The Role of Specialty Pharmacists in Value-Based Care

Mike Agostino, RPh, President of the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP), discusses the specialty pharmacist's role in taking a value-based approach to patient care.

Transcript

We’re going fast and furious on that value-based approach. We’re starting to see more of the importance than ever before of the differentiation of interacting with the patient rather than just the dispensing. So, I don’t mean to make light of the profession in that regard. What that simply means from my perspective is that if it’s not documented, it didn’t really happen, so the ability to collect data in a flexible format. Not typically a drop-down, pick and choose a particular word, but really some in-depth free-text approaches that document the impacts your having on a patient’s care and how you are controlling costs.

Frankly, just making sure that patients are aware of what to expect when they start new therapy and try to minimize any type of adherence issues. At the end of the day, that adds to the bottom of being fiscally responsible in the industry. Making sure that patients understand not only what to expect, but how to access their medications. So there’s a lot in there, but I would say if I were to summarize it, it’s the ability show your value and how you are as a practitioner within specialty pharmacy, doing your darndest to mitigate costs. Having that response of understanding that there’s a heavy out-of-pocket that’s typically coming from a patient but then also too at the other end there is another payer involved and what are we doing as specialty pharmacy practitioners to make sure that we’re being mindful of that in the same stride of approaching our clinical skillsets to make sure our patients really understand what they’re doing and how to take they’re medications appropriately.