Impact of pharmacist-operated general medicine chronic care refill clinics on practitioner time and quality of care

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of pharmacist-operated refill clinics on practitioner (physician/physician assistant) time. Secondary objectives included assessment of disease state control, drug acquisition costs, and human resource allocation. DESIGN: The study ran from October 1, 1993 through January 31, 1994, At one clinic the pharmacist performed chart review only and did not see the patient. At the second site the pharmacist also interviewed the patient, The pharmacist used no treatment algorithms. Practitioner and pharmacist time before and after implementation of the refill clinics was measured on 3 consecutive days of normal clinic operation. SETTING: TWO State correctional facilities. PATIENTS: The study population consisted of patients receiving chronic care who were observed during regular clinic hours. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We evaluated pharmacist and practitioner time before and after pharmacist involvement. Hypertension was the only disease state yielding sufficient numbers for statistical analysis. We used a two-tailed paired t-test with the a priori level set at 0.05. We also evaluated the number of patients with disease state control before and after clinic implementation, drug acquisition costs, and human resource allocation, RESULTS: The refill clinic pharmacist reduced practitioner time commitment in both clinics, The greatest impact on practitioner time was found in the interview clinic. Quality of care was maintained equally between the two clinics, with a positive impact on human resource allocation, CONCLUSIONS: In the managed care environment, pharmacist-run refill clinics can decrease practitioner time commitment allowing reallocation of human resources while maintaining current quality of care.