Posts for Category: PQA Blogs

PQA has created a new Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Resource Guide that profiles real-world SDOH services that are promising for improving the quality and safety of medication use with a focus on screenings, referrals and interventions conducted by or involving pharmacists or pharmacies. Richard Schmitz, PQA’s Chief Engagement Officer, provides insights on the guide, […]

by Laura Cranston PQA’s Strategic Plan for 2021 is focused on three, timely initiatives for medication use quality: the social determinants of health, innovative pathways for measure development, and immunization services. PQA’s Strategic Plans historically have covered three-year periods. Our current plan will reach its successful conclusion at the end of 2020. As we contemplated […]

by Kate Starr Anna Legreid Dopp, Senior Director of Clinical Guidelines and Quality Improvement at ASHP, spoke at PQA’s Data and Interoperability Advisory Group (DIAG) meeting on June 22. She discussed Electronic Clinical Quality Measures (eCQMs) and how we can use them to start thinking about pharmacy measures. ASHP is the organization that represents pharmacists […]

by Kate Starr Amber Baybayan, a Senior Clinical Services Associate at OutcomesMTM, spoke at PQA’s Data and Interoperability Advisory Group (DIAG) meeting on June 22. She discussed data integration in medication therapy management. This blog provides an overview of Baybayan’s presentation. You can view a recording of the DIAG meeting and read more about it […]

by Kate Starr Shelly Spiro, Executive Director at Pharmacy HIT Collaborative, spoke at PQA’s Data and Interoperability Advisory Group (DIAG) meeting on June 22. She discussed the importance of data standards for collecting and sharing information about pharmacist-provided patient care and services. This blog provides an overview of Spirio’s presentation. You can view a recording […]

by Kate Starr Josh Howland, Vice President of Clinical Strategy at PioneerRX, provided a presentation on the Pharmacist eCare Plan (Plan) at PQA’s Data and Interoperability Advisory Group (DIAG) meeting on June 22. This blog provides an overview of Howland’s presentation. You can view a recording of the DIAG meeting and read more about it […]

CPESN® USA is the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network. It is a clinically integrated network of community pharmacies that coordinates patient care with broader care teams to provide medication optimization activities and enhanced services for high-risk patients.  At PQA’s Data and Interoperability Advisory Group (DIAG) meeting on June 22, Cody Clifton, Director of Practice Transformation at […]

Data are the lifeblood of quality improvement. Evaluating quality and comparing providers or organizations requires consistent, reliable data – and you need access to that data. Unfortunately, in our fractured health care system, data is collected differently and inconsistently across a host of important health care issues. And, to make matters more challenging, getting access […]

by Richard Schmitz The 2020 PQA Leadership Summit was a one-day, online event, November 5, focused on the social determinants of health. The event engaged summit attendees to help PQA determine the scope and focus of an SDOH resource guide that PQA will develop in 2021. PQA is focused on SDOH interventions that hold promise […]

by Freshta Rosario PQA is a non-profit organization with 250 diverse members across healthcare. Our members include community and specialty pharmacy organizations, pharmacists and other healthcare providers, pharmacies, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, life sciences, technology vendors, government agencies, health information technology partners, researchers, accrediting organizations and academia. New organizations regularly join PQA throughout the […]

by Richard Schmitz PQA is a non-profit organization with 250 diverse members across healthcare. Our members include community and specialty pharmacy organizations, pharmacists and other healthcare providers, pharmacies, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, life sciences, technology vendors, government agencies, health information technology partners, researchers, accrediting organizations and academia. New organizations regularly join PQA throughout the […]

by Richard Schmitz Sachin Jain, MD, MBA, FACP, is President and CEO of SCAN Group and SCAN Health Plan. A nationally recognized innovator in health care, Jain joined SCAN this summer, where he is focused on pioneering new ways of improving quality and maintaining affordability for older adults. Jain will participate in the opening discussion […]

by Richard Schmitz Lisa Hines is PQA’s Vice President for Performance Measurement. She provides strategic direction for PQA’s performance measurement initiatives, including PQA’s approach to developing quality measures. Hines participated in a recent Quality Corner Show podcast to discuss PQA’s measure development process, which was recently updated. The podcast is hosted by Pharmacy Quality Solutions, […]

by Laurel Glenn, PMP, CPCM The PQA Quality Forum Webinar is a regular, recurring series on healthcare quality topics with a focus on medication use and medication services. It is a forum for educating and engaging with PQA members and quality-focused healthcare professionals. On March 12, 2020, Lucas Schulz, PharmD, BCIDP, an Infectious Diseases Clinical […]

by Brittany Jennings PQA, the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and Janssen Scientific Affairs have collaborated to jointly host a “Postdoctoral Fellowship in Real World Evidence, Population Health, and Quality Research.” The two-year fellowship aims to prepare an individual for a career in healthcare quality-related outcomes research. The inaugural fellow is Sabree Burbage, PharmD, MPH, a University of North […]

by Laurel Glenn, PMP, CPCM The PQA Healthcare Quality Innovation Challenge (HQIC) is an annual national collegiate competition where student teams present technology-enabled solutions to improve healthcare quality. With the support of a faculty or pharmacy professional mentor, participating student teams develop a business summary proposal for their solution to one of three prompts provided […]

