HRSA High Impact HIT Initiative: CarePoint Guardian Rx Implementation

Overview

The Council of Community Clinics (CCC) has been awarded $545,304 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to implement the CarePoint GuardianRx (GRx) pharmacy management system at 25 new community health center sites, and also enhance GRx in 4 sites that already have the system installed. GRx will improve the effectiveness, efficiency, safety and quality in the partner clinic sites, and will enable clinic providers to access more comprehensive, reliable, and accurate medication information on their patients.

Through the GRx high impact HIT implementation project, the CCC will:

• Implement GRx in seven (7) section 330 community health centers at 25 new sites
• Enhance the current functionality of GRx at 4 clinic sites with the system already in place
• Integrate with existing quality improvement (QI), disease management and population management programs and activities
• Provide technical assistance and training opportunities for clinics; convene GRx User Group
• Convene a Pharmacy Council comprised of key healthcare stakeholders, including clinics, hospitals, pharmacy schools, other HRSA funded projects, and additional safety net partners to share best practices and lessons learned related to pharmacy purchasing and operations
• Assist clinics with purchasing GRx software in a hosted or non-hosted environment
• Facilitate interfaces between GRx and other clinic systems to enhance the patient record
• Migrate existing pharmacy data to the new GRx system
• Support clinic participation in HRSA's Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy Service (PSCS) Collaborative

The project will address the community need for pharmacy collaboration and the pressing need for clinics to continue to adopt advanced HIT systems to improve quality of care and population and patient health outcomes. It will build on current QI and HIT initiatives, a number of community-wide assessments, and from recommendations resulting from the 2008 HRSA Strategic Planning Session in San Diego County.

Project Goals

The purpose of the GRx implementation project is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, safety and quality of health care provided in community health centers and to improve individual and population health through the implementation of a shared and integrated pharmacy management system. The goals of the GRx implementation project are to:

1. Create a sustainable business model for deploying HIT in a health center controlled network.
2. Enhance the capacity of health centers to engage in strategic partnerships that leverage other HIT initiatives and resources (including knowledge, experience, and funding) already present in their communities.
3. Enhance safety net providers' capacity to measure and effectively report on the quality of care and the health outcomes in health centers.
4. Reduce healthcare costs that result from inefficiencies, medical errors, inappropriate care and incomplete information through the combination of HIT and clinical QI programs.
5. Prepare health centers and other safety net providers to participate in pay-for-performance plans/systems.
6. Further develop continuity of care across settings for health centers and for other safety net patients as they move from outpatient to urgent, emergency, and inpatient care.

Clinic Partners for GRx Implementation

• Borrego Community Health Foundation
• La Maestra Community Health Centers
• Neighborhood Healthcare
• North County Health Services
• San Diego Family Care
• San Ysidro Health Center
• Vista Community Clinic

Community Partners / Pharmacy Council

This project will address a recommendation that came out of the HRSA Office of Performance Review (OPR), San Diego Strategic Partnership Session (SPS) on January 11, 2008 by convening a Pharmacy Council, bringing together pharmacy leadership from the healthcare community to discuss and develop pharmacy strategies and partnerships that will benefit patients, providers, and the local healthcare delivery system. The Pharmacy Council will be comprised of project partners as well as additional organizations such as:

• San Diego County Pharmacists Association (SDCPhA)
• San Diego Pharmacy Alliance (SDPA)
• San Diego Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SDSHP)
• San Diego County Medical Society County of San Diego
• UCSD Medical Center
• Sharp HealthCare
• Other hospitals and clinics