High patient satisfaction
Patients reported high satisfaction with the in-house pharmacy on the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy’s patient satisfaction survey. In the survey, the average score was 82, compared with 79 for external specialty pharmacies.
“Moreover, patients were highly satisfied with the services provided at the pharmacy and were likely to continue receiving their comprehensive pharmacy care at our institution,” the researchers reported.
The study “highlights the value of pharmacists’ involvement in patient care and supports the need for continuation of integrated clinical services in health system specialty pharmacy,” the investigators noted.
CMSC President Scott D. Newsome, DO, director of the Neurosciences Consultation and Infusion Center at Green Spring Station, Lutherville, Maryland, and associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said that as a clinician, he is highly satisfied with the specialty pharmacy services for MS at Johns Hopkins.
“Our pharmacists are fantastic in communicating with the prescriber if something comes up related to medication safety or they are concerned that the patient isn’t adhering to the medication,” Dr. Newsome said.
He noted that in addition to helping to alleviate the burden of a myriad of tasks associated with prescribing for patients with MS, specialty pharmacists may have an important impact on outcomes, although more data are needed.
“Having a specialty pharmacy involved in the care of our patients can help navigate the challenges associated with the process of obtaining approval for DMTs,” he said. “We know how important it is to expedite and shorten the time frame from writing the prescription to getting the person on their DMT.”
Telemedicine, other models
Although integrated specialty pharmacist services may seem out of reach for smaller MS clinics, the use of telemedicine and other models may help achieve similar results.
“A model I have seen is having pharmacists split their time between a specialty pharmacy and the MS clinic,” said Dr. Montgomery.
“A telemedicine model can also be utilized, in which a pharmacist can reach out to patients by telephone or through video visits. This would allow a pharmacist to be utilized for multiple clinics or as an MS specialist within a specialty pharmacy,” she added.
Whether provided in house or through telemedicine, a key benefit for clinicians is in freeing up valuable time, which has a domino effect in improving quality all around.
“In addition to improving safety outcomes, specialty pharmacists help with the allocation of clinic staff to other clinic responsibilities, and the utilization of services by patients results in more resources allocated for their care,” Dr. Montgomery said.
Dr. Montgomery is a nonpromotional speaker for Novartis and is on its advisory board.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.