by Chris Kotschevar Our nation’s universities and academic institutions educate and train the healthcare quality workforce. More than 40 colleges and schools of pharmacy are PQA members and they are important partners in our work to advance medication use quality, especially in education. I want to highlight three important opportunities for our academic members to […]

by Richard Schmitz PQA is developing a set of standard pharmacy performance measures that would be appropriate for pharmacy accountability. This work began in early 2019 in response to interest from our members and policymakers in standard measures to evaluate the quality of pharmacies and assess pharmacist-provided care and pharmacy-based services. The focus of PQA’s […]

by Richard Schmitz PQA offers a new online continuing education and certificate program on Medication Use Quality. The program provides advanced training on quality measurement and strategies to improve medication safety, adherence and appropriate use. Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, nurses and physicians can earn 15 accredited continuing education hours through the program.   The program empowers healthcare […]

by Emily Brock The PQA Quality Forum Webinar is a regular, recurring series on healthcare quality topics with a focus on medication use and medication services. It is a forum for educating and engaging with PQA members and quality-focused healthcare professionals. Interest in telehealth has skyrocketed with the COVID-19 and many advocates hope it will […]

Pharmacist-provided care, as a part of patient-centered team-based care, has an important role to play in improving access to care, patient experiences and health outcomes. The COVID crisis has multiplied the importance and urgency of access to high-quality care, especially among vulnerable populations and individuals with hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions. These […]

Chris Kotschevar is the 2020-21 PQA Executive Fellow. He is a PharmD graduate from South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions. Kotschevar joined PQA in June and has hit the ground running, helping to finalize and launch projects such as PQA’s Medication Use Quality continuing education and certificate program and the […]

Statement by PQA CEO Laura Cranston, RPh “After 15 years of leading PQA from a start-up organization to the nation’s only organization solely dedicated to optimizing health by advancing the quality of medication use, I will step down as CEO by the end of the year. This is a planned transition that will ensure PQA’s […]

Every session from the 2020 PQA Annual Meeting is now available to be viewed on demand in PQA’s new Education Center. Access to these recordings is available exclusively to individuals who registered to attend the meeting and PQA members. If you registered to attend the meeting, check your email for details on how to access […]

The PQA Annual Meeting continues on May 28 with the first of five weekly one-hour online sessions. Each week features a new educational session and an innovation theater, which is a commercial showcase of an organization’s innovations, technology, services or research. All sessions take place on the 2020 PQA Annual Meeting website. Use the same […]

The 2020 PQA Annual Meeting Poster Session will be presented online May 6 and 7 through two one-hour events. Our members have been hard at work developing the research that will be presented during the Poster Session, and we’re happy to provide a platform for showcasing their work! The Poster Session is open to all Annual […]

by Richard Schmitz The 2020 PQA Annual Meeting starts in two weeks on Wednesday, May 13. If you haven’t made plans to join us, register today! All of the meeting sessions you would experience at our in-person meeting will be delivered online.  The meeting takes place May 13-15 through five 90-minute sessions. If you can’t be […]

by Richard Schmitz PQA announced on Monday that the National Quality Forum has endorsed three PQA risk-adjusted adherence measures. These measures are used in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Part D Star Ratings Program, and they evaluate adherence to medications for diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol. The updated measures include a valid […]

As the nation’s most accessible health care professionals — and through telehealth — pharmacists are being empowered to provide critical patient services; however, this work is not without risk, which also needs to be addressed. PQA members are advocating for and supporting pharmacists as our health system’s medication experts. They are: PQA Members in Action […]

Drug Shortages – and COVID-19 Early refills, drug substitutions, off-label use and supply chain interruptions may all contribute to drug shortages sparked by the COVID-19 crisis. PQA members are anticipating and responding to potential drug shortages. Here are some of the ways they’re taking action. This list is far from exhaustive and will be updated […]

Access to Care Social distancing, unemployment and current or anticipated financial difficulties for millions of Americans are affecting access to care and access to medications. PQA members are taking steps to overcome and eliminate the barriers that reduce patient access to care during the COVID crisis. Those efforts include: PQA Members in Action America’s Health […]

Every PQA member is involved in the fight against COVID-19, which is affecting every aspect of healthcare, including medication use quality. PQA wants to share with you some of the ways our member are addressing COVID challenges as the relate to: This week, we will debut an individual blog post dedicated to each of these three areas. […]

Laura Cranston, RPhPQA Chief Executive Officer The COVID-19 crisis is greatly affecting medication use, services and quality. Early refills, potential shortages, drug substitutions, reduced clinical visits and looming financial challenges for patients will all have an impact on medication adherence, patient outcomes and quality measure performance. At the same time, the expansion of telehealth services […]

PQA is launching a blog. It’s a new information channel to keep you updated on our work — in measure development, research, education and convening. We will share new information, additional commentaries and context for our initiatives to improve medication safety and appropriate use. If you have suggestions for topics, let us know: communications@PQAalliance.org. Also, […]