Examining, improving care coordination: Q&A with The Compliance Team founder and CEO Sandy Canally

In June, The Compliance Team will be rolling out its latest accreditation module, titled Patient Centered Pharmacy Home, that examines the care coordination between primary care facilities and retail pharmacy. Drug Store News recently sat down with Sandy Canally, founder and CEO of The Compliance Team, to get a sneak peek at the new accreditation and the opportunity that represents for pharmacy.

Drug Store News: What is the Patient Centered Pharmacy Home accreditation module, and how does it build on The Compliance Team’s Exemplary Provider-branded accreditation services?

Sandy Canally: We’re looking at the Patient Centered Pharmacy Home as a distinction so that [patients] in the community recognize the leaders in pharmacy, the patient champions if you will.  When Mrs. Smith comes to the pharmacy with a new hypertensive drug, for example, the management of Mrs. Smith’s medication is not only important for the pharmacy but the primary care physician, or the prescriber, as well. Because we accredit primary care practices, we have noted on the primary care side where the physician practice needs to not only have the pharmacy of record listed in Mrs. Smith’s medical record, but also whether they’re doing immunizations, medication management or disease state management. There’s a real opportunity and a need for better care coordination between the primary care center and pharmacy.

DSN: Does The Compliance Team make that connection through the accreditations?

Canally: That’s what we’re doing. We’re asking the physician practices to reach out to the pharmacy through our community pharmacy program anytime care coordination is needed. Remember the role of pharmacy has expanded over the years. They are providing more clinical services, and this goes hand in hand with the expansion of that role. … But, communication is key. So if the pharmacist that is in Brooklyn has been taking care of Mrs. Smith’s meds for the past 40  years, what better person to be an integral part of this patient-centered pharmacy home? The Patient Centered Pharmacy Home is [not only] in the neighborhood, but in the medical neighborhood where the care is coordinated transitionally for chronic disease and for better medication management. Through this accreditation distinction, these neighborhood pharmacies can be even better community leaders because they’re more involved with the whole spectrum of care for their patient.

DSN: By connecting primary care and retail pharmacy, does this new accreditation serve as a referral system, or does it serve as a facilitation of communication between pharmacy and prescriber?

Canally: It would do both. Reporting back to the payers, certainly with Star ratings and with emphasis on pharmacists becoming providers, this is an opportunity to show just how far [pharmacists] can go [in augmenting patient care]. And to your point, from a business perspective, getting referrals to pharmacies that are going to actually communicate back to the practice, that gets into what type of care management does an individual patient need. We know that pharmacists are spending a lot more time now counseling patients around disease states, [such as] diabetes, hypertension [and] asthma. This is an extension and reinforcement of that. It’s a great opportunity for care coordination and transition from one type of provider to another. … It’s exciting. It’s an exciting opportunity for many of the pharmacies to get this distinction for Patient Centered Pharmacy Home. … Business models are changing, whether it’s DME or pharmacy or, even with physician practices, with alternate payment models. And Patient Centered Medical Home is part of that. With patient-centered care …, care coordination practices are getting additional payment for that care coordination.

DSN: What’s the bottom line?

Canally: The Patient Centered Pharmacy Home designation would give the pharmacy another “quality validated brand” by a third-party, nationally recognized accreditation organization. ... It is an integrated part of them meeting standards for everyday pharmacy services, ... depending on what else they are accredited for. It also sends the message to their patients, prescribers and payers that they are focused on patient-centered care that is coordinated and managed to achieve the best patient outcome.