The McLeod Medication Access Team recently received the “Practice Advancement Initiative – Best Practice Award” during the South Carolina Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Conference. The society only recognizes one program with this honor each year. The award aligns with the overall American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) Practice Advancement Initiative 2030 that provides 50+ recommendations to advance healthcare, patient outcomes, and pharmacy practice.  

The Medication Access Team works with system clinics to proactively address and remove barriers to getting patients started on complex, expensive medication therapies. This team offloads workload from our system’s clinic teams, reduces delays to getting patients started on treatment, helps retain patient care within the McLeod Health system and helps identify measures to assist patients with affording their medications. The Department of Pharmacy is working on expanding the scope and support of Medication Access services to more clinics across the system throughout the coming year.

Eric Chmielewski, PharmD, MS, BCOP, Director of Pharmacy Business Services for McLeod Health, presented the work of the Medication Access team during the conference. “We were very excited to have the Medication Access team’s work recognized with this honor,” said Eric. “They do a great job, and we continue to hear about the difference they are making in the lives of our patients and our team members. I had leaders from several health systems come up and ask questions during the conference about how they could implement a similar model. We are honored to have McLeod recognized by other Pharmacy departments and leaders throughout the state.”

The Medication Access team includes Eric Chmielewski, Kinsley Hagans, Kayla Pepper, Ashley Green, Karla Williams and Ariel Ocasio.