Innovative Patient Focused Results
The Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy Health Outcomes and Research Program improves patient care through sound research while furthering innovation and insights within the field of specialty pharmacy.
Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy is affiliated with Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Our Program At A Glance
The VSP Health Outcomes and Research Program leverages a dedicated research team and collaborations with Health IT analysists, specialty medication prescribers, VUMC biostatisticians, and integrated VSP clinical pharmacists to improve patient care through sound research, measure and expand the value of Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy, and foster research training in the field of specialty pharmacy.
Research Goals
Patient Care
Improve medication access, adherence and health outcomes of Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy patients
Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy
Improve the ability to serve all specialty patients seen at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Specialty Pharmacy Profession
Evaluate and report the value of health-system specialty pharmacy services to patients, providers and the healthcare community
Patient Care
Improve medication access, adherence and health outcomes of Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy patients
Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy
Improve the ability to serve all specialty patients seen at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Specialty Pharmacy Profession
Evaluate and report the value of health-system specialty pharmacy services to patients, providers and the healthcare community
Research Capabilities
We are uniquely positioned to produce rigorous, innovative, meaningful outcomes research. Our outcomes program leverages the expertise and experience of world-renowned physician champions within the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
VSP leverages data from the patient’s electronic health record, the pharmacy dispensing system, and the specialty pharmacy patient management system to provide the most comprehensive view of the patient journey from a decision to treat through outcomes.
VSP collaborates with statisticians from the Department of Biostatistics to design and execute rigorous research studies.
VSP utilizes PharmD Health IT analysts that are both knowledgeable about clinical practice and treatment and skilled in data extraction and manipulation.
VSP provides specialty pharmacy management services for more than 5,000 patients, including patients with orphan and rare diseases.
The integrated multidisciplinary relationship between pharmacists and specialty clinic providers extends into collaborative research and quality improvement efforts. Key opinion leaders are frequently engaged and active contributors to VSP research efforts.
As a world-renowned academic medical center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center houses research resources that provide tools to meet any research need.
VSP is dedicated to implementing learnings from our research back into patient care to continue to improve the quality of our services. We have a dedicated patient care improvement pharmacist to move work from research to practice.
Vanderbilt coordinates a multisite network of health systems specialty pharmacies that collaborate to perform multisite research studies and share best practices.
More information on the consortium can be found here: https://www.vanderbiltspecialtypharmacy.com/hssp-consortium
Our Research Program Statistics
as of January 2023
56
Peer-reviewed manuscripts
150
Posters presented
11
Podium presentations at conferences
4
Monetary research awards
Focusing on the complete patient journey
Pre-treatment evaluation
Studies report on research performed from the time a patient is diagnosed with a specialty disease through just before initiating specialty medication. Study topics include pharmacist integration with the clinic and impact on provider satisfaction and/or burden and the initial patient and medication screening performed upon referral to ensure treatment safety and appropriateness.
Medication access & initiation
These studies describe process of navigating specialty medication authorization, affordability, and initiation. Study topics include the access process requirements, time to treatment initiation, and initiation rates.
Patient outcomes
These studies evaluate VSP actions and patient outcomes while on specialty medication. Topics include adherence, persistence, treatment optimization, coordination of care, patient response to therapy, healthcare utilization, and pharmacist interventions.
Select Research Highlights
HSSPs Ensure Patients Initiate New Oncology Treatments
View Quick Fact CardFinancial Impact of Integrated SP Efforts to Avoid Oncolytic Waste
View Quick Fact CardProvider Satisfaction With Specialty Pharmacy Services
View Quick Fact CardTargeted Monitoring Reduces Treatment Changes in Oncology
View Quick Fact CardImpact of an IHSSP Model on Patient Access to Dalfampridine
View Quick Fact CardPatient-Tailored Interventions to Improve Medication Adherence
View Quick Fact Card
Research Bibliography
At Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy, we have a dedicated research team. This allows us to find groundbreaking solutions firsthand.
Student Research Program
Developed in 2016, the Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy Student Research Program (VSPRP) is a training program for interested student pharmacists to receive mentorship, didactic instruction, and experience in completing outcomes research.
Media Publications
View a list of podcast and non-academic article publications our researchers have appeared in.
HSSP Consortium
In 2017, the health outcomes and research team at Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy created a collaborative Consortium with the goal of fostering cross-site research opportunities, educational activities, and networking among health-system specialty pharmacies across the country.
