The Vascular Risk Reduction-Community Pharmacy project needs community pharmacists to show how they can add value to patient care and play a larger role in cardiovascular risk reduction. Success in this project could pave the way for greater pharmacist participation in chronic disease management strategies being developed through other AHS Strategic Clinical Pathways.
The goal of the VRR-community pharmacy project is to implement a broad-based cardiovascular risk factor screening and intervention initiated by community pharmacists with the following proposed objectives:
- Increase in number of patients screened for cardiovascular (CV) risk.
- Increase in proportion of patients receiving appropriate blood pressure (BP), cholesterol and diabetes medication.
- Reduce cardiovascular risk as measured by change in CV Age (from baseline to 6 month follow-up), LDL-c, TC/HDL, blood pressure, HbA1 and smoking cessation.
- Assess the efficacy of case-finding mechanisms or vulnerable patient population reach.
A signal from the Minister
In his March 5 message to the Advisory Committee on Primary Health Care, Minister Horne said of his experience at the European Health Summit, “I was … struck by many initiatives which were focused on more active participation from patients in developing personal health plans and goals. Making patients and communities partners in health outcomes improvement is key, I think, to moving forward.
“I came away more convinced than ever that we need to be more systematic and purposeful in bridging the gap between what we know works, what we do and what we pay for.”
Participating in the VRR-community pharmacy project is an excellent way for pharmacists to demonstrate what we know works – research in Alberta has demonstrated pharmacists can play a major role in preventive health care in the community and care provided by a pharmacist and nurse team results in improved cardiovascular risk reduction – and the value for Alberta’s communities and health system.
Sign up now
Community pharmacists are invited to submit an expression of interest to participate in this initiative. Please access the project abstract, and consider this opportunity in your practice. Payment for screening, assessment, planning and monitoring is proposed within the Provincial Pharmacy Services Framework.
