Pharmacy Quality Alliance and AJPB Forge New Partnership in 2015

PRESS RELEASE

SPRINGFIELD, VA (January 20, 2015) - The Pharmacy Quality Alliance and The American Journal of Pharmacy Benefits (AJPB) are pleased to announce a partnership in which PQA will contribute a new column to each AJPB issue entitled, Medication Quality Matters. This new column, published six times per year, will provide AJPB readers an opportunity to better understand the new performance measures that focus on the appropriate and safe use of medication and medication management services.

The monthly column in AJPB will begin with an article entitled, Medication Management: Measuring What Matters. This first article was authored by a team of professionals, including the lead author, Marie Smith, RPh, PhD, and PQA's Performance Measurement Team: Lynn Pezzullo, RPh; Julie Kuhle, RPh; and Woody Eisenberg, MD. The article outlines several different types of quality measures available to healthcare organizations, some of which are tied to medications while others are not.

The authors discuss the fact that while hundreds of measures are used in today's healthcare delivery system, many “care gaps” still exist. Room remains for new performance measures that can differentiate provider performance, address critical patient safety issues, and define high performance teams.

Laura Cranston, RPh, Executive Director for PQA stated that, “PQA is pleased to become the newest regular contributor to the journal and we look forward to adding valuable and timely content on the growing number of key performance measures being used in our healthcare system today, as well as to discussions on the impact these metrics are having on the overall improvement of patients’ care. We are also pleased that AJPB will be distributed to those organizations that are part of PQA's full membership that would like to receive this publication.”

Brian Haug, president of Managed Markets, which publishes AJPB, noted that both groups are dedicated to seeking the input of many stakeholders and bringing these groups together to advance the healthcare agenda. “We have found a partner who not only shares our healthcare mission but also shares our approach to working with people,” Haug said. "We look forward to working with PQA on the journal and on many more initiatives.”

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About PQA

Established in 2006, PQA represents pharmacy providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, academia, consumer advocates, community pharmacies, health technology vendors, pharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies, and other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of the medication-use system.PQA’s mission is to:

Improve the quality of medication management and use across health care settings with the goal of improving patients’ health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.

PQA provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluating the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to healthcare improvement initiatives. For more information about the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, please visit www.PQAalliance.org or contact us at (703) 690-1987.