ASHP Foundation Awards Grant to Projects Evaluating Telehealth, MRC-ICU Scoring Tool

The ASHP Foundation awarded funding to Illeana Rodriques Nazario, PharmD, assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico; and Andrea Newsome, PharmD, MSCR, clinical assistant professor at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, through the Optimizing Technology Solutions Innovation Grant Program. Both researchers received $30,000 to fund projects that demonstrate the ways that new and emerging technologies can assist in the safe and effective use of medications.

Nazario’s project intends to examine the feasibility and acceptability of clinical pharmacy services delivered through telehealth at a team-based rheumatology clinic, with the goal of enhancing access to care.

Newsome’s project will utilize machine learning methodology to optimize the Medication Regimen Complexity (MRC)-ICU Scoring Tool, which uses predictive analytics to connect patient-level data to individualized pharmacist resource predictions to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs through the optimization of the pharmacist-to-patient ratio.

“These ambitious and forward-thinking projects are exactly the type of research we hoped the ASHP Innovation Center and the Innovation Grants would encourage,” said Kasey. K. Thompson, PharmD, MS, MBA, ASHP chief operating officer and senior vice president, in the release. “Drs. Nazario and Newsome’s research further demonstrate how hospital and health-system pharmacists continue to lead in the development, implementation, and effective use of new and emerging technologies to address health care challenges now and in the future.”

The grant, launched in 2019, is awarded to interprofessional health care teams with a pharmacist as a principal investigator, with a prioritization of projects that demonstrate improved outcomes for patients, enhanced efficiency across systems, and effectiveness of care. The ASHP Foundation expanded its call for research projects during the 2021 cycle to include studies evaluating the outcomes of telehealth, in response to the widespread adoption of telehealth systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Optimizing Innovation Grant program represents the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to supporting research and other initiatives that advance pharmacy practice and improve patient outcomes,” said Steven A. Rubloff, ASHP Foundation CEO, in a press release.

REFERENCE

ASHP Foundation Announces 2021 Optimizing Technology Solutions Innovation Grant Recipients [news release]. ASHP; July 27, 2021. Accessed July 28, 2021.