A suite of inpatient and outpatient clinical measures for pharmacy accountability: Recommendations from the Pharmacy Accountability Measures Work Group

Three defining characteristics of national healthcare policy that affect patient care are accountability of providers, standardization of performance measures, and incentives for improvement.1 Accountability for outcomes and health status is jointly shared by the patient and provider. Structural changes to the delivery of healthcare services are underway via the development and implementation of accountable care organization and patient-centered medical home models that increasingly place accountability for the quality of patient care on the provider through the use of standardized performance measures and financial incentives. Pharmacists are accountable as part of the patient care team for high-quality patient outcomes and, at a minimum, safe care. Nationally, pharmacists are being called on to deliver on this accountability; 1 of the 34 National Quality Forum’s (NQF’s) Safe Practices for Better Healthcare asserts that “pharmacy leaders should have an active role on the administrative leadership team that reflects their authority and accountability for medication management systems performance across organizations.”2