Expansion of pharmacist practice in oral oncolytic therapy with a collaborative practice agreement

Abstract

Introduction Collaborative practice agreements have been utilized to expand pharmacist roles and improve patient care outcomes. A need to reduce the time providers spend reviewing oral oncolytic prescriptions for therapy continuation or dose adjustments was identified in the oncology clinics of a community health system. A collaborative practice agreement was created to decrease turnaround time for processing oral oncolytic prescriptions, improve provider satisfaction, and decrease patient prescription costs. Methods A three-month pilot was initiated to evaluate feasibility and provider satisfaction by comparing two provider groups. An additional three months of data were collected post-collaborative practice agreement implementation to evaluate impact. Primary endpoints included: interventions, turnaround time, and patient cost savings. A survey was conducted to determine provider satisfaction. Results The mean turnaround time for pharmacist interventions in the pilot group (n = 54) was 7 min, compared to 3311 min in the control group (n = 87), which was statistically significant ( p < 0.0001). Two interventions in the pilot group resulted in patient cost savings due to dose rounding by a pharmacist. The mean turnaround time of the post-collaborative practice agreement group (n = 197) was 6 min, which was statistically significant when compared to the control group ( p < 0.0001). Conclusion Turnaround time was significantly shorter for prescriptions in the pilot and post-collaborative practice agreement groups compared to the control group. Provider satisfaction increased as the collaborative practice agreement resulted in less time reviewing oral oncolytic prescriptions. Patient costs were also reduced during the pilot phase due to dose rounding by pharmacists.