Reviewing medication adherence data is the most logical first step in population-based care to identify whether lack of adherence is contributing to poor glycemic control. This allows for targeted interventions before escalating therapy. <br.
A. Group educational sessions: Helpful, but addressing adherence first is more immediate and impactful.
C. Initiate insulin therapy: Not appropriate without assessing adherence and other barriers first.
D. Reminder system: Useful, but it does not directly address the root cause of high A1C levels.
Clinical Tip: In population-based care, focus on identifying barriers such as adherence, access, and social determinants of health.
A pharmacist-led MTM program is a structured intervention that can optimize antihypertensive therapy, improve adherence, and address barriers to blood pressure control at the population level.
A. Send electronic reminders: Helpful, but this alone will not improve control.
C. Educate patients on home monitoring: This is important but less comprehensive than MTM.
D. Sodium restriction: While beneficial, it is not sufficient as a sole intervention.
Clinical Tip: MTM programs demonstrate the value of pharmacists in improving population-based outcomes.
Annual influenza vaccination is a proven population-based intervention to reduce exacerbations in patients with COPD by preventing respiratory infections.
B. Educate on inhaler technique: Important, but does not directly target the population-level problem of frequent exacerbations.
C. Daily oral corticosteroids: Not appropriate due to long-term side effects and lack of evidence for chronic use in COPD.
D. Pulmonary rehabilitation: Beneficial, but not as impactful as vaccination in preventing exacerbations.
Clinical Tip: Immunizations (influenza, pneumococcal) are high-impact, low-cost interventions for COPD populations.
Clinical decision support (CDS) alerts within the EHR can prompt providers to prescribe or optimize high-intensity statin therapy during patient visits, improving population adherence to guidelines.
B. Call all patients: Time-intensive and impractical for a population-level intervention.
C. Moderate-intensity statins: High-intensity statins are preferred for ASCVD patients.
D. Send letters to prescribers: Less efficient than real-time CDS alerts.
Post-discharge medication reconciliation and patient education are proven strategies to reduce hospital readmissions by ensuring patients understand their medications and follow their care plans.
B. Diuretics: While important for symptom management, not all patients require them post-discharge.
C. Routine follow-up every 6 months: Follow-up within 7-14 days post-discharge is critical for preventing readmissions.
D. Low-protein diet: Not indicated for heart failure management.
Clinical Tip: Pharmacists play a key role in transitions of care by improving medication safety and adherence.
