Pay attention. The origin of the following is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It is now nearing six years since the beginning of Medicare Part D. Development of a system to use Quality Based Payments for Quality Based Patient Outcomes is nearing ­reality.

Imagine a Medicare Advantage Plan that includes drug benefits (MAPD) with 1 million members. Imagine a Quality Based Payment (QBP) system that rewards such plans for Quality Patient Outcomes. Imagine the existence of measurable Quality Standards to include patient outcomes from medication therapy. Imagine the QBP system from CMS becoming the defacto standard for health care delivery in the United States. Imagine community pharmacy services being in the very thick of the system.

Imagine no more. This new system is coming closer and closer to being reality.

Next year begins the change. CMS has issued Medicare Plan (Star) ratings for several years, but in October of 2011 it will release new ratings with an expanded list of medication-related quality measures.

Of 17 total quality measures for Medicare Part D, five involve medication therapy. These include preventing the use of high-risk medications in the elderly and providing appropriate treatment of high blood pressure in patients with diabetes as well as three measures related to medication adherence. These ratings will affect Medicare plan payments in 2012 in that plans with higher numbers of stars will get larger payments from CMS.

Community pharmacy practice, as we currently know it, will change. How pharmacists think about the work they do will change. How chain pharmacies are organized and managed will change.

From this point forward, measures of Quality Patient Outcomes from medication therapy will include medication adherence rates for patients served, appropriate dosing for chronic medications, assurance of no high-risk interactions among and between multiple medications for the elderly, and high-risk drug/drug interactions for all patients.

These Quality Patient Outcomes are essential to maximize Quality Based Payments. Pharmacies and pharmacy chains capable of driving improvements in Quality Based Outcomes will have a new seat at the table with managed care organizations seeking to maximize Quality Based Payments.

Think back to the MAPD with 1 million patients. Think forward to a Star rating system for Quality Based Outcomes. A Five Star rating over a Three Star rating from CMS for a managed care entity will yield a Quality Based Payment of an additional $15 to $16 per member per month above the base. The annualized calculation is simple. Think almost $200,000,000 to the MAPD ­annually.

Pay attention carefully. The MAPD cannot achieve the Five Star rating without active and effective participation from community pharmacies that create Quality Patient Outcomes according to the criteria mentioned above. Think how this changes the way pharmacy is practiced. Think pharmacy at the negotiating table to achieve a piece of the Quality Based Payment pie.

Once in a great while there comes a tectonic shift in an industry that is a true game changer. Think back to the origin of pharmacy benefits managers. While few among us would consider it positive, would anyone deny the game changed over the years?

Unfortunately it was focused totally on cost reduction. That game is now in the rearview mirror. Its shortsightedness has been exposed for what it is.

Now think forward to the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) under the highly competent direction of pharmacist and industry veteran Laura Cranston, its executive director. Crans­ton and her staff at PQA are at the epicenter of this tectonic shift to include pharmacy performance in the achievement of Quality Based Payments for Quality Patient Outcomes.

The origin of this dates to January 1, 2006, which marked the beginning of the Medicare Prescription Drug Program or Medicare Part D under then President George W. Bush. Then CMS administrator, Dr. Mark McClelland was passionate about the government not merely paying for more medications but paying for greater value.

Ways would have to be found to measure quality as well as cost. But there was no entity in place to identify measures of medication-use quality. The Pharmacy Quality Alliance was created to take on the ­challenge.

So, what is the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and what is it about? It is a public-private partnership with stakeholders including health plans, PBMs, pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patient advocacy groups and practitioner based organizations.

The stated mission of PQA is: “Improve the quality of medication use across health care settings through a collaborative process in which key stakeholders agree on a strategy for measuring and reporting performance information related to medications.”

Its list of some 70 members includes major Pharma players Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Novartis, Merck and others. Express Scripts, Medco Health, Aetna, Humana and Med Impact are on board. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is a founding member, and its president and chief executive officer, Steve Anderson, is on the board of directors. And while chain pharmacy organizations are currently minimally included, only with CVS Caremark and Walmart, one can hope and expect that this list will grow rapidly so that NACDS is not seen as a single voting proxy for all chain ­organizations.

Robert Coopman is president of Robert Coopman Consultants, based in San Antonio. He can be contacted at [email protected].