Empowering Pharmacies.
Enhancing Patient Outcomes
Leading the way with performance-improving innovations
and PBMs
These medication experts deliver personalized care close to home for a better patient experience.
Discover the story of PQS’ origins and growth, driven by a passion for quality
measurement and collaboration between payers and pharmacies.
2010
COMMUNITY PHARMACY STUDY CATALYST FOR EQUIPP®
Large-scale community pharmacy study was completed to evaluate the impact of screening and brief intervention on population-level medication adherence rates and health care costs. The study was the main proof of concept behind the creation of the Electronic Quality Improvement Platform for Plans and Pharmacies.
2013
PHARMACY QUALITY SOLUTIONS IS LAUNCHED
January 2013 – Pharmacy Quality Solutions officially
launched as a company supported by the Pharmacy
Quality Alliance (PQA) as a majority owner and then
CE City, Inc. (now part of Premier, Inc.) as the minority owner representing both a non-profit measure development organization and a for-profit technology company with expertise in physician-level dashboards and quality measures, respectively.
2014
HEALTH AFFAIRS PUBLISHES PA PROJECT
August 2014 – Health Affairs published the results of
the large-scale community pharmacy study known as
the “PA Project” demonstrating significant reduction
in per patient annual health care spending through
pharmacy engagement. The Pennsylvania Project:
Pharmacist Intervention Improved Medication
Adherence And Reduced Health Care Costs
Fall 2014 – PQS launched patient-level improvement
opportunities known as “Patient Outliers” within
EQUIPP helping users understand who they would
need to target to improve performance scores for
each hosted measure.
2015
PQS reached medicare milestone
October 2015 – PQS achieved its first Medicare milestone by partnering with health plans and PBMs representing 50% of all Medicare Part D lives and approximately 25 million total unique individuals.
2016
MY PROGRAMS LAUNCHED WITHIN EQUIPP
September 2016 – PQS launched within EQUIPP, a new enhancement known as “My Programs” which was built to help display financial impact and opportunity associated with performance-based programs. For the first time, pharmacies were able to tangibly connect current performance and financial impact to potential incentives available based upon improvement.
December 2016 – PQS launched an immunization pilot to determine if pharmacists can improve immunization rates for influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations when performance is assessed and improvement opportunities are presented in EQUIPP.
2017
PQS BEGAN EXPANSION INTO CANADA
February 2017 – PQS contracted with Green Shield Canada (GSC), a not for profit benefits carrier that provides drug, dental, extended health care, vision, hospital, and travel benefits for groups and individuals, and starts calculating performance. Performance was calculated later in the year through the EQUIPP platform providing for the first time, a national baseline assessment of pharmacy quality for the Green Shield Canada population.
2018
PQS CLIENTS DESIGNED AND IMPLEMENTED VARIOUS PERFORMANCE-BASED PROGRAMS WITH EQUIPP
January 2018 – PQS clients designed and implemented various performance-based programs with performance hosted and managed within EQUIPP whereby 50% of the Part D lives were in an incentive-based program.
June 2018 – PQS achieved its second Medicare milestone and partnered with health plan sponsors and PBMs representing three out of four Medicare Part D lives that were hosted within EQUIPP. In addition to the Medicare lives, the Medicaid and commercial lives within EQUIPP totaled over 42 million lives.
2019
PQS PUBLISHES INAUGURAL INDUSTRY TREND REPORT IN PHARMACY QUALITY
May 2019 – Pharmacy Quality Solutions published and made available online its inaugural Industry Trend Report in Pharmacy Quality. This document examined trends in perceptions, performance, approaches, and considerations as it relates to pharmacist-provided services and value-based performance programs across both payers and pharmacy providers. Read the press release.
2020
PQS AND HUMANA PARTNERED TO LAUNCH NEW OUTCOMES-BASED PILOT PROGRAM
Pharmacy Quality Solutions and Humana partnered on a new diabetes outcomes-based pilot program hosted within PQS’s EQUIPP platform. Humana incentivized pharmacies to improve patient outcomes for specific diabetes quality measures in this first-of-its-kind program using EQUIPP. Read the press release from June 15, 2020.
2021
EQUIPP HIGHLIGHTED IN OCTOBER AJMC ARTICLE
The October 2021 edition of the American Journal for Managed Care featured the article “Medicare Advantage-Pharmacy Partnership Improves Influenza and Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates” which is co-authored by PQS Nick Dorich, PharmD, Senior Manager, Pharmacy Accounts.
The AJMC article detailed how a collaborative effort of a Medicare Advantage and prescription drug (MAPD) plan and community pharmacies could impact vaccination rates for pneumonia and influenza using EQUIPP.
2022
PQS LAUNCHED NEXT-GENERATION EQUIPP PLATFORM
PQS announced the release of the next-generation EQUIPP platform. The re-architected EQUIPP platform provided a better user experience and makes it even easier for pharmacists to guide medication-related performance improvement. Read the press release from Nov. 1, 2022.
2023
PQS AND HUMANA PARTNERED TO LAUNCH NEW OUTCOMES-BASED PILOT PROGRAM
PQS celebrated its 10-year anniversary and launches its enhanced services feature in EQUIPP, expanding the role of pharmacy in closing gaps in care.
Resources
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The Impact of Community Pharmacy on Quality Care
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Quality Corner Show Highlight- Beyond Prescriptions: How Community Pharmacies Drive Quality Care
Quality Corner Show Highlight- Beyond Prescriptions: How Community Pharm...
EmblemHealth and Pharmacy Quality Solutions Bring Enhanced Care to Members Living with Diabetes
In 2011, we set out to solve healthcare's biggest challenges with data activation and insights.
With 10+ years of quality measurement expertise and deep pharmacy knowledge,
PQS provides best-practices to develop innovative quality strategies to support more effective interventions.
