Bristol Myers Squibb and National Community Pharmacists Association Pilot Rural Heart Health Care Initiatives

Originally published on NCPA.org

Recently, Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) announced a new collaboration aimed at improving heart health in rural communities in the United States.

NCPA has launched a program in partnership with BMS to address health-related social needs and care coordination for patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) by piloting community health worker specialized training for pharmacy technicians. Pharmacist-community health worker teams in 25 rural pharmacies across Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri will be trained through a rigorous curriculum to more effectively evaluate patients with higher risk of CVD and guide them toward appropriate healthcare providers for further care and evaluation.

Additionally, NCPA is creating new access points at these same independent pharmacies for screening, monitoring and management of cardiovascular disease, funded through a separate and independent grant by BMS, as part of a pilot program to evaluate the impact of enhanced access to critical healthcare services in medically underserved communities.

CVD disproportionately impacts rural Americans, with adults in rural areas facing a 19% higher risk of developing heart failure and being 1.5 times more likely to die of CVD than adults in urban areas. Community pharmacies are often the only access point to connect patients with critical healthcare services in many rural geographies. BMS and NCPA’s commitments to address healthcare disparities in rural America aim to improve healthcare delivery and, ultimately, outcomes.

“Too many patients in rural America face barriers to cardiovascular care—barriers that tragically cost lives,” said Andrew Whitehead, vice president and head of Population Health at Bristol Myers Squibb. “Through our collaboration with NCPA, we are confronting these challenges head-on. By supporting the NCPA Community Health Worker training for pharmacy techs to further assist in the continuity of care for patients in these communities, we’re helping to close a critical gap in our healthcare system and reaffirming our commitment to creating equitable access to care for all.”

“We are pleased to partner with BMS to improve access to care for people in rural communities,” said B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA, CEO of NCPA. “The NCPA Innovation Center has partnered with the 25 rural pharmacies to improve cardiovascular outcomes through care coordination, screenings, transition of care interventions, and making sure patients have access to the medicines they need to sustain and improve health. Community pharmacists and their teams are increasingly playing a bigger role in the healthcare of Americans, and we are excited to create new, sustainable models of pharmacy-based care.”

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) is a US-based organization that represents the interests of nearly 19,000 independent pharmacies across the country, many of which are located in areas where healthcare is hard to find, and one-third of which are in communities of less than 10,000 people.

###