Helping community pharmacies reduce healthcare gaps in medical deserts across the country is especially critical during these times. Notably, it remains a core goal of Seguridad and our sister organization, CPESN Community Health.
One recent project focused on improving access to preventative healthcare services for cardiovascular disease patients in rural communities. CPESN CH partnered with the team at the NCPA Innovation Center on this initiative, supported by Bristol Myers Squibb.
The project focused on providing stroke risk assessments as well as screenings for atrial fibrillation. Longitudinal follow-ups focused on determining a patient’s health-related social needs. Let’s examine the results of this effort and its potential impact on healthcare delivery throughout the country.
The Importance of Closing Rural Healthcare Gaps
Many rural areas in the country suffer from a lack of healthcare resources. This is especially the case in the Southeast, the target region of this project. NCPA CEO Douglas Hoey commented on this fact in an article on the project in Drug Store News.
“In this part of the country, like most of rural America, independent community pharmacies are often the only accessible healthcare providers,” noted Hoey. Without close access to doctors, the local pharmacy provides the only regular contact with healthcare providers for many patients.
Pharmacists screening patients for cardiovascular disease offers many tangible benefits.
This issue highlights the goal of the project in providing cardiovascular disease patients with essential healthcare support. In fact, the area of the country covered by the effort is known as the “Stroke Belt” due to its higher rates of stroke mortality.
Let’s analyze the results of this initiative and its most important findings.
Examining the Results of the CPESN CH Cardiovascular Disease Initiative
Exploring the results of this project provides useful insights on its overall efficacy. Here are some of the most illuminating numbers from the initiative:
· The project included 25 pharmacies, spanning six states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.
· These pharmacies employed 111 Community Health Workers (CHWs), in addition to typical pharmacy staff.
· 11,188 patient encounters were logged for 9,820 patients across 694 ZIP codes.
· Over 20,000 interventions were provided, illustrating that many patients had multiple interventions per encounter.
· 6,157 patient encounters occurred at the pharmacy; 3,562 occurred via telehealth, and 1,469 occurred at the home or community event.
Beyond those numbers, the study illustrated the growing importance of the pharmacy as a provider of direct patient care. The project’s proactive approach to patient engagement resulted in improved early detection of various cardiovascular conditions. As a result, patients enjoyed better long-term health outcomes, with improved cost savings across the healthcare delivery ecosystem.
For more information on this project and details on the subsequent findings, check out the report on our website. The following quotes are from this report, serving well as a summary of the project’s success.
“The return on investment of paying a pharmacy for stroke and atrial fibrillation screening is profound. Data shows that $35,000 is saved in cost avoidance for every person with undiagnosed atrial fibrillation identified and connected to care. In six months, the 25 rural pharmacies were able to generate $14.1 million in cost savings from atrial fibrillation screenings.” – Project Report
“I don’t know if words can describe the difference that this program has made for our patients’ overall quality of care. We were able to identify patients with atrial fibrillation who would not have been able to get access to care due to rural health inadequacies. Over 650 patients benefited from this program. Out of 650 patients, we had over 500 patients who underwent stroke screenings and were provided education. We had over 650 NMDOH instances over the course of the program.” – Participating Pharmacist
