Spotlight: Bradford Pease, PharmD CDOE, Medical Associates of Rhode Island on team-based pharmacy initiative

CTC-RI just launched its third Pharmacy Quality Improvement Initiative following the success of its last, which worked to reduce preventable hospitalizations and emergency department usage. Medical Associates of Rhode Island was among the practices that participated in 2021 to reduce preventable hospitalizations and ED usage through team-based care. We asked Bradford Pease, PharmD CDOE, Clinical Pharmacist, to share his experience. 

Why did you decide to participate in the Pharmacy Quality Improvement Initiative, and what did you hope to gain from it?

The Pharmacy Quality Improvement Initiative was an opportunity for us to develop a chronic disease management program that empowered the embedded pharmacist to practice at the top of their license and make individualized, data-driven therapeutic recommendations. We hoped to create a model that would be sustainable, accessible, and align with our efforts to provide high-quality, patient-centered care.

What was your team's specific focus area and why?

We elected to focus on the use of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in patients with uncontrolled hypertension at high risk for hospitalization and/or emergency department usage. Data suggests that ABPM correlates better with cardiovascular risk than in-office blood pressure readings. Patients at high risk for preventable hospitalizations or ED usage are better managed and more likely to stay out of the hospital by incorporating ABPM into the primary care setting.

What success did your team see throughout this initiative, and how will it impact your work moving forward?

Aside from the improvement in blood pressure control, I think the buy-in we received from patients and providers was one of our biggest successes. 87% of high-risk patients that were referred for ABPM during the Quality Initiative completed at least one ABPM study, resulting in at least two additional touch-points with the pharmacist. I believe that the high participation rate was due to the fact that our providers saw the value in recommending the service to their high-risk patients, and the fact that we were and are able to continue to offer the service at no cost to our patients thanks to the investment from CTC-RI.