Ready for Action: Advancing Pharmacy Interoperability

Interoperability continues to be one of those big buzzwords in the healthcare technology space.

For good reason: achieving interoperability is an important goal for organizations who care for patients –ensuring timely delivery of patient care, better tools for clinical decision making and a safer patient experience.

Beyond the word “interoperability” itself, what we really mean is patients, clinicians and care managers are better connected to seamlessly share information that supports patient care allowing for more efficient and effective collaboration across healthcare.

But, in order to achieve this goal, everyone who has a role in caring for patients must be connected.

The News:

That’s why the NCPDP Foundation recently funded a study on the current state of pharmacy interoperability. The report that was released by the researcher provides an assessment of the challenges along with actionable steps to ensure pharmacy is represented in all efforts to meet this goal of true interoperability in healthcare.

• Researcher Point-of-Care Partners (POCP) based its takeaways and recommendations on interviews with leaders across the industry, including technology vendors, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) and Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs), pharmacies, and industry associations.

Pharmacy Interoperability: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Current Landscape

Better quality, safer and less costly healthcare starts with clinicians having access to comprehensive patient intelligence. As more pharmacists are becoming integrated members of the patient care team, alongside physicians, it’s more important that they are all working from the same clinical insights.

• In a study, pharmacists and other clinicians agree that it is somewhat or very difficult to share patient information securely and confidently with other care providers (46% of pharmacists and 31% of other clinicians)
• About one-third of pharmacists feel their current position allows them to offer patients all the care they need (36%)

According to the NCPDP Foundation report, “Pharmacy is a crucial area for interoperability inclusion to improve patient outcomes, improve patient coordination, and reduce care and medication costs.”

The POCP report states that pharmacists “recognize that every aspect of their practice, from medication dispensing, care coordination, patient counseling, and permissible clinical services, revolves around improving the health of patients. Interoperability ensures seamless access to complete medical histories across different healthcare providers, leading to more accurate and efficient care. Interoperability reduces the risk of errors by providing up-to-date information, essential for informed decision-making.”

The State of Play:

In support of advancing nationwide interoperability of electronic health information, healthcare organizations are gaining greater access to clinical records by connecting to Qualified Health Information Networks®(QHIN^TM) as part of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement^TM(TEFCA^TM), as laid out in the 21st Century Cures Act.

• This initiative initially focused on connecting health systems, physicians and care managers to exchange needed clinical information that supported their ability to care for patients.
• Pharmacy must also prioritize interoperability. By doing so, they enable pharmacists to provide more clinical services and collaborate with payers and other providers more effectively.

Zoom In:

Challenges, including an increasing need for data exchange to better enable evolving pharmacy practice, a lack of standardized data, outdated pharmacy systems that are not adequately integrated with electronic health records, stood out to researchers, according to the report.

The report also highlights real promise in the actions it recommends, including improving collaboration among clinicians and care providers, enabling greater emphasis on adopting industry standards and embracing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and greater automation can help pharmacy to be part of the solution to meaningfully advance healthcare interoperability.

What They Are Saying:

• Surescripts’ Melanie Marcus previously stated, “this initiative comes at a critical time as pharmacists are more regularly practicing at the full scope of their education and training, filling gaps and caring for patients as part of a care team in communities across the country. Ensuring pharmacists have access to key patient intelligence will empower them to continue delivering better quality, safer, and less costly care for the patients in their care.”
• J.W. Hill, MBAHCM, Executive Director of the NCPDP Foundation, also said, “Surescripts has played a very important role over the last two years in advancing NCPDP Foundation initiatives that support pharmacist-provided patient care services and the need for standardized data to be readily available and documented bi-directionally. This white paper is a pivotal step in identifying opportunities for improved interoperability and the active engagement of pharmacists as part of the patient’s care team.”

“In 2025, collaboration will help healthcare heal itself and it will also support the role of pharmacists as part of an evolving care team—all while increasing patient safety, lowering costs and ensuring quality care for patients across the country.”

Frank Harvey

Chief Executive Officer at Surescripts

What’s Ahead:

QHIN^TM connectivity has brought new life to the word interoperability as it expands the realm of clinical information accessible to healthcare organizations across the nation. It can also enable pharmacies to tap into the expanded reach of clinical information—and all in workflow.

• According to the report, “the path forward will require continued collaboration, innovation, and a steadfast focus on patient-centered care.”