ARLINGTON, Va.– The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS)-funded paper — “Exploring the implementation of a novel optimizing care model in the community pharmacy setting” — has received the American Pharmacists Association’s (APhA’s) 2021 Wiederholt Prize for Best Published Papers Award for Economic, Social, and Administrative Sciences.

The paper — authored by Kenneth Hohmeier and Shane Desselle — is part of the NACDS Optimizing Care Program, a model which aims to increase patient access to clinical care delivered in community pharmacies by leveraging expanded roles of pharmacy technicians.

“The Optimizing Care Model is an innovative approach to community pharmacy practice aiming to foster a new patient-centered care delivery model that expands clinical service delivery and fosters collaboration across healthcare settings through task delegation,” the authors wrote.

The research study underscores the positive impact of the team-based Optimizing Care Model on direct patient care – including increased “pharmacist-patient interaction time, increased delivery of clinical services, decreased wait times, and improved overall efficiency in medication distribution service.”

Specifically, the model allows pharmacists more time to provide valuable clinical services, such as chronic care management programs; point-of-care testing; screenings; immunizations; and more.

“Innovations such as the Optimizing Care Model are essential to meeting the evolving health and wellness needs of Americans,” said NACDS president and CEO Steven Anderson. “There is a community pharmacy within five miles of 90 percent of the American people, and that has powerful implications when it comes to reaching rural and underserved populations and communities suffering from disparities in healthcare. By empowering pharmacists to focus their time on patients and clinical care while redirecting administrative and support roles to pharmacy technicians within the community pharmacy setting, the Optimizing Care Model is improving critical and convenient access to various quality care services.”