Provision of ambrisentan from a health-system specialty pharmacy affiliated with a pulmonary hypertension Center of Comprehensive Care
Recommended Citation
Gutenschwager DW, Patel A, Soyad AT, Patel S, Szandzik EG, Kelly B, and Smith ZR. Provision of ambrisentan from a health-system specialty pharmacy affiliated with a pulmonary hypertension Center of Comprehensive Care. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2023.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-23-2023
Publication Title
American journal of health-system pharmacy
Abstract
DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.
PURPOSE: This descriptive report describes the process used to obtain access to providing ambrisentan from a health-system specialty pharmacy (HSSP) affiliated with a pulmonary hypertension Center of Comprehensive Care, develop a pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) care team at the HSSP, and characterize medication adherence and access metrics.
SUMMARY: PAH is a rare disease treated with several specialty medications requiring intensive monitoring. Historically, specialty medications used to treat PAH have been provided by only select specialty pharmacies due to restricted drug distribution channels. It is recommended that patients with PAH receive their care at centers with expertise in the diagnosis and management of this disorder, but the HSSPs at these expert centers are unable to provide specialty PAH medications. The current care model for PAH leads to patients receiving their medical and pharmaceutical care from separate entities. This descriptive report describes a multidisciplinary team's approach to gaining access to providing ambrisentan and developing a disease state care team within an established HSSP. After implementing this service, specialty pharmacy metrics were assessed, including proportion of days covered (PDC), time to first fill, patient contact rate, Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program compliance, time to prior authorization (PA) approval, rate of optimal adherence (PDC of >80%), and PA renewal rate, to demonstrate a proof-of-concept HSSP model for PAH. In this model, the HSSP was able to demonstrate high-quality specialty pharmacy metrics with regard to medication adherence, medication access, and REMS program compliance.
CONCLUSION: The development of a PAH care team to provide ambrisentan at an existing HSSP was associated with high adherence rates, efficient and reliable medication access, and REMS program compliance.
PubMed ID
37611180
ePublication
ePub ahead of print
