• Julie A Groppi, Heather Ourth, Michael Tran, Anthony P Morreale, Michael Shawn McFarland, Tera D Moore, Terri Jorgenson, and Virginia Torrise.
• Pharmacy Benefits Management Services, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC.
• Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2021 Mar 31; 78 (8): 712-719.

PurposeAccess to care is a critical issue facing healthcare and affects patients living in rural and underserved areas more significantly. This led the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to launch a project that leveraged the expertise of the clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) provider, embedding 180 CPS providers into primary care, mental health, and pain management across the nation.MethodsThis multidimensional project resulted in hiring 111 CPS providers in primary care, 40 CPS providers in mental health, and 35 CPS providers in pain management to serve rural veterans' needs. From October 2017 to March 2020, CPS providers provided direct patient care to 213,477 veterans within 606,987 visits. This was an average of 43,000 additional visits each quarter to support comprehensive medication management services, demonstrating an additional 219,823 visits in fiscal year 2018 and 232,030 visits in fiscal year 2019. Over the course of the project, the team provided mentorship to 164 CPS providers, performed consultative visits at 27 VA facilities, and trained 180 CPS providers in educational boot camps.ConclusionVA funding of rural health initiatives adding CPS providers to primary care, mental health, and pain teams has resulted in positive measures of comprehensive medication management, interdisciplinary team satisfaction, facility leadership acceptance, and multiple positive outcomes.Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists 2021.

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