Impact of the 2016 Policy Change on the Delivery of MedsCheck Services in Ontario: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis

Medication reviews in community pharmacy: a scoping review of policy, practice and research in Canada

Objectives

This scoping review aims to systematically map the empirical evidence on publicly funded medication reviews provided by community pharmacists in Canada and identify gaps that could inform future research directions.

Methods

We used a scoping review framework and PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews to conduct the study. Three electronic databases were searched for papers published between January 2000 until August 2020. Data was charted on study characteristics, and a thematic synthesis was performed.

Key findings

Of 41 original studies included, most were conducted in Ontario (n = 21). Majority of the studies employed quantitative designs (70%). Five major themes identified were program uptake, patient health outcomes, stakeholder beliefs and attitudes, processes and collaboration and pharmacy workplace culture, which varied considerably. At the individual, organizational and policy levels, many factors were interrelated and influenced the implementation of reimbursed medication reviews by community pharmacists. Gaps in eligibility policy highlighted some patients who may have complex needs are excluded. Variation in clinical outcomes may relate to different types of medication review and pharmacist practice across Canada. Few researchers evaluated eligibility criteria, the impact of policy changes, strategies to engage patients and healthcare professionals, patient–pharmacist communication or compared practice models of medication reviews. About 12% of the research applied a theoretical framework.

Summary

Publicly funded medication reviews in Canadian community pharmacies reduce medication-related problems and potentially improve patient health outcomes. Future research and policies could consider addressing barriers and exploring models for sustainable delivery of high-quality medication reviews internationally.

Factors associated with the intensity of government remunerated and unremunerated service provision in community pharmacies

BACKGROUND

Many community pharmacies provide medication and disease state management services with and without specific remuneration. Availability of these services is often reported, however little is known about factors influencing the intensity of their provision.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate factors associated with the intensity of provision of selected government remunerated and unremunerated community pharmacy services in Western Australia (WA).

METHODS

A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 421/628 (67%) community pharmacies in WA. The first dependent variable was intensity of government remunerated MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck service frequencies per month. The second was the intensity of the sum of government unremunerated asthma screening, blood glucose testing, cholesterol testing and smoking cessation disease state management service frequencies per week. Principal Component Analysis defined attitudinal components influencing service provision. Linear regression with bootstrap confidence intervals determined variables associated with intensity of provision of the selected services. The variables were: pharmacist; pharmacy setting characteristics; and, attitudinal factors.

RESULTS

The questionnaire yielded a response rate of 49.2%. Attitudinal components that facilitated service provision were: general practitioners (GPs) willingness to collaborate; pharmacists are capable and ready; and pharmacists require further training. Staff capability and low return on investment were barriers to increased service provision. The intensity of government remunerated services was independently associated with pharmacies having pharmacy interns, fewer dispensary technicians, and being capable and ready to provide the services. Higher intensity of the provision of the unremunerated disease state management services was independently associated with the intensity of provision of MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck services.

CONCLUSIONS

Improved pharmacy workflow, achieved by the availability of pharmacy interns, and pharmacists being capable and ready, were important factors in the intensity of MedsCheck and Diabetes MedsCheck services. Intensity of the provision of government remunerated services facilitated a higher prevalence of disease state management services provision.

Community pharmacists' evolving role in Canadian primary health care: a vision of harmonization in a patchwork system

Canada's universal public health care system provides physician, diagnostic, and hospital services at no cost to all Canadians, accounting for approximately 70% of the 264 billion CAD spent in health expenditure yearly. Pharmacy-related services, including prescription drugs, however, are not universally publicly insured. Although this system underpins the Canadian identity, primary health care reform has long been desired by Canadians wanting better access to high quality, effective, patient-centred, and safe primary care services. A nationally coordinated approach to remodel the primary health care system was incited at the turn of the 21st century yet, twenty years later, evidence of widespread meaningful improvement remains underwhelming. As a provincial/territorial responsibility, the organization and provision of primary care remains discordant across the country. Canadian pharmacists are, now more than ever, poised and primed to provide care integrated with the rest of the primary health care system. However, the self-regulation of the profession of pharmacy is also a provincial/territorial mandate, making progress toward integration of pharmacists into the primary care system incongruent across jurisdictions. Among 11,000 pharmacies, Canada's 28,000 community pharmacists possess varying authority to prescribe, administer, and monitor drug therapies as an extension to their traditional dispensing role. Expanded professional services offered at most community pharmacies include medication reviews, minor/common ailment management, pharmacist prescribing for existing prescriptions, smoking cessation counselling, and administration of injectable drugs and vaccinations. Barriers to widely offering these services include uncertainties around remuneration, perceived skepticism from other providers about pharmacists' skills, and slow digital modernization including limited access by pharmacists to patient health records held by other professionals. Each province/territory enables pharmacists to offer these services under specific legislation, practice standards, and remuneration models unique to their jurisdiction. There is also a small, but growing, number of pharmacists across the country working within interdisciplinary primary care teams. To achieve meaningful, consistent, and seamless integration into the interdisciplinary model of Canadian primary health care reform, pharmacy advocacy groups across the country must coordinate and collaborate on a harmonized vision for innovation in primary care integration, and move toward implementing that vision with ongoing collaboration on primary health care initiatives, strategic plans, and policies. Canadians deserve to receive timely, equitable, and safe interdisciplinary care within a coordinated primary health care system, including from their pharmacy team.