Effective Health Care Delivery Models, Partnerships Can Ease Burden of Diabetes

Jasmine Perry, PharmD, CPHQ, emphasized the need for sustainable health care delivery models that involve community pharmacists who can reach underserved populations in an interview with Pharmacy Times® at NACDS TSE. Perry also discussed how the relationship between Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN) is building better and thorough models of treatment.

Pharmacy Times®: What more needs to be done – both in the research and care spaces – to better serve marginalized populations who can be disproportionately affected by diabetes?

Jasmine Perry, PharmD, CPHQ: That’s a really great question. So, I think we've made a lot of progress in the research around marginalized communities and diabetes specifically. So, we have done a lot of work, but I do think more work can be done, specifically around patient-reported outcomes. So, getting insight from the communities that we serve about their wants, their needs, their ideas around their diabetes care. So truly understanding the point of view of the communities that we're working with. Beyond that, we need to do a better job of documenting social needs and connecting members or patients with community-based organizations. And then lastly, we need to do a better job of documenting demographic information. So, if we don't have the data, we can't have impact. So documenting things like race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, all of these things have dramatic impact, disability status, and if we can document, we can understand and then better have more, not only impact, but strategic impact to impact these communities.

Pharmacy Times: Are there examples of effective health care delivery models that you've encountered over your career that you can feel can optimize diabetes care?

Perry: So, lots of health care delivery models exist, but they typically exist outside of community pharmacy. One of the organizations that we partnered with for More Than a Script, Blue Cross NC, we partnered with the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network, or CPESN, and one of their health care delivery models that has been truly impactful in community pharmacy is the appointment-based model. So, we know pharmacists primarily are reimbursed for dispensing medications, so making sure people have access to their medicines. So how do we implement clinical programs in a space where the primary business model is based on dispensing medications? So, the appointment-based model takes a team-based approach. What can technicians do? What can the pharmacists do? How do we have a team-based approach to have impact, to limit workflow interruptions? So, I think the most significant health care delivery model that we've utilized in More Than a Script is that appointment-based model recommended by CPESN.

Pharmacy Times: Do you feel that research – and the insights gained from research – can have an impact at the policy level?

Perry: Sure. So at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, we're really big believers in research and that data and the conclusions from the research can have impact. So, when policy makers are thinking about their important decisions, we truly hope that they do center the research that exists, specifically around diabetes care and underserved communities. And we hope that programs like More Than a Script can be an example of how you can take research and implement a strategic program that can have impact. So, we hope that policymakers do the same thing that we do; look at the research and then think holistically about the impacts that it can have on the people they serve.

Pharmacy Times: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Perry: I think the biggest thing I want people to take away from this is that when we are making decisions about underserved communities and diabetes care, that we ground our work or center our work on the voices of the communities that are impacted. So, at Blue Cross, we make sure that we have a true understanding of these communities. We don't want to come in and make decisions for them. We want to hear their voices. So, we hope that when other organizations are thinking about implementing work that will impact underserved communities, that they do the same; just center the voices of the people that are impacted. And if you do want to learn more about our newly launched program, More Than a Script, that can have impact in underserved communities, feel free to visit our website at BlueCrossNC.com/morethanascript, or you can send us an email with any questions that you have, so MoreThanAScript@BCBSNC.com.