COVID-19 Prompts Identification of New Clinical Service Opportunities

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ACCP member Alexandra Watson, Pharm.D., BCACP, Clinical Pharmacist at Community Care Physicians, P.C. (CCP), and Assistant Professor at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, reports that the COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to healthcare that she and her colleagues could not have imagined. While hospitals braced for an onslaught of patients, primary care offices were left in limbo as the state of New York was placed on “pause,” and preventative care services were put on hold. Therefore, CCP had to cancel in-office appointments and quickly implement telemedicine options. Clinical staff became overwhelmed with COVID-19 related calls from patients expressing fear of exposure and posing questions on when/how to be tested. This restricted the staff’s ability to accomplish other routine tasks.

Clinical pharmacists within CCP previously provided integrated services in office-based practices, assisting with comprehensive medication management and disease state management. These services were supported through value-based care payment incentives. However, COVID-19 prompted a reduction in office staff and cancellation of many appointments. The need to create new revenue sources for the practices became paramount. Hence, the pharmacy team identified new clinical service opportunities that were not previously possible. Due to legislation in New York which now allows some services to be billed if completed via telehealth, the clinical pharmacists were able to generate support for the practices by providing chronic disease state management remotely and billing for these services. Additionally, due to this expanded legislative authorization, the CCP clinical pharmacists started to provide Medicare annual wellness visits via telehealth delivery. Completing these visits generated additional revenue for the practices and freed up time for the primary care providers to see patients for other reasons, such as sick visits and hospital follow-ups. These new activities yielded the necessary financial support to allow the clinical pharmacists to continue to provide clinical services and to help with other tasks, including prescription renewals and prior authorizations, which were accumulating due to the onslaught of COVID-related calls and staff shortages. While the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges, clinical pharmacists at CCP seized this opportunity to expand clinical pharmacy services and improve patient care.