In developing this tool, we have attempted to provide a clear, step-by-step process that includes several educational elements that will benefit users previously unfamiliar with clinical pharmacy services and the payment opportunities available. This business planning tool will take the user through a series of questions about program expenses and revenues. As you progress through the tool, many of the questions are accompanied with short written or video tutorials that will help the user determine an appropriate estimate.

We recognize that this area of health care services is unknown to many administrators and the environment surrounding it changes rapidly. Therefore, we encourage safety net organizations who are seriously considering adding clinical pharmacy services to their complement of primary care services to seek the assistance of a pharmacy consultant. One source of free pharmacy technical assistance is the HRSA/APhA-Pharmacy Services Support Center PharmTA program – you can request technical assistance at pssc@aphanet.org or 800-628-6297.

Before starting to use the tool, we highly encourage you to view an online tutorial that provides an overview of clinical pharmacy services and the opportunities that exist for safety net providers. This eleven(11) minute tutorial will provide background that supports the structure of the business planning tool and will assist users with applying the tool to their organization. We also encourage you to review the checklist of estimates (e.g. estimated revenue per Medicare Part D encounter) that you will need to have available in order to maximize the usefulness of this tool.