EQuIPP™ Selected as a Neutral Intermediary for Pharmacy Pay-for-Performance

SPRINGFIELD, Va., Aug. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmacy Quality Solutions, Inc. (PQS), announced that its EQuIPP™ platform has been selected by Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), a not-for-profit public health plan in southern California, as a neutral intermediary for performance measurement in IEHP's Pay-for-Performance (P4P) program for pharmacies. EQuIPP is the first national platform for pharmacy quality measurement, benchmarking, and feedback. By serving as a neutral third party for evaluation of the quality of patient medication use, EQuIPP^™ enables pharmacies and health plans to implement performance-based payment systems with assurance that the measurement of performance will be consistent and accurate.

Inland Empire Health Plan recently launched a Pay-for-Performance (P4P) program for its network of pharmacies in southern California.  Pharmacies will be eligible for a bonus payment every six months based on the quality of medication use for IEHP members. The quality of medication use is evaluated across seven performance measures and each pharmacy in the IEHP network is able to track its performance via personalized dashboards within EQuIPP™. "The goal of the IEHP Pharmacy P4P Program is to extend our Quality of Care program into our Community Pharmacy Network.  Community Pharmacists are in the perfect setting to help enhance quality of care and optimize medication therapies.  We believe our Pharmacists have much to offer and this better integrates them with the health care team.  Using EQuIPP, Community Pharmacists will be able to monitor their performance," said IEHP Chief Medical Officer William Henning, D.O.

"Measuring performance is powerful in transforming the quality of the medication-use system, but only if pharmacies and health plans have access to standard dashboards that objectively reflect how they compare against meaningful quality measures," said PQS President David Nau, PhD, RPh, FAPhA. "We are pleased to provide the unbiased measurement of pharmacy quality to enable IEHP and its network pharmacies to implement a performance-based payment system with trust in the performance measures."

To learn more about EQuIPP^™, please visit www.EQuIPP.org

About Pharmacy Quality Solutions and EQuIPP™

Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS) is a joint venture of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance and CECity. Its primary service, EQuIPP™, is a performance information management platform that makes unbiased performance data available to health plans and community pharmacy organizations. EQuIPP™ brings standardization to the measurement of the quality of medication use and makes this information accessible and easy to understand.

About Inland Empire Health Plan

IEHP, Inland Empire Health Plan, a Knox-Keene licensed health plan located in San Bernardino, California, is a not-for-profit public agency. IEHP services San Bernardino and Riverside counties and has over 620,000 members in the following programs: Medi-Cal (including seniors and people with disabilities), Healthy Kids, and a Medicare Special Needs Plan. 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.

Contact information:
Pharmacy Quality Solutions           
David Nau 
(859) 537-8462              
Email

Inland Empire Health Plan
Chris Chan, Pharm. D.
(909) 890-2067
Email

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SOURCE Pharmacy Quality Solutions, Inc.