From Denise Rhoney:
I’m happy to announce that Jon Easter has joined the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as the director of the Center for Medication Optimization through Practice and Policy and a professor of the practice.
The center, which is embedded within the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education and launched in April 2015, seeks to solidify the role of pharmacy practice within value-based health care payment and care-delivery models by building a hub to support internal and external collaboration, research and education.
CMOPP will develop a robust, real-world-practice research capability by securing a variety of grants, facilitate strategic collaborations with interdisciplinary partners to accelerate impact and advance education of students through curricular transformation and experiential learning. Its goal is to demonstrate the positive impact of medication optimization on patient care and health care quality and on reducing the total cost of care. With the emergence of value-based payment models, there’s an incredible opportunity to educate policymakers, payers and health care systems on the impact of new pharmacy models in ambulatory care, community pharmacy and transitions of care. It’s also important for students to learn how policy shapes health care so we can better prepare them for these new delivery models while also developing leaders to advocate for positive change.
Easter said the center will accomplish these goals by focusing on three areas: collaboration, research and education. Prioritizing in these areas will produce the needed evidence to integrate medication optimization into value-based care delivery and payment models.
Easter spent more than 19 years at GlaxoSmithKline, where he primarily worked in the health-policy arena. He led a team that facilitated the adoption of evidence-based quality measures, informed development of new value-based reimbursement programs and drove improvements in care delivery through better coordination and medication management. He championed GSK’s involvement in North Carolina First in Health, one of the nation’s leading patient-centered medical home projects.