ASHP Launches Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative Tools

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and ASHP Research and Education Foundation have launched a new Web-based assessment tool and set of national goals and measurements to help hospital pharmacists determine how their health systems align with the recommendations of the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI).

The Hospital Self-Assessment (HSA) tool and the National Dashboard scorecard, located on the PPMI Web site, are outcomes of the invitational PPMI Summit held in November 2010. During the summit, hospital pharmacy leaders developed practice model recommendations designed to ensure that pharmacists participate on interdisciplinary teams as the health care professionals who are responsible and accountable for patients' medication outcomes.

“We are so excited to roll out the first two deliverables from the summit that will capture both the individual institutional perspective as well as provide an overall picture of how practice model change is happening nationally,” said ASHP President Stan Kent, MS, FASHP, in a statement. Kent noted that three ASHP state affiliates (Wisconsin, Utah, and Michigan) are piloting the HSA in hospitals within their states.

The HSA assesses an individual hospital’s conformity with PPMI recommendations and includes questions on:

• Optimal pharmacy practice model characteristics,
• Applying information technology in the medication-use process,
• Advancing the use of pharmacy technicians, and
• Successfully implementing new pharmacy practice models.

Upon completing the HSA questionnaire, users can develop a list of priorities individualized for his or her hospital or health system. Hospitals also can generate reports comparing their data with aggregated data collected from similar hospitals within their state.

The National Dashboard is a set of five goals and 26 measures designed to provide a broader national picture of successful adoption of PPMI recommendations. National Dashboard data will be collected annually via the ASHP National Survey and reported during the Society’s Midyear Clinical Meeting in December.