Pharmacy's Appointment Based Model (ABM)

What is the ABM?

What is it

The Appointment Based Model (ABM) is a patient care service designed to improve patients’ adherence to medications and build efficiencies in pharmacy operations. Each patient enrolled in the ABM has a designated appointment day to pick up all medications. Pharmacy staff call patients in advance of their appointment to identify any changes to the medications and confirm that each prescription should be refilled. The model can be implemented in any pharmacy setting to improve patients’ medication adherence, to build efficiency into pharmacy workflow, and to manage potential issues before the patient arrives at the pharmacy to pick up their medicines.

The ABM shifts the pharmacy staff’s focus from passively filling prescription orders at the request of the patient on an unaligned schedule to proactively synchronizing a pick-up date for chronic medicines and confirming the patient is receiving the correct medications each month. In the ABM, pharmacists and pharmacy staff are able to perform a full review of all medications each month, which provides the opportunity to identify therapeutic and compliance issues that patients may be encountering.

Consortium Meeting and White Paper

Goal

To gather an expert panel of individuals who have experience designing and implementing innovative methods to improve medication adherence, especially through appointment-based models and refill synchronization.

The APhA Foundation gathered a consortium of stakeholders together on January 9-10, 2013, in Washington, D.C., to synthesize the expert panel’s experiences related to designing and implementing innovative methods to improve medication adherence, especially through appointment based models and refill synchronization. Participants represented 11 community pharmacies or pharmacy networks, 3 national organizations, and 2 government agencies. Six consortium participants were affiliated with organizations that are currently operating or exploring the ABM. The resulting white paper, titled “Pharmacy’s Appointment Based Model: a prescription synchronization program that improves adherence,” describes benefits and implementation requirements of the ABM that were highlighted at the consortium meeting and within published literature.

The Participants

Sponsored by Pfizer

Consortium Participants

John Beckner
Giant Pharmacy

Kristen Betts
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Bob Egeland
Hy-Vee

Stephen Giroux
Middleport Family Health Center

Peter Koo
Bartell Drugs

Jessica Lee
Kerr Drug

Dan Luce
Walgreens

Jesse McCullough
Rite Aid

Thomas Menighan
American Pharmacists Association

Robert Narveson
Thrifty White Pharmacy

James Owen
APhA [e-HIT Collaborative]

Pete Ratycz
Discount Drug Mart

Lee Rucker
AARP Public Policy Institute

Robin Sistrunk
Publix

John Sykora
Abrams & Clark Pharmacy

Lisa Tonrey
USPHS Indian Health Service

Eleanor Twigg
Fred's Pharmacy

George Vuturo
RxAlly

Pfizer Representatives in Attendance

David Searle
Pfizer

Walt Slijepcevich
Pfizer

APhA Foundation Staff in Attendance

Benjamin Bluml
APhA Foundation

Caroline Shedlock
APhA Foundation

Mindy Smith
APhA Foundation

Lindsay Watson
APhA Foundation

Krystal Weaver
APhA Foundation

Implementation Guide

The white paper provides implementation considerations for the methods and infrastructure needed to successfully start and grow the ABM in a community pharmacy setting. The APhA Foundation utilized the consortium recommendations to refresh an ABM Implementation Guide, previously developed by the Alliance for Patient Medication Safety. The ABM Implementation Guide and accompanying customizable resources are available below and will help pharmacist and community pharmacy administration navigate through the process of integrating the ABM into pharmacy workflow and business models.

Customizable resources:

ACO Demonstration Project

The APhA Foundation is partnering with an accountable care organization (ACO), community pharmacy chain, and federally qualified health center in Tucson, AZ, in an effort to demonstrate the impacts the ABM can have on adherence for patients of an ACO. The collection of data is essential to the success of the project, and with the input of the ACO and partners, the APhA Foundation has established a minimum data set that will be collected from the various partners throughout the duration of the project. The ABM process will be studied for a minimum of six months. This project began in the fall of 2013 and is ongoing.

ABM Reports from the Alliance for Patient Medication Safety

Looking to the Future

The ABM has strong potential to transform health care through significant improvements to medication adherence and optimization of pharmacy workflow. To see evidence of the ABM's positive impact on medication adherence, read this article published in JAPhA about a study conducted on patients served by ThriftyWhite Pharmacy, a chain of employee-owned community pharmacies located in several rural Midwestern U.S. states. The results show a promising outlook on how the ABM can be implemented to help pharmacists better meet patient needs.

 

<RETURN TO PRACTICE INNOVATION

What is it

The Appointment Based Model (ABM) is a patient care service designed to improve patients’ adherence to medications and build efficiencies in pharmacy operations. Each patient enrolled in the ABM has a designated appointment day to pick up all medications. Pharmacy staff call patients in advance of their appointment to identify any changes to the medications and confirm that each prescription should be refilled. The model can be implemented in any pharmacy setting to improve patients’ medication adherence, to build efficiency into pharmacy workflow, and to manage potential issues before the patient arrives at the pharmacy to pick up their medicines.

The ABM shifts the pharmacy staff’s focus from passively filling prescription orders at the request of the patient on an unaligned schedule to proactively synchronizing a pick-up date for chronic medicines and confirming the patient is receiving the correct medications each month. In the ABM, pharmacists and pharmacy staff are able to perform a full review of all medications each month, which provides the opportunity to identify therapeutic and compliance issues that patients may be encountering.