Collaborative Practice Agreements: Resources and More

Collaborative Practice Agreements (CPAs) create formal practice relationships between pharmacists and prescribers. CPAs can benefit collaborative care delivery by identifying what functions – in addition to the pharmacist’s typical scope of practice – are delegated to the pharmacist by the collaborating prescriber, under negotiated conditions outlined in the agreement.

Benefits to Practice

While CPAs are not a prerequisite for collaborative care delivery, they can serve to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of collaborative care delivery. When used to their full potential, CPAs have the ability to increase access to care, expand available services to patients, increase the efficiency and coordination of care, and leverage pharmacists’ medication expertise to complement the skills and knowledge of the other health care team members.

For example, CPAs can decrease the number of phone calls required to authorize refills or modify prescriptions, thus allowing each member of the health care team to complement the skills and knowledge of the other member(s), more effectively facilitate patient care, and improve patient outcomes.

Applications of CPAs

A variety of patient care functions—such as initiating, modifying, or discontinuing medication therapy—can be delegated to a pharmacist using a CPA. These functions can facilitate the delivery of services such as:

• • Chronic Care Management
  • Refill Authorization
  • Formulary Management

  Toolkit: Advancing Team-Based Care through CPAs

  Pharmacists looking to develop a collaborative practice agreement may need assistance figuring out where to start. To help with that process, a toolkit entitled “Advancing Team-Based Care through Collaborative Practice Agreements” has been developed. The toolkit is a resource for pharmacists to use in developing and executing collaborative practice agreements in the spirit of advancing team-based care. It provides a customizable template that can be used as a starting point to developing a collaborative practice agreement.

  This toolkit was developed by ChangeLab Solutions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) through a cooperative agreement with ChangeLab Solutions.

  Pharmacist Collaborative Practice Agreements: Who, What, Why, and How

  An Introduction to Collaborative Practice Agreements: a Brief Webinar

  

  Where to Learn More

  For more information on CPA’s and related pharmacist-provided services, check out the following resources.

  From NASPA:

  • Key Elements for CPA Legislative and Regulatory Authority
  • Collaborative Practice Agreement Infographic
  • State CPA Policy Maps (available to NASPA members only)

  From APhA:

  • Consortium recommendations for advancing pharmacists’ patient care services and collaborative practice agreements
  • Physician-Reported Factors that Encourage Collaboration with Community Pharmacists

  From CDC:

  • Pharmacist Collaborative Practice Agreements — For Facilitators: Tools for Public Health Law Academy Trainers
  • Collaborative Practice Agreements and Pharmacists’ Patient Care Services: A Resource for Pharmacists
  • Increasing the Use of Collaborative Practice Agreements Between Prescribers and Pharmacists: A Brief for Decision Makers, Public Health Practitioners, and Prescribers
  • Select Features of State Pharmacist Collaborative Practice Laws
  • Using the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process to Manage High Blood Pressure: A Resource Guide for Pharmacists
  • Collaborative Practice Agreements and Pharmacists’ Patient Care Services: A Resource for Doctors, Nurses, Physician Assistants, and Other Providers
  • Collaborative Practice Agreements and Pharmacists’ Patient Care Services: A Resource for Government and Private Payers
  • Collaborative Practice Agreements and Pharmacists’ Patient Care Services: A Resource for Decision Makers
  • From Policy to Implementation: Collaborative Drug Therapy Management at a Federally Qualified Health Center
  • From Policy to Implementation: Collaborative Drug Therapy Management in an Independent Pharmacy

  From AMA:

  • How to make the pharmacist part of your practice’s team
  • Embedding Pharmacists Into the Practice, Collaborate with pharmacists to improve patient outcomes – this site includes tools targeted for a physician audience but could also be helpful for pharmacists getting collaborative care delivery services started!

  Support for Pharmacists Services:

  • The Expanding Role of Pharmacists in a Transformed Health Care System, National Governors Association
  • The Role of the Pharmacist in Public Health, American Public Health Association, American Public Health Association
  • Access to Tobacco Cessation Medication through Pharmacists, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
  • Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes through Advanced Pharmacy Practice, A Report to the Surgeon General