BCACP Ambulatory Practice Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A pharmacist is conducting a quality improvement (QI) project using the PDSA cycle. After completing the 'Study' phase, which step comes next?
- Plan
- Do
- Act (Correct answer)
- Sustain
Correct answer: Act
The PDSA cycle proceeds Plan → Do → Study → Act; in the Act phase, the team decides whether to adopt, adapt, or abandon the change based on study findings.
Question 2: Which measure is an example of a process measure in ambulatory pharmacy quality reporting?
- All-cause hospitalization rate
- Percentage of diabetic patients with HbA1c tested annually (Correct answer)
- 30-day readmission rate
- Mortality rate from cardiovascular events
Correct answer: Percentage of diabetic patients with HbA1c tested annually
Process measures assess whether recommended care steps are performed, such as annual HbA1c testing for diabetic patients, rather than the final health outcome.
Question 3: Under HIPAA, which of the following activities by a pharmacist is permitted without specific patient authorization?
- Sharing patient medication lists with the patient's employer
- Disclosing PHI to the patient's treating cardiologist for treatment purposes (Correct answer)
- Selling patient data to a pharmaceutical marketing company
- Posting patient cases on social media for educational purposes
Correct answer: Disclosing PHI to the patient's treating cardiologist for treatment purposes
HIPAA's Treatment, Payment, and Operations (TPO) exceptions allow disclosure of PHI to other treating providers without specific patient authorization.
Question 4: A pharmacist notices that a clinic's statin prescribing rate for patients with established ASCVD is only 60%. This gap is best addressed first by performing which action?
- Immediately contacting all non-adherent patients by phone
- Conducting a root cause analysis to identify barriers to prescribing (Correct answer)
- Ordering a new formulary review for statins
- Submitting a report to the state health department
Correct answer: Conducting a root cause analysis to identify barriers to prescribing
A root cause analysis identifies the underlying reasons for the prescribing gap before implementing targeted interventions to improve performance.
Question 5: Which of the following is a key component of the Pharmacist's Patient Care Process (PPCP) that distinguishes it from traditional dispensing?
- Collect, Assess, Plan, Implement, Follow-up (Correct answer)
- Dispense, Counsel, Bill, Document
- Screen, Diagnose, Treat, Monitor
- Interview, Prescribe, Dispense, Review
Correct answer: Collect, Assess, Plan, Implement, Follow-up
The PPCP defined by JCPP consists of five steps: Collect, Assess, Plan, Implement, and Follow-up to evaluate effectiveness.
Question 6: A clinical pharmacist wants to demonstrate value to hospital administration for expanding an ambulatory care service. Which type of data would most effectively support this business case?
- Number of counseling hours provided per week
- Cost savings from averted adverse drug events and hospitalizations (Correct answer)
- Number of new CPT codes added to the billing system
- Pharmacist satisfaction survey results
Correct answer: Cost savings from averted adverse drug events and hospitalizations
Quantifying cost savings from prevented adverse drug events and hospitalizations directly demonstrates the financial return on investment to administration.
Question 7: In an ambulatory care setting, which scheduling model best supports panel management for a pharmacist managing a chronic disease population?
- Open-access scheduling with same-day appointments for all patients
- Wave scheduling with multiple patients booked each hour
- Proactive planned care with pre-visit preparation and population outreach (Correct answer)
- Walk-in only scheduling with no prior appointments
Correct answer: Proactive planned care with pre-visit preparation and population outreach
Proactive planned care with pre-visit preparation and population-level outreach is the foundation of effective panel management in chronic disease care.
BCACP Ambulatory Practice Management 3
A pharmacist is conducting a quality improvement (QI) project using the PDSA cycle.
After completing the 'Study' phase, which step comes next?