UT Austin neighborhood pharmacy program working to expand patient access

neighborhood program conducted by the University of Texas at Austin's College of Pharmacy is working to improve pharmacists' medical records access so they can help patients connect with necessary medication to treat diseases.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A neighborhood program conducted by the University of Texas at Austin's College of Pharmacy is working to improve pharmacists' medical records access so they can help patients connect with necessary medication to treat diseases.

Dr. Samuel Poloyac serves as dean of UT Austin's College of Pharmacy and shared program details with the Austin-Travis County Public Health Commission on Wednesday. That program, Texas PharmCare, is working to minimize barriers limiting pharmacists from accessing medication data and medical records from hospitals and clinics to better provide care for patients, particularly those with diabetes and hypertension.

The program began working with Austin-based Tarrytown Pharmacy on initial implementations of the initiative, while also collaborating with H-E-B on future regional expansion plans in the Austin-Travis County region and beyond. On the medical records front, Texas PharmCare is working with Watershed Health on the data platform end of things.

Poloyac said the program was inspired by some of the challenges pharmacists grappled with while administering COVID-19 vaccines and treating COVID-positive cases. When trying to access Paxlovid and other medications for treating the disease, Poloyac said pharmacists didn't have access to medical records to run key liver and kidney tests to ensure the patient could safely take the medication.

The goal of the resulting program is connecting payers and healthcare entities with medical data for specific patients in need of treatment access. For patients to have access to routine medication use, it will take daily, weekly and monthly interactions with health professionals — and that's where pharmacists can step in, Poloyac said.

It comes at a particularly vital time for healthcare access, as more pharmacies have shuttered doors or shut down chain locations. Those can have detrimental impacts on communities, he stressed.

"The major change that's happening in community pharmacies in particular are the closings that you hear in the news on a regular basis of the major chains," he said. "And that creates deserts in two areas: one in the inner city and the second of rural areas."

Once the program expands out to H-E-B, Poloyac said he hopes to have more concrete patient data that's better reflective of the Austin-Travis County community. Ideally, he said he wants this data connection program to be a template to extend statewide and serve as a template for the nation.

While the program is currently centering its focus on diabetes and hypertension management, Poloyac added he hopes to expand it to other diseases down the road.