Moving from Reactivity to Creativity
It is interesting to note that by just moving the “r” and “c” around in the words reactivity and creativity, you transform the meanings of these two words. I was thinking about this the other day as I was thinking about the success of Flip the Pharmacy in helping pharmacists becoming more proactive in their patient care initiatives by making changes within their practice to “create the capacity” for enhanced services. On the outside the pharmacy looks the same, but with the implementation of the six domains, application of the change packages, the pharmacy moves from being a reactive site to one that now has the capacity to become more creative. With that creativity comes the ability to implement new ideas, services, and collaboration with other stakeholders—this leads to new revenue opportunities, and developing a robust, viable, and dynamic practice.
Flip the Pharmacy is no longer just a theoretical idea with no proof of effectiveness. We have nearly a full year of data that has been collected at the coordinating center and the evidence is becoming quite obvious. Those pharmacies that transform their practices have more time to provide patient care services, document their care, and improve their care of their patients. Whether it be syncing patients' medications and providing services during an appointment (appointment based model) or measuring and monitoring blood pressures with clinical recommendations to both patients and other providers to help the patient achieve a desired clinical result—Flip the Pharmacy has provided the tools, processes, and teachings to help pharmacists succeed. This is evident by just the sheer number of e-care plans submitted approaching the end of the first year: 323,909—well on our way to our initial program goal of one million care plans submitted using the eCare Plan standard.
The strength of Flip the Pharmacy is its ability to change direction quickly based on market factors. For example, opioid stewardship was not one of our initially planned four progression topics. After seeing what was being experienced by some of our colleagues regarding professional liabilities and legalities as it relates to opioid use by their patients—the decision was made to quickly make opioid stewardship and management a progression. Pharmacists were developing processes and procedures to collect information from their patients as a baseline to better manage their opioids including indication, morphine milligram equivalents, and documenting that the prescription drug monitoring program database was checked. In addition, patients were given opioid pledges to help them better understand the risks associated with opioids and understand their (as well as the pharmacist's) responsibilities to ensure safe and effective use. In August 2020 alone, our Flip the Pharmacy pharmacies submitted over 8,000 eCare Plans that were opioid-related.
I congratulate our colleagues who have transformed their practice so that they are no longer reacting to their practice, but creating new opportunities.
