September 5, 2017 | Last month at the Next Generation Dx Summit in Washington, DC, I spoke with Alex Sbordone, senior advisor, operations, MinuteClinic, CVS Health; and Andrea Vastis, senior manager, pharmacy produce development, patient care programs, CVS Health.
The two presented what could be seen as competitive views of point-of-care testing. Sbordone discussed point-of-care testing in a retail setting. Vastis explored the pharmacist’s role in point-of-care testing and talked about a few of the CVS pharmacy pilots including a flu and strep test pilot in Michigan and a contraceptive pilot in California.
Vastis and Sbordone both outlined their requirements for diagnostic tests for a point-of-care setting: fast results and relatively low physical footprint. They also discussed some of the education that would need to take place—for patients and payers—before a point-of-care setting became fully integrated into healthcare delivery.
But the future is coming, they insist. And it’s appropriate.
MinuteClinic has been offering patient care since 2000 within CVS locations; there are 1,100 MinuteClinic locations across 33 states. There are 9,600 CVS pharmacies located in 49 states, Vastis explained, representing significant opportunity for pharmacist-delivered care.
Delivering certain types of diagnostic testing and care in a point-of-care setting—either in a retail clinic like MinuteClinic or in a retail pharmacy delivered by a pharmacist—saves the healthcare system money and the patient valuable time.
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Highlights:
00:55 Point-of-care testing available in CVS MinuteClinics
02:00 Types of tests most appropriate for pharmacies
03:00 Special concerns for delivery results or care in a pharmacy setting, for example for HIV or Hepatitis C patients
04:06 Preferred types of diagnostic tests and why MinuteClinics avoid phlebotomy
04:40 Ideal time for point-of-care tests
05:44 A virtual tour of a MinuteClinic and hardware requirements
07:50 Challenges of balancing patient care and workflow for pharmacists who are delivery point-of-care tests
08:45 Findings from the CVS flu and strep pilot in Michigan
11:37 Challenges and opportunities in payer interactions
13:40 Value of the patient perspective and feedback from the CVS contraceptives pilot in California