Oncology pharmacist opportunities: Closing the gap in quality care.

Abstract

174 Background: The quality of care provided to oncology patients is beginning to be linked to hospital and practice payment models. Oncology pharmacy specialists are well trained to deliver high-quality oncology care, with a focus on the appropriate utilization and monitoring of medication therapy, patient education and collaboration with other healthcare team members. The extent to which the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) metrics identify specific areas in which pharmacists may enhance care is not known. These findings are important because Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designate QOPI as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) and over 1000 US-based oncology practices submit quality data to it. Methods: We reviewed all QOPI measures for potential oncology pharmacist involvement. We utilized a summary of services provided by board-certified oncology pharmacists to identify which services would best fit the care described by the selected QOPI measures. Three individuals identified the areas where pharmacists could contribute and consensus was reached. Metrics were only scored positively for pharmacist impact if they could be obtained via the pharmacist as the primary team member responsible for meeting the measure. Results: Two hundred QOPI quality measures from Fall 2016 were reviewed and 177 were analyzed. Potential areas of pharmacist impact were identified in 67 (38%) of the included metrics. These measures fell within 11 of the 13 possible categories of the service summary. A total of 147 services were identified for the 67 actionable metrics. Patient counseling and education (28%), symptom management and supportive care (23%), chemotherapy adjustment (10%), and participation in protocol-based care (10%) comprised services that most commonly contributed to the ASCO QOPI measure performance. Conclusions: Multiple opportunities exist for pharmacists to directly impact the quality metrics that are measured by the service summary. Focusing new services and patient care activities to address validated quality metrics is a natural next step in the care that oncology clinical pharmacists provide to patients.