Pharmacist-Physician Split-Shared Visits in a Federally Qualified Health Center: Lessons Learned from a Novel Reimbursement Model using Telehealth

Abstract

Introduction: The Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) setting poses unique challenges to reimbursement of services provided by ambulatory care pharmacists; however, recent changes to telemedicine reimbursement have created new opportunities to help overcome these challenges. This article describes the experience and outcomes of the implementation of a novel, pharmacist-physician split-shared telehealth model at AltaMed Medical Group, a large, multi-site FQHC in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Program Development and Implementation: A pilot program for pharmacist-physician split shared tele-visits was launched at one clinic site with one clinical pharmacist and has since been expanded to a total of 6 sites and 5 clinical pharmacists. Prior to this program, clinical pharmacists saw patients for diabetes mellitus (DM) video-conference disease management appointments. With the launch of the pilot program, additional steps were added to pre-existing workflows to create a model in which visits with the clinical pharmacists were followed by an “enhanced visit” with an eligible, billable clinic provider. Outcomes: Average A1c change for all patients in the split-shared model was -1.5%, and average A1c change for program graduates from enrollment through graduation was -3.8%. Evidence from similar services have also been associated with significant increases in revenue from a split-shared model, indicating this design can be a viable option for financial justification of ambulatory care pharmacy services. Conclusion: In the setting of current limitations, we advocate for increased utilization of shared visits and split-shared visits as a viable method to generate revenue and aid in the justification of clinical pharmacy services.