Recently, two great stories about how underserved patients and the health care system can benefit from pharmacists’ expanding roles ran in the Los Angeles Register. One story, "USC tries novel approach to care," showed how “pharmacists in California may be on a path to a much larger role in patient care and in controlling health care costs.” The story highlighted the “impressive” early results from a 3-year, $12 million study to bring pharmacists into safety-net clinics. The study is being conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy and was funded by CMS’s Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in 2012. Check out the story for a sneak peek at the preliminary and unpublished results, provided by USC investigator Steve Chen. Dr. Chen gave us a glimpse of early results a few months ago. At a Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners meeting, Dr. Chen presented the study design, challenges and an early progress report.

The second story, "Prescription for Success: Caring," featured a patient with diabetes, whose life was turned around by Dr. Chen, as a “preeminent example of how pharmacists who expand beyond their traditional role can help patients control diabetes.” The patient was quoted at length. “I listened to [Chen] because I liked him and he seemed to care. That really touched my heart,” said the patient. Now, “my waist is so skinny, I can hula hoop through a Cheerio.” Dr. Chen was profiled in the September 2012 issue of Pharmacy Today and took home a 2013 Pinnacle Award from the APhA Foundation. On June 6, the USC School of Pharmacy announced that Dr. Chen has been appointed Chair of the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy.

In addition to the obvious—a significant number of patients are benefitting from the care being received in the USC clinics—the work being studied and documented by Dr. Chen and his team is replicable, and CMMI is serious about finding practice innovations that increase quality and lower costs. That’s REALLY exciting!

We love to brag about innovations like these and look forward to hearing more. Meanwhile, we’ll do everything we can to publicize and support good work like this. Let us know about your latest successes in patient care! Tell your story.