Category: Federal Forum Posters
Purpose: Appropriate prescribing of statin therapy for all diabetes patients has become an outpatient electronic quality measure (eQM) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As of fiscal year 2018 the Boise VA Medical center outcomes data indicated a lower than target percentage of diabetes patients between 40 and 75 years old receiving at least moderate-intensity statin therapy for this eQM. To improve this measure, a pharmacist-driven initiative will be implemented in the primary care clinics to identify eligible diabetes patients currently not receiving at least a moderate-intensity statin, and perform subsequent statin initiation or dose adjustments as appropriate.
Methods: A quality improvement study will be completed through reviewing diabetes patients identified by the eQM as not receiving a statin prescription with at least a moderate-intensity dose within the last 12 months. Patient lists will be distributed to clinical pharmacists at four local primary care clinics and five offsite outpatient clinics for the purpose of reviewing if patients may be appropriately initiated on statin therapy, or have current statin therapy adjusted to at least a moderate intensity dose. For eligible patients, pharmacists will perform an intervention by conducting a patient visit to initiate a statin or adjust the statin dose. Subsequent clinic visits and lab follow up will occur up as needed to ensure tolerability and safety. For patients who are not statin eligible or unable to take at least a moderate-intensity dose, the reason will be documented (i.e. previous adverse reactions, patient preference). For each patient reviewed, pharmacists will perform documentation with provided templates about statin therapy decisions, and receive workload credit through encounters and an outcome tool. After three months of this pharmacist-driven initiative, the same eQM will be reassessed and pharmacist interventions will be evaluated.
Results: None available as study has not begun.
Conclusion: None available as study has not begun.
Katherine Liu
– PGY1 Resident, Southern Arizona V.A. Health Care System, Tucson, AZ106 Views