Press Release: Students Successfully Complete Inaugural PQA-CVS Health Foundation Scholars Program

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Hannah Fish, PharmD, CPHQ

Associate Director, Education & Communications

Pharmacy Quality Alliance

(703) 347-7963

[email protected]

Students Successfully Complete Inaugural PQA-CVS Health Foundation Scholars Program

Alexandria, VA (May 23, 2017) - The Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) and the CVS-Health Foundation launched a new scholarship opportunity for students to pair with a mentor to design and implement a quality-related project in April 2016. One year later the inaugural class of 38 students and mentors have successfully completed the program, which concluded with the students presenting the results of their projects during the Poster Presentation session at the PQA Annual Meeting. The inaugural year of the program supported 19 student-mentor pairs from 15 schools and colleges of pharmacy. In addition, three students were awarded additional scholarships for their outstanding projects and committed efforts throughout the program.

The top three Scholars and their projects are, as follows:

Julie Patterson, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, PharmD Candidate 2018; The impact of objective quality ratings on patient selection of community pharmacies: A discrete choice analysis

Kavita Parikh, Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy, PharmD Candidate 2018; A pharmacist's role in transitions of care settings as part of a patient care management team to decrease re-admissions

Michael Peters, Purdue University College of Pharmacy, PharmD Candidate 2018; Comparing FAERS and Twitter data on high-risk medications for the elderly and the impact on the CMS star rating system

"It was outstanding to see the successful work of our Scholars and their mentors throughout this program and to see the culmination of their projects presented during our PQA Annual Meeting," stated Laura Cranston, PQA Executive Director. She continued, "the Scholars demonstrated creative and innovative initiatives that will help drive the healthcare quality agenda forward. It has been a pleasure to work with the CVS Health Foundation to provide this opportunity to the student-mentor pairs and we look forward to our continued partnership during the second year of the program."

"The CVS Health Foundation is proud to partner with the Pharmacy Quality Alliance to help develop future pharmacists that will help enhance patient care and outcomes in healthcare," said Eileen Howard Boone, president of the CVS Health Foundation. "We look forward to working together for a second year as we continue to fulfill this program's mission."

PQA and the CVS Health Foundation are excited to announce that applications for the second year of the PQA- CVS Health Foundation Scholars Program are now open. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2017. For more information please visit the website at http://pqaalliance.org/academic/scholars.asp.

PQA and the CVS Health Foundation are committed to supporting future pharmacy leaders and their education of quality performance and measurement. The goal of this scholarship program is to support and recognize student excellence in projects centered on quality-related initiatives; encourage, promote, and improve education surrounding quality measures and value-based models of care; and foster student interest and engagement in the development of quality-related initiatives. The program provides a scholarship for scholars to attend the PQA Leadership Summit in November and present the results of their project at the PQA Annual Meeting in May.

About PQA

Established in 2006, PQA represents pharmacy providers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans, academia, consumer advocates, community pharmacies, health technology vendors, life sciences organizations, and other stakeholders interested in improving the quality of the medication-use system.

PQA's mission is to:

Improve the quality of medication management and use across health care settings with the goal of improving patients' health through a collaborative process to develop and implement performance measures and recognize examples of exceptional pharmacy quality.

PQA provides a leadership role in identification and selection of metrics for evaluating the quality of the medication-use system, provides education on quality improvement, and connects pharmacists to healthcare improvement initiatives. For more information about the Pharmacy Quality Alliance, please visit www.PQAalliance.org or contact us at (703) 347-7963.

About the CVS Health Foundation

The CVS Health Foundation is a private charitable organization created by CVS Health that works to build healthier communities, enabling people of all ages to lead healthy, productive lives. The Foundation provides strategic investments to nonprofit partners throughout the U.S. who help increase community-based access to health care for underserved populations, create innovative approaches to chronic disease management and provide tobacco cessation and youth prevention programming. We also invest in scholarship programs that open the pathways to careers in pharmacy to support the academic aspirations of the best and brightest talent in the industry. Our philanthropy also extends to supporting our colleagues' spirit of volunteerism through Volunteer Challenge grants to nonprofits where they donate their time and fundraising efforts. To learn more about the CVS Health Foundation and its giving, visit www.cvshealth.com/social-responsibility.