4,000 student pharmacists from seven

California schools of pharmacy received Part D lectures developed by Partners in D through their required and/or elective coursework.

Interprofessional EducationChallenge: An increasing burden of chronic disease

and use of prescription drugs often leads to cost-related nonadherence and health professionals lack training on

strategies to promote cost-effective prescribing.

Solution: Train pharmacy students to deliver clinically relevant lectures to multidisciplinary healthcare

professionals in a variety of settings, including medical grand rounds and physician resident seminars.

Results: Since 2008, ≥ 2,500 current and future prescribers

attended a lecture by Partners in D peer educators. The program has expanded to national audiences

and an additional peer educator lecture was developed due to learner demand.

Community OutreachChallenge: The Medicare Part D prescription drug

benefit gives patients an overwhelming number of plans to choose from; each with different payment structure,

formularies and design attributes and plans may change every year.

Solution: Train pharmacy students to provide efficient and cost-saving community interventions to reduce the

out-of-pocket prescription drug expenditures of Medicare beneficiaries.

Success: Since 2007, ≥ 2,500 underserved Medicare

beneficiaries have received individualized counseling statewide.

Expected out-of-pocket costs were reduced by 68% for those who elected to change Part D plans.

Enrolled ≥ 100 Part D beneficiaries into the low-income subsidy (LIS) program.

Primary Care TeamsChallenge: The inclusion of pharmacists on primary care teams can improve patient outcomes and cost-

effective medication-related care; however, pharmacists are often underutilized in this capacity.

Solution: Establish pharmacist-directed MTM clinics within team-based models of primary care to improve low-income Medicare patients’ access to needed medications, quality of care, and out-of-pocket health plan and drug expenditures.

Success: In the first year, 11 pharmacist-directed clinics were

developed and 571 low-income patients were helped.

72% of these patients achieved out-of-pocket cost savings (median = $42/month saved).

“I didn’t know pharmacists would go to this extent, where they would really work for me and with me…I feel better now…and I’m happier.”

-- SFGH clinic patient

“Learning about Part D was the most significant thing I did in pharmacy school. It made a personal impact on me… I saw how advocacy can carry over into many different settings.”

-- UCSF pharmacy student

“What we learned from pharmacy students today will affect the way I provide future care… I will try to be more aware and cognizant of what type of insurance people have and how that might affect their ability to purchase medication.”

-- UCSF medical student

“I have learned that establishing student-led education programs like this one is not only necessary… but it is also within reach and it can have an immense impact.”

-- UCSF pharmacy student

What is Partners in D?• California statewide research initiative to help underserved Medicare beneficiaries and health

professionals navigate the complex Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit• Collaborative program bringing the Part D expertise of pharmacists from seven California

schools of pharmacy to seniors, students and practitioners across health care disciplines• Comprehensive approach to education using four components:

o Curricular reformo Interprofessional educationo Community outreacho Primary care teams

• Funding was provided by the Amgen Foundation from 2007-2011; however, all four components have continued operation beyond the expiration of this initial grant funding

AWARDS AND HONORS: In 2011, Partners in D was awarded the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Student Community Engaged Service Award for 2011-2012. Timothy Cutler, PharmD, a Co-investigator, was the 2011 recipient of the Albert B. Prescott/Glaxo SmithKline Pharmacy Leadership Award from the American Pharmacists Association. The Partners in D Co-Principal Investigators, Marilyn Stebbins, PharmD and Helene Lipton, PhD, received the 2010 Jane Boggess Advancement of Pharmacy Practice Award from the Pharmacy Foundation of California and Dr. Stebbins was named the 2010 Innovative Pharmacist of the Year by the California Pharmacists Association. In 2012 at the National Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists meeting Meghan Frear, a Partners in D Peer Educator, won 1st place in the National Student Poster Award Section.