Washington, D.C., June 12, 2007 -- The University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy will be honored today with the 2007 Pinnacle Award. The award will be presented this evening by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.
The Pinnacle Award (category 2) recognizes pioneering individuals or groups for exemplary leadership in medication use quality improvement and the delivery of appropriate pharmaceutical care. The award is being given to the USC School of Pharmacy in honor of its pioneering work in safety-net clinics in some of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods.
Òhe safety-net clinic program is one way USC can give back to its community. At the clinics, our staff provide regular, one-on-one pharmacist counseling to patients which results in better medication compliance and overall improved disease management, says USC School of Pharmacy Dean R. Pete Vanderveen. We have seen firsthand the difference this unique program has made in the health and well being of some of Los Angeles County's most at-risk residents. Being honored for our commitment makes the work even more rewarding.
At each of the safety-net clinics, USC faculty, staff and residents provide pharmaceutical care services including monitoring patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, high cholesterol and heart failure. The pharmacists get to know the patients through regular appointments, supervising their progress and teaching them about their diseases. Through physician-approved protocols, clinic staff is able to modify drug therapy as needed to help patients reach treatment goals.
ÒOur pharmacists are determined to ensure clinic patients follow their prescribed medication schedules, says Steven Chen, associate professor at the USC School of Pharmacy and pharmacy residency director for the eight clinics served by USC. They go out of their way to support their patients safety and health, even if that means visiting them where they live to make sure they have a proper place to store medications. For example, to improve the health of a blind diabetes patient, my staff and I worked to identify a glucose monitor that spoke and a manufacturer willing to donate the monitor to him.
USC's involvement in the clinics began in 2002 while Mel Baron, associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, was working as a pharmacist consultant for safety-net clinics. During his tenure, he observed how expanded pharmaceutical services could dramatically improve the care patients received and increase the medications available at the clinics. Baron along with his colleague, Kathleen Johnson, chair of the School's Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy, sought and received a grant supporting pharmacy services in three clinics from the Health Resources Services Administration. Today foundation grants have extended pharmacy services to eight clinics.
"The challenges facing our nation's health-care system are well known, particularly for those who are uninsured. In Los Angeles County alone, there are 2.7 million uninsured residents. The community-based clinics are often the only option available to these patients," says Baron. "We found a real opportunity to effect positive changes for those patients who seek care at clinics, many of whom suffer from multiple chronic conditions and require complicated medication regimens. Through regular disease management visits with a pharmacist, we can decrease emergency room visits, hospitalizations and mortality rates."
Our partnership with the Community Pharmacy Faculty at the USC School of Pharmacy has enabled us to enhance our services in the area of medication therapy management, a disease management approach that provides regular, one-on-one pharmacist counseling to patients resulting in better medication compliance and overall improved disease management, says Terry Bonecutter, president and CEO, QueensCare Family Clinics, which operates five of the clinics served by the USC School of Pharmacy. These enhanced services have successfully improved patient health outcomes and quality of life while decreasing overall medical costs through appropriate drug therapy.
In winning the Pinnacle Award, the USC School of Pharmacy program paves the way for the safety-net clinics to serve as a national model for cost-effectively enhancing the health outcomes and quality of life for homeless and other underserved patients through pharmacist intervention.
About the USC School of Pharmacy:
Founded in 1905, the USC School of Pharmacy is the first and foremost pharmacy school in Southern California. Approximately 50 percent of the pharmacists in the region are graduates of USC. The School occupies modern facilities on the USC Health Sciences Campus in metropolitan Los Angeles, adjacent to the LAC+USC Medical Center, one of the largest teaching hospitals in the world, where students receive their clinical training. Also, the School utilizes USC University Hospital, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Doheny Ambulatory Care Center, and many other affiliated hospitals, clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home health care agencies, pharmaceutical industries and pharmacies in the Southern California region for its clinical and experiential programs. As the top-ranked private pharmacy school in the nation, the USC School of Pharmacy has served as a model for other pharmacy schools, particularly in curricular and clinical innovations.