2026 Eastern States Conference

Authors: Laura Proshek, PharmD; Chelsea Kim, PharmD, BCPS; Zachary Harris, PharmD; Meagan Freel, PharmD, BCACP, CDCES
Learning Objective: Audience members will be able to evaluate and quantify the change in specialty pharmacy service utilization before and after implementation of targeted provider education within the health system.
Background/Objective: Increase transplant provider utilization of the health-system specialty pharmacy for immunosuppressant prescriptions through targeted provider education.
Self-Assessment Question: Which of the following statements best explains the significance of the quality improvement project results?
Methods: This single-center quality improvement study within a health-system specialty pharmacy transplant program aimed to increase the proportion of immunosuppressant prescriptions sent to the specialty pharmacy by transplant providers. During a 1-month pre-intervention period, baseline data were collected to determine the proportion of prescriptions for commonly prescribed immunosuppressants sent to the specialty pharmacy relative to all prescriptions written for these agents. A targeted provider education session was conducted using prior internal data demonstrating improved outcomes in specialty pharmacy transplant patients. Post-intervention data were collected over 1 month using the same methodology. All transplant patients receiving immunosuppressants during the study periods were included. The primary outcome was the change in prescribing proportion pre- and post-intervention.
Results: A total of 1168 immunosuppressant prescriptions were evaluated in the pre-intervention period compared with 1036 in the post-intervention period. The proportion of immunosuppressant prescriptions sent to the specialty pharmacy increased from 27.5% to 34.8%, demonstrating a 7.3% increase following educational intervention. This improvement was observed despite a lower overall prescription volume in the post-intervention period. Overall, the increase in specialty pharmacy utilization among transplant providers suggests a favorable shift in prescribing behavior after targeted provider education.
Conclusion: This quality improvement project demonstrated increased specialty pharmacy utilization for immunosuppressant prescribing after a targeted provider education session. These findings suggest that education may improve utilization of specialty pharmacy services among transplant providers. Further evaluation is needed to assess the sustainability of prescribing changes and their impact on clinical outcomes in transplant patients.