ASHP Highlights Integral Role of Pharmacists in NQF Measurement Framework

3/6/2009

ASHP believes that pharmacists will benefit from new payment approaches that result from a proposed new system that would reward efficient, rather than volume-based, care.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) developed the Measurement Framework for Evaluating Efficiency Across Patient-Focused Episodes of Care to evaluate efficiency in health care. In its vote to approve the framework, ASHP noted that it provides opportunities for pharmacists to share responsibility for patient care, coordinate patients’ transitions to home and other care settings, offer medication and lifestyle counseling to prevent chronic disease, and provide medication therapy management (MTM).

ASHP policy supports compensation for efficient processes, including medication reconciliation as a component of MTM.

Read ASHP’s letter to NQF on the framework here.