Telehealth News

Telehealth Grant to Support Pharmacy Services in Palliative Care

AHRQ recently awarded a two-year telehealth grant to a national hospice and palliative care provider to support the integration of virtual pharmacists into a telehealth model.

Virtual Pharmacists, Telehealth

Source: Thinkstock

By Samantha McGrail

- A two-year grant from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to Four Seasons will enable the provider to evaluate the impact on patients and providers of integrating a virtual pharmacist into a telehealth model focused on home-bound patients with serious illnesses, according to a new announcement

Four Seasons is a nationally recognized hospice and palliative care provider that currently serves 11 counties across western North Carolina.

The provider already engaged in a pilot project funded by a CMS Health Care Innovation award. The project includes a platform called ADAPT Health that is powered by the TapCloud application and is offered by Delta Care Rx, a pharmacy benefit provider that works with hospice and palliative care providers. 

With support from the AHRQ telehealth grant, ADAPT Health will develop the ability to interface with the electronic medical record, allowing for inter-collaborative practice in which a pharmacist will be able to recommend appropriate deprescribing, educate providers on the risk and benefits of new medications, and track side effects from new medications. 

"Having a natural flow of care for patients through which medications are reviewed and changes recommended by a pharmacist has the potential of transforming a patient's entire well-being," Reginald Nichols, MAC, MSN, NP-C, Four Seasons regional director of palliative care, said in the announcement. “Many times, medications have interactions that cancel out the impact of the other. A simple separation of two-to-three hours between two medications has the capacity to dramatically impact the effectiveness of those medications.”

“Pharmacists know this information best as it is directly what they are trained to know,” she continued. “Having this service is exciting for the potential outcome it can produce for all patients involved. We are honored to be have been awarded this grant."

The use of telehealth in hospice and palliative medicine allows patients and care teams to better communicate about healthcare concerns and needs, improving response times to patients in rural areas with little access to care. 

Through the enhanced platforms, clinicians will review pharmacy recommendations and use e-prescribing as indicated for any medication changes. 

The platform will also enable patient and caregiver education, which will occur through virtual pharmacy sessions via ADAPT Health’s video and messaging capabilities. Patients will be able to “tap” in their symptoms daily using the remote patient monitoring module and this information will be monitored by both the pharmacist and the clinicians, the announcement explains. 

“The pharmaceutical care we are providing via the ADAPT Health program serves patients with advanced illness using technology that is easy to use and practical. Remote patient care and telehealth in general, are a part of the future of healthcare, especially in rural patient populations,” Michelle Mikus, VP of pharmacy services with Delta Care Rx, explains in the announcement. 

Telehealth has the potential to bring end-of-life providers into the homes of medically complex patients and providers. Telehealth companies are grabbing that opportunity and broadening the use of telehealth for palliative care throughout the country.

For example, a California-based hospice program is using a $167,000 grant to launch a telehealth program for palliative care, according to an announcement in July of this year.

The grant awarded by the Central California Alliance for Health to the Hospice of Santa Cruz County will help to launch a connected health platform that will not only allow patients, but also their families, to connect with care providers. This platform will be useful for virtual visits, medication and symptom management when patients are unable to leave their home, the announcement stated. 

Telehealth is a large opportunity in the palliative and hospice care space, according to Christopher P. Comfort, MD, the Medical Director of New York City’s Calvary Hospital, the only facility in the US dedicated to palliative care and hospice care. 

“Care planning and care decisions are very personal and very relational,” says Dr. Christopher P. Comfort, the Medical Director of New York City’s Calvary Hospital. “But there really is not the manpower of palliative care specialists to provide those services face-to-face. There’s a wonderful opportunity here to … make this (process) better,” he told mHealthIntelligence.com earlier this year.

Providers and telehealth companies are grabbing at that opportunity, and telehealth grants from nationally recognized organizations are supporting their efforts to improve the care of seriously ill and home-bound patients.

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
©2012-2024 TechTarget, Inc. Xtelligent Healthcare Media is a division of TechTarget. All rights reserved. HealthITAnalytics.com is published by Xtelligent Healthcare Media a division of TechTarget.