ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation has been awarded a $100,000 grant by Purdue Pharma to advance the foundation’s efforts to stimulate community pharmacy-based research to help improve patient care and education.

NCPA said Purdue’s donation will support the foundation’s Catalyst Grant Award Program for Innovative Practice, with a focus on pain management.

The Catalyst Grant Award Program is designed to provide seed money to stimulate and help pharmacists in independent practice settings design and implement innovative patient care services. The goal is to spur the development of patient care services that incorporate aspects of medication adherence enhancement as well as improved patient outcomes via pharmacy-based patient care services.

"As health care providers, we know that partnerships and the pooling of resources are vital to improving our nation’s health care delivery system in an effective and responsive manner," NCPA Foundation president Sharlea Leatherwood said in a statement. "Purdue’s funding of the Catalyst Grant Award Program underscores the importance of such collaboration."

NCPA said the Catalyst Grant Award Program is slated to be conducted over a four-year period, with the selected best practices widely communicated to the pharmacy profession, other health care providers, policy makers and payers, as well as patient and disease advocacy organizations. After that time span, the program is expected to generate a significant body of knowledge and evidence to illustrate the effectiveness of pharmacy-provided services and the efficacy of pharmaceuticals when properly used, according to NCPA.

"As part of Purdue’s dedication to improving patient care and quality of life through education, we are pleased to support the NCPA Foundation Catalyst Grant Awards for innovative practice projects," commented Dr. Lisa Miller, executive director of health care education and liaison programs at Purdue Pharma. "We believe community pharmacists, students and pharmacy staff have important and unique roles in positively addressing patient education, assessing pain and health care needs, and intervening with adherence and drug safety programs."