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Table 1 Quality of Care Indicators for Community Pharmacists

From: Monitoring Community Pharmacist's Quality of Care: A feasibility study of using pharmacy claims data to assess performance

Indicator Definition
Medication Safety  
Beta Blockers in Respiratory Patients  
Recommended Care: Patients receiving a SABA should not receive nonselective beta-blockers (NSBB) Measure: proportion of dispensings of beta-blockers to patients dispensed SABA that are for NSBB*
  Denominator: # of dispensings of oral beta-blockers (selective or nonselective) to patients who received a SABA from any pharmacy within the previous 6 months (including dispensing on the same day)
  Numerator: # of dispensings of oral NSBB to patients who were dispensed a SABA from any pharmacy within the previous 6 months (including dispensing on the same day)
Benzodiazepines in the Elderly  
Recommended Care: seniors requiring a benzodiazepine should not receive long acting agents (flurazepam) Measure: proportion of dispensings of benzodiazepines to patients >65 years old that are for flurazepam*
  Denominator: # of dispensings of benzodiazepines to patients >65 years old
  Numerator: # of dispensings of flurazepam to patients >65 years old
Medication Effectiveness  
Over-use of Asthma Medications  
Recommended Care: patients should not use more than 250 doses of SABA in a 90 day period Measure: proportion of dispensings of SABA that are provided to patients who had used more than 250 doses of these rescue medications over the previous 90 days*
  Denominator: # of dispensings of inhaled SABA
  Numerator: # of dispensings of an inhaled SABA that were provided to a patient who had been dispensed more than 250 doses of this same SABA from any pharmacy within the previous 90 days
Under-use of Anti-hypertensives  
Recommended Care: patients should take at least 80% of their medication prescribed for hypertension Measure: proportion of dispensings of anti-hypertensive medications that are provided to patients who had received <80% of their required supply of antihypertensive medications over the previous 90 days*
  Denominator: # of dispensings of any blood pressure medications
  Numerator: # of dispensings of any blood pressure medications that were to patients who had received <80% of the prescribed amount of any blood pressure medications over the previous 90 days from any pharmacy
  1. * The lower the score on the Quality of Care indicators the better the performance.
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BMC Health Services Research

ISSN: 1472-6963

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