Development of a clinically integrated pharmacy network: Pennsylvania pharmacists care network.

Abstract

Background: Community pharmacy practice is readily modernizing to a patient-centered model of care where implementation of patient care services, evolving business models, and a consistent approach to the way payment for services occurs is essential to long-term sustainability.

Objective: To describe the development, implementation, and growth of a community pharmacy clinically integrated network (CIN) for pharmacist-provided patient care services throughout Pennsylvania.

Practice description: The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Care Network (PPCN) is an affiliated chapter of CPESN USA, a CIN providing nationwide support, infrastructure, and best practice alignment. PPCN's collaboration with colleges/schools of pharmacy, the state pharmacy association, CPESN USA and other key partners have been essential to network formation. Network pharmacies must meet a minimum set of patient care requirements including documentation of patient care services through an electronic care plan, using the Pharmacists eCare Plan (PeCP) standard.

Practice innovation: PPCN partners with health payors in contracting patient care services on behalf of participating pharmacies. Payor contracts include fee-for-service and value-based care reimbursement structures. Regular communication with payor partners and network pharmacies help ensure quality and achievement of programmatic goals.

Evaluation methods: Descriptive statistics were used to characterize patient care service PeCP data between September 2017 and December 2025.

Results: Between September 1, 2017, and December 31, 2025, pharmacists provided 198,626 patient encounters through seven payor programs. January 1, 2021, marked the launch of additional payor programs and the inclusion of data collection through a more comprehensive PeCP report. During this time, over 200 pharmacies and pharmacy teams engaged 25,371 unique patients through a payor program.

Conclusion: The development and growth of PPCN has led to a steady volume of payor contracts for a wide variety of pharmacist-provided patient care services. Collaboration among different stakeholders is vital to network development, and payment mechanisms are essential to sustain and grow network services.