"Pharmacists working together with barbershops in the African-American community to treat client blood pressure on-site were able to get 90% of participants to a healthy blood pressure over a six-month period. The study, published in the NEJM this April by researchers from Los Angeles, demonstrate the powerful impact of community health care delivery. For an intervention to get 90% of its participants at goal is tremendous, and it raises the question: why are we not implementing these types of programs more broadly?...
From the NEJM study, in which researchers integrated medication titration into the barbershop and demonstrated a significant reduction in blood pressure control, I have had to reflect on the barriers moving forward to implementing these programs more broadly. Questions aside about the sustainability of blood pressure control beyond the six-month time period, the largest hurdle I see is the business model, particularly the cost and payment aspects.
With the advent of telemedicine and permeation of mobile technology into the hands of most people in the country, it is not a giant leap to see how a provider may reach a patient virtually in the barbershop to adjust blood pressure medications (or other medications for that matter) while the barber continues to be the bearer of trust and the regular point of contact in this patient-provider relationship. Telemedicine could allow for significant cost-savings compared to the time and expense needed for pharmacists in the NEJM study to travel between 40 different barbershops in Los Angeles, and it would allow such an intervention to scale without geographic borders.
In today’s world of fee-for-service payment, the question remains of how to “bill” for these services."
Comments