SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Health Mart®, a community franchise of more than 3,000 independently owned pharmacies across all 50 states, announced today that it will offer its member pharmacies access to EQuIPP™, an online information management platform that makes pharmacy performance data available to health plans and community pharmacy organizations. Once the platform is made available to Health Mart stores, they will be able to review their unique performance data, compare them to a benchmark, and then identify areas for improvement in patient care and clinical outcomes.
“As the old adage goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. We are pleased to have partnered with PQS and to provide our Health Mart franchisees access to EQuIPP™ pharmacy performance data,” said Steve Courtman, president, Health Mart. “Public and private payors are increasingly using performance data to determine which retail pharmacies are most effective in impacting positive clinical outcomes for patients and selecting the top performers to be their preferred pharmacies. We are committed to providing our Health Mart stores with the tools, data and products needed to thrive in performance networks.”
“We are excited to partner with Health Mart to drive awareness of the pharmacy measures and the importance of using performance metrics to improve clinical care,” said David Nau, President of Pharmacy Quality Solutions. “If Health Mart owners better understand how they are being measured, they can determine where they are currently delivering strong clinical results and take steps to strengthen areas that can be improved, leading to the best possible patient care and outcomes.”
EQuIPP™ is provided by Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS), a joint venture of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) and CECity. PQA-endorsed measures are used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Medicare Part D Star Ratings Program, a performance metric system used to rate prescription drug plan performance. Of the fifteen metrics included in a Part D Star Rating, five core pharmacy metrics are triple weighted and can influence nearly half of a drug plan’s total composite score, making it critical that payors partner with high-performing pharmacies.
Supporting patient medication adherence and identifying and intervening on gaps in patient care are two metric areas where community pharmacies are uniquely poised to excel due to their strong personal patient relationships. Health Mart has a number of programs to help its member pharmacies address patient non-adherence. These programs include educational support to deliver behavioral coaching and medication synchronization services, as well as intervention tools such as refill reminders and McKesson’s pharmacy intervention program.
Health Mart is a member of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and is committed to supporting the organization’s effort to standardize pharmacy performance metrics.
For more information, please visit McKesson's online newsroom at www.mckesson.com/newsroom.
About Health Mart®
Health Mart is America's fastest-growing independent pharmacy franchise with more than 3,000 locally owned community pharmacies in all 50 states. Health Mart pharmacists provide personalized care and take the time to help patients understand their prescription-drug coverage, how to safely manage multiple medications, and how to take advantage of lower-cost medication options. As an important member of the healthcare team, Health Mart pharmacists possess strong clinical knowledge and partner with their patients, and their patients' other healthcare providers, to help them manage and improve patients' health. The Health Mart franchise is owned by Health Mart Systems, Inc., which is an affiliate of McKesson Corporation. To find a locally owned Health Mart pharmacy near you, visit www.healthmart.com, where you will also find comprehensive online health and wellness information.
About McKesson
McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 14th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to making the business of healthcare run better. We partner with payors, hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and others across the spectrum of care to build healthier organizations that deliver better care to patients in every setting. McKesson helps its customers improve their financial, operational, and clinical performance with solutions that include pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management, healthcare information technology, and business and clinical services. For more information, visit http://www.mckesson.com.
About Pharmacy Quality Solutions and EQuIPP™
Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS) is a joint venture of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and CECity. Its primary service, EQuIPP™, is a performance information management platform that makes unbiased performance data available to health plans and community pharmacy organizations. EQuIPP™ brings standardization to the measurement of the quality of medication use and makes this information accessible and easy to understand.
