Pharmacy Project Proposal : Medication Synchronization Program

Walgreens Pharmacy Project Proposal Medication Synchronization Program Initial Phase Sibe Delisi, Pharm.D. Candidate 2016 November 2015 Module 3 — Community Rotation Preceptor: Gordon Leav, Pharm.D. Practice Location: Walgreens Pharmacy #3072 641 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60654 I. Introduction A typical pharmacy model includes patients bringing in a new prescription or calling the pharmacy if and when they remember to get their prescriptions refilled. The pharmacy staff answers phone calls, contact physicians, waits an unspecified amount of time before the physicians’ offices call back, and then the prescription order is filled. The expectation is then that the patient arrives at the pharmacy to pick up his medications. While this model has been around for many, many years, it is wildly inefficient. Patients with multiple prescriptions call the pharmacy multiple times per month, which leads to multiple repetitions of the process described above. This leads to a number of unknowns and the pharmacy staff is bombarded with multiple hurdles to overcome and most importantly, the workload is significantly increased. There is a lack of ability to track patients with chronic disease states and multiple medications.2 Furthermore, adherence rates are not tracked due to lack of time, and health outcomes are less than optimal.3,4 This prompts one to ponder – what can be done differently to help free up the workflow while promoting medication adherence?