Innovative patient-care services recognized by CPPA

Last month, Marvin Moore, PharmD, received good news from the Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation (CPPA). His Two Rivers Medicine Shoppe, located in Two Rivers, Wis., was accredited under CPPA’s community pharmacy practice standards, becoming the third pharmacy to receive this recognition.

See also: CPPA creates accreditation standards for community pharmacies

Moore, who is the president and owner of the Two Rivers pharmacy franchise, said he was pleased to head one of the first community pharmacies in the country to meet CPPA’s rigorous accreditation standards.

“For years, we have been committed to providing the best possible care to our patients, and this important accreditation validates that we are on the right track,” said Moore, who is also an editorial advisor of Drug Topics.

Accreditation is important to Moore, who knows that his staff is following best practice guidelines for providing safe and effective patient care. His team offers health screenings, medication therapy management, and medication counseling personalized to meet patients’ specific needs.

“I felt that the [accreditation] process would help us look for gaps in our current policy and procedures, and guide us in how to best fill in those gaps,” he said in an article published by TheJournal of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin.

“[Also] it is important to recognize that some pharmacies have put an emphasis on improving the quality of patient care they provide and have invested in providing innovative patient-care services,” he said. “I believe that becoming accredited is a way to show that we have one of these practices here in Two Rivers.”

Moore also believes that payers will take note of pharmacies that are accredited and include them in their networks, although that may not be happening at the moment. In the future, payers may offer patients incentives to seek healthcare providers who offer quality patient-care services, he said.

The process

The accreditation process is quite extensive, starting with a self-assessment survey of current policies and practices. Once CPPA reviews the survey submission to determine whether enough criteria have been met, it schedules an on-site visit to establish that policies and procedures are being followed, and other criteria for accreditation have been met. Following the on-site visit, the pharmacy receives a letter, listing any issues that were identified. Then an action plan must be established to meet these accreditation issues.

“When the survey team reviewed our action plan, they deemed that we were worthy of accreditation,” Moore said.

CPPA, a nonprofit organization launched in 2012, was developed as a partnership among the American Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. For more information about the CPPA accreditation process, visit www.pharmacypracticeaccredit.org.