Goal of pilot program is to improve outcomes for heart failure patients
The WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and the WVU School of Pharmacy are launching a Heart Failure Community Pharmacy-Provider Collaborative Care Network to improve heart failure care throughout the state.
A diagnosis of heart failure does not mean that the heart has stopped working. Instead, it means that the heart is not pumping blood as well as it should. It affects about six million people in the United States, and West Virginia leads the nation in rates of cardiovascular disease.
Although heart failure is a serious condition that progressively gets worse over time, certain cases can be reversed with treatment. Even when the heart muscle is impaired, there are numerous treatments that can relieve symptoms and stop or slow the gradual worsening of the condition.
Due to the rural nature of much of the state, many West Virginians live in areas with limited access to heart failure specialists.
Community pharmacists are nationally recognized as “the most accessible healthcare providers” in the U.S., and patients visit community pharmacies twice more often than primary care offices. However, community pharmacists are underutilized for heart failure care in West Virginia. Community pharmacies could also serve as a gatekeeper for appropriate heart failure care and collaborate with local cardiology offices in local communities.
Currently, no active heart failure community pharmacy certificate program is available to ensure the competency in care.
“Recent statewide data show underutilization of life-saving heart failure medications in West Virginia. To address this, we are developing a Community Pharmacy Heart Failure Certificate Program and Statewide Collaborative Network to improve health disparities in local heart failure care,” Kazuhiko Kido, Pharm.D., Ph.D., clinical associate professor of Clinical Pharmacy at the WVU School of Pharmacy and heart failure pharmacist at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, said.
“This Program will help pharmacies work closely with local doctors to ensure patients get the best treatment, stay on their medications, and reduce hospital visits.”
George Sokos, M.D. and Kazuhiko Kido, Ph.D.
The Program will launch with three WVU Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologists and three community pharmacies: David Tingler, M.D., will work with White Hall Pharmacy in Marion County; Walid Gharib, M.D., will work with Moundsville Pharmacy in Marshall County; and Stephen Ward, M.D., will work with Four Seasons Pharmacy in Princeton (Mercer County).
George Sokos, D.O., chair of Cardiology at the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute and director of the Institute’s Advanced Heart Failure Program, said the ultimate goal of the Program is to enhance patient outcomes. The three community-based cardiologists will be available to answer questions the pharmacies may have.
“Heart failure is one of the most common heart-related reasons for hospital admission and readmission in West Virginia. Having our cardiologists work directly with community pharmacies will, hopefully, improve heart health and reduce disparities in care across West Virginia, especially in rural areas,” Dr. Sokos said.
“The care may look different, but no matter where our patients come into WVU Medicine, they will receive the same level and quality of care they would on our main campus in Morgantown.”
This year, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute Advanced Heart Failure Program was nationally recognized as High Performing in Heart Failure by U.S. News & World Report and received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
Eventually, the goal is to spread the Community Pharmacy Heart Failure Certificate Program to other community pharmacies across the state and possibly across the country.
But for now, the primary target will remain heart failure patients in the Mountain State, as funding for the Program came from an alumnus and donor who wanted to make an impact on rural patients despite no longer living in the state.
Bob Powell, Pharm.D., is a 1971 graduate of the WVU School of Pharmacy. His passion for this project is based on creating health equity by transferring health excellence from WVU to patients across the rural mountainous terrain.
“Many of my Powell ancestors on the family farm near Paw Paw, West Virginia, died from heart attacks and strokes,” he said. “The closest physician or hospital was hours away across winding roads. This physician-pharmacy collaboration will greatly benefit West Virginians and beyond.”
