Collaborative Care in Kentucky
Improving Outcomes and Lowering Costs through
Physician – Pharmacist Collaboration
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
At the UK Healthcare Cardiology Clinic, our
multidisciplinary team, comprised of Cardiologists,
Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Cardiovascular
(CV) Fellows, and Residents (Medical and
Pharmacy), provides care for complex cardiology
patients. Our continuity patients often have several
CV diseases, including heart failure, coronary artery
disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, atrial
fibrillation, and chronic anticoagulation. We also
have a constant influx of new patients from
referring providers and through our acute care postdischarge follow-ups.
Our pharmacist and pharmacy residents are vital
members of our ambulatory care team. Through
providing comprehensive medication review for
each of our patients, they often find drug-related
issues that, when resolved, improve outcomes and
satisfaction for our patients. These services are
particularly helpful in patients transitioning home
following hospitalization, during medication
titration, and medication monitoring.
Each member of our team plays an important role
in providing a patient-centered cardiology clinic
experience.
BENEFITS TO PATIENTS
Our patients have benefited greatly from the
addition of a pharmacist to our ambulatory care
team. Poly-pharmacy is common in our patient
population and the pharmacist is able to help
patients navigate these medication complexities.
Identifying medication-related problems and fixing
them has improved patient satisfaction and
outcomes, particularly during transitions of care.
Given the expense of medications, the pharmacist
plays an integral role in improving affordability of
medication regimens. Our pharmacists work with
patients, community pharmacies, and insurers to
“Collaboration with a pharmacist gives me the confidence
that the patients we see will be on the right medications, at
the right doses, and without drug-drug interactions.”
Dr. Charles L. Campbell
ensure that what is prescribed is feasible and available
for the patients. Additionally, our pharmacists
provide patient-centered medication education. With
the addition of this often-missing element, we believe
our patients are given the right tools to improve
adherence to prescribed therapies.
BENEFITS TO PHYSICIANS
With a large-volume specialty clinic such as ours, it
is often hard to accommodate continuity patient
needs, post-hospital follow-ups, and still be able to
take on new patients from the community and
referring providers. Having a pharmacist team
member with whom I have confidence in
managing chronic medication issues, including
titration of heart failure, BP and cholesterol
medications, optimizes my time to see new
patients.
Further, having a pharmacist team member
dedicated to tracking our patients’ medicationrelated outcomes and safety allows the rest of us to
focus on other elements of care. It takes each of
us practicing at the upper edge of our license to
provide patients with efficient, affordable and
outstanding care.
Dr. Charles L. Campbell, UK Cardiology