AWARDS
2023
- Specialty Pharmacy Continuum Top 10 Specialty Articles for 2023 "Making the Case for IDNs As Specialty Pharmacy Rx Innovators"
- The Liver Meeting 2023
- Poster of Distinction (Top 5% of Poster Abstracts)
- DAA Treatment Failure And Retreatment Strategies Following NAT+ HCV Solid Organ Transplantation In HCV-Negative Recipients: A Case Series
- Poster of Distinction (Top 5% of Poster Abstracts)
- Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus 2023
- Gold ribbon abstract winner
- Ustekinumab Infusion to Subcutaneous Transition: Coordinating Care and Identifying Potential Gaps
- Gold ribbon abstract winner
- Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Annual Meeting 2023
- Gold ribbon abstract winner
- Evaluating Patient-Reported Adherence and Outcomes in Specialty Disease States: A Dual Site Initiative
- Bronze ribbon abstract winner
- Retraining of transplant pharmacy staff to reduce Medicare Part B prescription billing errors in post-transplant recipients
- Gold ribbon abstract winner
2022
- AcademyHealth Paper of the Year 2022 "Dusetzina SB, Huskamp HA, Rothman RL, Pinheiro LC, Roberts AW, Shah ND, Walunas TL, Wood WA, Zuckerman AD, Zullig LL, & Keating NL. Many Medicare Beneficiaries Do Not Fill High-Price Specialty Drug Prescriptions. Health Aff, 2022;41(4):487-496. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2021.0174"
- National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) annual conference
- Awarded Top Poster for “Outcomes (Cost or Other)” category
- Persistence to HIV PrEP Filled through an Integrated Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Compared to External Pharmacies
- Awarded Top Poster for “Outcomes (Cost or Other)” category
- Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Nexus 2022
- Platinum ribbon abstract winner
- Financial Impact of Integrated Specialty Pharmacy Efforts to Avoid Oral Oncolytic Waste
- Gold ribbon abstract winner
- Persistence to multiple sclerosis disease modifying therapies across four health system specialty pharmacies
- Silver ribbon abstract winner
- Health-System specialty pharmacies ensure patients initiate new oncology treatments
- Platinum ribbon abstract winner
2021
- MMIT National Patient Choice Award (2021)
- National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) annual conference
- Awarded Top Poster for “Outcomes (Cost or Other)” category
- Health-System Specialty Rx: PGY1 Residency Launch
- Awarded Top Poster for “Outcomes (Cost or Other)” category
- AJHP “Articles with Impact”: Development of quality measures for use of self-injectable biologic therapy in inflammatory bowel disease: An integrated specialty pharmacy initiative
- VUMC’s 39th Annual Graduate Medical Education Research Forum Visual Abstracts for Honorable Mention
- Top 6 Finalist: Extended adherence and persistence to HIV PrEP in a multidisciplinary PrEP clinic.
- Honorable Mentions: Clinical characteristics and three-month outcomes of patients prescribed alternate-dose self-injectable biologic therapy for the management of inflammatory bowel disease, Identifying misidentified nonadherence to specialty medications: comparing rates and reasons behind nonadherence, Assessing interventions to improve patient care conducted by pharmacists at an outpatient renal transplant clinic within a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement, and Rates, reasons, and timing for treatment discontinuation in patients prescribed denosumab
2020
- Zitter National Patient Choice Award (2020)
- American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting, Virtual Meeting. October, 2020
- Awarded ACG Outstanding poster presenter award
- Alternative subcutaneous biologic dosing in inflammatory bowel disease is delayed depending on insurance approval requirements
- Awarded ACG Outstanding poster presenter award
- National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) annual conference, Virtual Meeting. September 2020
- Awarded Top Poster for “Specialty Pharmacy Services” category
- Access to direct acting antiviral therapy for recipients of solid organs from hepatitis-c-viremic donors
- Awarded Top Poster for “Adherence” category
- Modeling rates of primary medication nonadherence with specialty oncolytic agents
- Awarded Top Poster for “Specialty Pharmacy Services” category
2019
- Zitter National Patient Choice Award (2019)
- Tennessee Society of Health System Pharmacists
- Innovative Health-System Pharmacy Practice of the Year (2019)
- National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) Annual Meeting & Expo
- First place outcomes poster
- Development of a Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement to Improve Efficiency and Management of Prescribing in a Renal Transplant Clinic (Encore Presentation)
- First place outcomes poster
- Academy of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting
- Gold ribbon abstract winners
- A Targeted Approach to Reducing Rates of Discontinuation and Dose Reduction in Patients Receiving Sorafenib or Regorafenib
- Development of a Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement to Improve Efficiency and Management of Prescribing in a Renal Transplant Clinic
- Gold ribbon abstract winners
2018
- American College of Gastroenterology Meeting
- Recognized as Best of ACG 2018 IBD & Liver
- Risk Factors for Non-Adherence to Biologic Therapy in Adult Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): A Retrospective Analysis
- Recognized as Best of ACG 2018 IBD & Liver
- Academy of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy Nexus Meeting
- Silver Ribbon Abstract
- Closing the Gap: Identifying Rates and Reasons for Nonadherence in a Specialty Population
- Silver Ribbon Abstract
2017
- National Association of Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting
- Third place abstract winner
- Assessing the Impact of High Touch Specialty Pharmacy Services in Patients Receiving Teriparatide
- Third place abstract winner
Contact Us
Want to learn more about Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy’s Outcomes Program? Interested in partnering with us on a current or future project? We would love to hear from you!
