Why Medicare Part D Star Ratings Are Relevant for Pharmacists

Because the quality measures that generate star ratings for Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D) evaluate which therapies are being dispensed and sold at the pharmacy counter, Tom Hubbard, vice president for policy research at the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, believes they are the most relevant metrics for pharmacists.

However, Hubbard is not sure whether pharmacists are aware of them.

“The metrics are being sort of summed up from the cash register to the drug plan level…and what the drug plans are turning around and doing relative to asking pharmacists in the community to do something—even pick up the phone to the customer—are, to me, unclear,” Hubbard says. “It’s clear it’s happening in some places, but in a lot of places, it isn’t, and I think a lot of pharmacists just simply aren’t aware that these metrics are in place.”