Apple Discount Drugs, a locally owned Health Mart pharmacy, is pleased to announce results from a three year diabetes patient tracking study the company conducted in coordination with the Patient Safety Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC).
The program allowed the Apple Diabetes Center to track a total of 61 diabetic patients over a three and a half year time period. All patients were Medicare recipients. Apple certified diabetes educators met one-on-one with each patient as much or as little as needed offering diabetes education, resources and support while monitoring each patient’s A1C (average blood glucose levels) and identifying adverse drug events and signs for potential adverse drug events. Patients were also followed for hospital re-admission.
Results showed that out of the 61 patients tracked, all but one individual reached their A1C goal. There was only one hospital re-admission of the group which was not diabetes related.
“Their overall health was better,” said Geoff Twigg, Apple clinical pharmacist and Certified Diabetes Educator. “We saw a reduction in the number of adverse drug events, which translated to less doctor visits, trips to the emergency room and overall better quality of life.” “After the three and a half years of monitoring there was a 55% reduction in adverse drug events and a 59% reduction in potential adverse drug events in the patients we followed.”
The most common adverse event the Apple team tracked was hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Most patients were unaware of the causes of this adverse event. George Jones, a busy senior who participated in the study, was taking a medication called glipizide.
He often skipped lunch which resulted in hypoglycemia in the middle of the afternoon which prevented him from driving safely.
“I was not aware that taking a little white tablet and skipping lunch could make my sugar go so low,” said Jones. “I only thought insulin could cause your sugars to go low.”
“Very few pharmacies have outcome driven data to work with,” said John Motsko, Apple Certified Diabetes Educator. “This study provided us with hard numbers on the positive impact diabetes education and counseling has on patients. The process was educational for the Apple Diabetes Resource Center too. We saw the before and after of real people right before our eyes. Nothing can compete with real outcomes.”
“We greatly appreciate the community members who allowed us to track their conditions over such an extended period of time,” said Jeff Sherr, president, Apple Discount Drugs. “The best part by far was when we would identify a patient whose health was improving and therefore required less medicine to control the disease.”
The next step for the Apple Diabetes Team is the work they will do specifically with the senior population in surrounding communities. The incidence of diabetes among seniors is over 30%. The center will focus on fine tuning education and interventions with these individuals.
“The study taught us to recognize the unique challenges of the senior population, such as living and eating alone, cognitive decline, financial challenges, physical limitations, multiple medications and social interaction and support,” said Motsko. “We have added information in our sessions to specifically address these issues.”
For more information call John Motsko or Geoff Twigg at 410-749-8401 or e-mail them at john@appledrugs.com or geoff@appledrugs.com
More about the Apple Diabetes Center
Through the Apple Diabetes Resource Center, Motsko and Twigg offer one-on-one and group counseling sessions to educate, provide resources and support diabetic patients in managing the disease. During each counseling session, they provide information on nutrition, lifestyle changes and diabetic products. They also teach customers about the
different types of blood glucose meters and stress the importance of testing each meter to make sure it is functioning properly. A special service provided is glucose meter data review and analysis. This analysis can be shared both with the patient and their provider.
Background on PSPC
The Patient Safety & Clinical Pharmacy Services Collaborative (PSPC) launched its sixth collaborative year in November, 2014 with a record number of community-based teams. A national breakthrough effort to transform the delivery of health care services to effectively address patient safety and incorporate medication management services for high-risk patient populations, PSPC 6.0 has nearly 450 teams of community health care providers, along with more than 1,000 partnering organizations. PSPC has a partnership with CMS to bring the expertise and support of state quality improvement organizations (QIOs) to assist community teams with their transformation. Forty-five QIOs partner with almost 300 teams.
Apple Discount Drugs, your local Healthmart pharmacy… Caring For You & About You!
