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Grant Funds Pharmaceutical Care for Low-Income Patients
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UCSF pharmacists use a televideo system to advise patients.
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Lack of access to affordable prescription drugs can lead to poor health outcomes for low-income patients. Of the 6.6 million Californians who were uninsured in 2003, 37 percent said that they had not filled a prescription in the last year due to cost, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. The need for pharmaceutical services that target the uninsured is tremendous.
St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco addresses that need. Serving the poorest of the poor—90 percent of its patients have incomes below the federal poverty level—the clinic provides free pharmaceutical care in addition to medical services.
St. Anthony's physicians double as pharmacists, dispensing medications right at the clinic directly after diagnosis. But in filling this double role, physicians have less time to spend with new patients—as many as 200 of whom must be turned away each month. A $115,000 gift from the McKesson Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization focusing on programs that provide quality health care to low-income youth, will address the clinic's urgent need for pharmaceutical services.
The gift will fund a partnership between the clinic and the UCSF School of Pharmacy. An automated dispensing machine and a televideo consulting system will link the clinic with the Drug Information Analysis Service at UCSF, which provides expert consultation to health-care professionals and patients on therapeutic issues affecting quality pharmaceutical care and drug therapy. The gift will also fund an automated inventory management system at the clinic, further reducing the amount of time physicians must spend on administrative duties and increasing their time with patients.
"We are incredibly pleased to support this joint effort between St. Anthony and the UCSF School of Pharmacy," says John Hammergren, Chairman and CEO of McKesson Corporation. "This program is a great example of what we are capable of building for our communities when we collaborate effectively, using our respective strengths to make a difference in people's lives."
Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, adds, "Not only will more low-income patients receive needed pharmaceutical care, but UCSF pharmacy students will benefit from the experience of caring for these populations. Skills learned at the clinic will stay with them throughout their careers."
For information on giving to the UCSF School of Pharmacy, contact Marie Parfitt Pattie at 415/476-9806 or mppattie@support.ucsf.edu.
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