Optimizing patient outcomes: Health plans and pharmacists summit: Meeting proceedings

Abstract

Objective: To convene a group of experts to define the value pharmacists provide to health plans, barriers to covering pharmacists' patient care services, and scalable solutions to cover pharmacists' services, specifically in the medical benefit.

Methods: The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) convened 31 experts, including physicians and pharmacists representing health plans (HPs), and pharmacist practitioners (PP) or organizations representing PPs for a strategic summit on May 16 to May 17, 2022, in Washington DC and Arlington, VA. A presummit survey was conducted to identify participants' perspectives on the value proposition of pharmacists and barriers to coverage for services. Day 1 of the summit featured a keynote presentation focused on the future of pharmacist-provided care. The second day included a framing session on the current state of coverage for pharmacists' services and the results of the presummit survey; four panel presentations on innovative HP program coverage; three breakout sessions to gather participant feedback on their experiences; and a final session prioritizing action items into an initial timeline of goals. A postsummit survey was fielded to rank feasibility and importance of opportunities and next steps for advancing coverage of pharmacists' services.

Result: In general, there appeared to be consensus throughout the summit on the need to expand payer programs covering patient care services provided by pharmacists and the importance of continued collaboration between PPs and HPs to increase patient access to care. Participants highlighted a need for legislative and regulatory changes at the state and federal level for the expansion of some programs; however, there were many opportunities to expand programs without the need for public policy changes.

Conclusion: The summit was a groundbreaking meeting between PPs and HPs that provided the foundation for collaboration and expansion of programs covering pharmacists' patient care services under the medical benefit. Key takeaways from the summit focused on the need for scaling programs; establishing mutually beneficial programs for patients, PPs, and HPs; and the need for partnership and flexibility from PPs and HPs as programs continue to establish and expand.