Excelera to Present Poster on Tuberculosis Screening Compliance at PQA Annual Meeting

MINNEAPOLIS, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Excelera®, a subsidiary of Shields Health Solutions and the company behind the Excelera Network, announced today that it will present a poster on tuberculosis (TB) screening compliance and the value of pharmacist interventions in supporting safe medication use at the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Annual Meeting. Excelera's presentation was selected from a wide range of submissions and will be available for attendees to view throughout the Annual Meeting, which is being held virtually from May 11 to 13. The paper will be presented during the PQA Annual Meeting poster session, which is being held on Monday, May 17, at the Research Symposium, during which time conference attendees can converse with presenters about their research.

Biologic therapies for inflammatory diseases suppress the immune system and are associated with an increased risk of infections such as the reactivation of latent TB, which can lead to active disease. Clinical guidelines recommend pre-treatment TB screening prior to initiation of these therapies. Titled "Compliance to Recommended Tuberculosis Screening Prior to Initiating Biologic Treatment Across a Network of Health-System Specialty Pharmacies," the poster is the first known quality initiative report analyzing tuberculosis testing compliance in patients starting biologic therapy across multiple health system specialty pharmacies. Retrospective data from six health system specialty pharmacies that are part of the Excelera Network were used for this study, and the conclusions will help enable best practices at other member health systems. The project demonstrates the value of pharmacist interventions and establishes a baseline illustrating current real-world practices for the participating sites regarding the timeframe for obtaining pre-treatment labs. It also adds new data to a recently published analysis from a single health system reporting a 62% compliance rate in tuberculosis testing.

"Appropriate screening for latent TB prior to initiation of biology therapy is fundamental to patient safety, yet studies have revealed that this important step is frequently missed, likely due to disjointed communication between the prescribing providers and specialty pharmacies that are outside of the health system," said Karen Kelley, RN, Therapy Management/Accreditation Lead, Monument Health Specialty Pharmacy. "As part of the Excelera Network, we have the distinct advantage of being able to access the EHR, track laboratory values, and coordinate testing as well as therapy start dates with the prescribing provider so that patients receive the safest therapy at the appropriate time. These data not only provide benchmarks against which we can monitor performance, but also demonstrate tangible proof that our pharmacists provide safer patient care through direct collaboration with providers."

As a result of selection, the poster and its findings are a candidate for publication in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, a peer-reviewed journal focused on advancing pharmacist-provided services. Lana Gerzenshtein, PharmD, BCPS, CSP and Zach Russell, PharmD, CSP from Excelera are the lead authors of the poster.

The PQA Annual Meeting poster session features professionals from across PQA's membership presenting innovative research surrounding medication use quality. Attendees can view the posters in PDF format throughout the Annual Meeting via the online meeting platform. On May 17, conference attendees may enter individual chat rooms between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. ET to converse with presenters about their research.

To learn more about Excelera, visit: https://excelerarx.com/ 

About Shields Health Solutions & ExceleraRx, LLC
Shields Health Solutions is a specialty pharmacy integrator and care provider dedicated to helping hospital leaders create, grow and manage hospital-owned specialty pharmacy programs. With a purpose-built technology platform, access to over 80 percent of all limited distribution drugs (LDDs), as well as most (health insurance) payors in the nation, Shields provides the fastest, lowest risk model for standing up health system-based specialty pharmacies.

ExceleraRx, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shields Health Solutions and the creator of the Excelera® Network, which is comprised of integrated delivery networks, health systems and large academic medical centers with a deep commitment to caring for complex patients. Through national-scale collaboration, the Excelera Network more efficiently gains access to LDDs and utilizes tools, technology and best practices at scale to improve health outcomes and decrease healthcare costs.

SOURCE Shields Health Solutions

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