Strengths
- Ongoing support from Franciscan Health pharmacy administration
- Long term goals of Franciscan Health pharmacy director for the next five years is to expand ambulatory care services which align with and promote our new program
- Pharmacists and residents have access to all inpatient and outpatient medical records through EPIC
- Pharmacists performing services will have substantial experience: PGY1 and PGY2 residencies in ambulatory care, pharmacotherapy, transitions of care, internal medicine, or equivalent experience working in these areas. They will have national certification with BCACP.
- Residents will be available to expand the number of patients being seen and will be available to perform follow up calls.
- Referral process in place to allow patients to be referred from many different health care professionals in many different settings.
- Utilization of existing exam room space in an existing established clinic cuts down on set up costs and rent
Weakness
- Limited space to see patients in Franciscan Health Diabetes and Endocrinology Center
- Dr. Kevin Buehrle will have to receive training on how to utilize the outpatient computer system since he is currently working inpatient
- Barriers to communicating with referring physicians because they can be inpatient, outpatient, and not always accessible in the clinic itself
- No collaborative practice agreement: pharmacist not able to prescribe or make changes in medication therapies
- Limited time for pharmacist to track progress of clinic, measure outcomes, and determine cost effectiveness
- Pharmacist will have to find time to bill for the services they provide.
Opportunities
- Some practitioners are willing to form a collaborative practice agreements in the future
- Physicians will be able to see more patients
- Better outcomes for patients: A1Cs and hospital readmissions
- Will create ambulatory care experiences for residents in training
- Patient knowledge about disease state and overall satisfaction will increase, increased quality of life
- Patients will be seen from a multidisciplinary approach to improve their outcomes
- Reimbursement for the clinic from meeting ACO measures
- With billing for a facility fee, there is opportunity to break even very quickly.
Threats
- Some prescribers and nurses not receptive to the pharmacist being on their team
- Patients might not show up to appointments/be receptive to sessions with the pharmacist
- Introduction of ACO members as patients may overrun clinic and space may be even more limited
- Residents are not certified in BCACP
- Pharmacist alone must track progress of clinic
- Promotion of our clinic to physicians/patients/and other medical professionals