Although noted as one of the most accessible healthcare providers in the United States, community pharmacists rarely have routine access to patient data to help improve patient care and outcomes. In the first implementation phase, we teamed up with the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) and PioneerRx (a widely utilized pharmacy software) to design a clickable-PDF prototype of an HIE interface for community pharmacies. Eight pharmacists, 8 pharmacy technicians, and 7 patients across 3 pharmacy locations (2 rural and 1 urban) in Indiana participated in interviews to help us identify anticipated barriers, facilitators, and recommendations for using HIE in community pharmacies to inform the creation and implementation of HIE and needed supports for use by community pharmacy teams. In the next phase of this project, we will get feedback from an advisory panel of community pharmacy team members and patients to inform the development of a toolkit for implementation and the fully functional bidirectional HIE in community pharmacies.
BD and Direct Relief, a non-profit philanthropic foundation, have been supporting pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) efforts at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) since 2013 through the Helping Build Healthy Communities (HBHC) program. Recently it expanded its program to integrate responses to challenges patients face related to the broader social determinants of health alongside clinical care. Four FQHC partners are participating in this current evaluation of the expanded HBHC program, each incorporating different ways to identify and address SDOH alongside managing diabetes. SDOH interventions include administering SDOH assessments to patients, employing patient navigators and community health workers, direct referrals to social workers and culturally aligned pharmacy technicians.
We provided advanced community pharmacy practice training for fourth-year pharmacy students at Purdue University through a designated Flip the Pharmacy (FtP) advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) rotation. FtP is a practice transformation initiative promoting longitudinal patient-centered care in the community pharmacy setting. The FtP transformation process has six domains, focusing on identifying and adopting best practices for promoting enhanced clinical services across four progressions. These FtP domains and progressions include developing new roles for pharmacy technicians, other non-pharmacist support staff, and an SDOH focus area. Mentored by faculty coaches, students served as Practice Transformation Coaches monthly to 12 Team Indiana FtP pharmacy sites. Students conducted pharmacy site visits to check in on progress and offer guidance to meet FtP goals.
Publications
- Pastakia SD, Clark A, Lewis K, Taugher D, Adeoye-Olatunde O, Byrd K, Johnson K, Gonzales AM, Tossoun N, Cortez D, Mata A, Ward C, Akana P, Randall R, Ramirez R. Impact of philanthropic investment on integrating social determinants of health into diabetes care at US federally qualified health centers. Dialogues Health. 2025 Dec;7:100248. doi:10.1016/j.dialog.2025.100248
Snyder ME, Jaynes HA, #Riddell KN, Adeoye-Olatunde OA, Qudah BA, Chewning B, Newlon JL, Kreling D, Schommer JC, Curran GM, Musick B, Perkins SM. A Convergent Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Patient-Reported Outcomes Data Collection in United States Community Pharmacies to Promote Medication Adherence. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2025 Nov;21(11):e37. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2025.03.04
Hettinger KN, Adeoye-Olatunde OA, Russ-Jara AL, Riley EG, Kepley KL, Snyder ME. Preparing community pharmacy teams for health information exchange (HIE). J Am Pharm Assoc. 2024 Mar;64(2):429-436.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.japh.2023.12.003
- Hettinger KN, Snyder ME, Adeoye-Olatunde OA, Russ-Jara AL. Usability Evaluation of a Community Pharmacy Health Information Exchange Interface Prototype. Appl Clin Inform. 2023 Aug;14(4):811-821. doi:10.1055/a-2145-6980