RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) received the Excellence Award from the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI) for its Pharmacy Pay for Performance (P4P) Program that leverages IEHP network pharmacies to offer clinical education to its members.

The annual PBMI Excellence Award recognizes organizations for their exceptional contributions across the pharmacy management continuum. IEHP was among the winners in the quality improvement category; other categories included cost containment and care management strategies. PBMI’s Evaluation Committee determined winners after reviewing the highest-ranking submissions. 

“IEHP proudly accepts this award,” said Dr. Bradley Gilbert, IEHP chief executive officer. “This is a culmination of years of teamwork with Pharmacy Quality Assurance, Pharmacy Quality Solutions and especially our network pharmacies that helped us improve both the quality of care and the health of our members through clinical consultations.”

Launched in 2013, the Pharmacy P4P Program set out to improve performance for IEHP within prescription-based quality measures linked to medication adherence and safety. The idea is to partner with network pharmacies. In turn, they offer clinical education to members, set up auto refills, and see that the member’s health issue is being controlled, all of which make the most of the frequent encounters pharmacies have with members.

With its pharmacies offering clinical education and more, IEHP improved on seven weighted measures associated with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 5-star Quality Rating System: (1) Proportion of Days covered for diabetes (2) Hypertension (3) Cholesterol (4) Asthma-absence of controller therapy (5) Use of high-risk medication in the elderly (6) Diabetes-appropriate treatment of hypertension (7) Generic dispensing rate.

“We see that leveraging our pharmacy network to help us improve quality on these measures is an effective strategy when combined with performance incentives,” said Dr. Chris Chan, IEHP senior director of Pharmaceutical Services. “That makes our program truly innovative in the industry.”

As the centerpiece for IEHP’s quality initiative program, IEHP’s Pharmacy P4P program acts as a springboard to aid in transforming the community pharmacy from a dispensary-only to a clinical model. It also ushers in the era of IEHP programs – such as Medication Therapy Management – that aim to impact a member’s health positively through pharmacy clinical services. 

About IEHP

IEHP, Inland Empire Health Plan, a Knox-Keene licensed health plan located inRancho Cucamonga, California, is a not-for-profit public agency. IEHP services San Bernardino and Riverside counties and has more than 1.13 million members in the following programs: Medi-Cal (including seniors and persons with disabilities), IEHP DualChoice Cal MediConnect Plan (Medicare-Medicaid Plan) and Healthy Kids. Through a dynamic partnership with providers, award-winning service and innovative products, IEHP is fully committed to providing members with quality, accessible and wellness based healthcare services. Learn more at www.iehp.org.

About Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute

The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute is dedicated to unraveling the complexities of pharmacy benefit management by providing research, continuing education, and Web resources that help organizations work effectively with their pharmacy benefit managers to improve the overall management of drug benefit programs. Learn more at www.pbmi.com.