THRIVE+ Pharmacy Liaison-Patient Navigation Intervention

The THRIVE screening tool includes questions to identify eight potentially unmet health-related social needs associated with health outcomes and healthcare utilization: housing and food insecurity, inability to afford medications, need for transportation, trouble paying for heat and electricity, need for employment or education, and difficulty taking care of children or other family members. The survey is written at a 3rd grade reading level, is available in multiple languages, and requires less than five minutes to complete. The paper screener consists of two parts: part one screens patients for health-related social needs in the eight domains. Part two asks patients to indicate the resources they want help accessing across the eight domains. Patients who request resources in one or more domains receive paper guides that describe available hospital and community resources to address the specific domain(s) indicated.

Pharmacy services provided by a pharmacy liaison include assessing gaps in obtaining refills, identifying barriers to medication adherence, reviewing the patient's engagement in medical care, and developing an action plan with the patient. Action plans focus on strategies to increase medication adherence and engagement in care. The pharmacy liaison will also link the patient to a clinical pharmacist, when appropriate, and will assist the patient with prescription management. After the initial intake is completed, the pharmacy liaison will call patients monthly (or meet with them prior to or following scheduled appointments) over a twelve-month period to confirm medication adherence and address any new barriers to medication adherence and engagement in medical care. The pharmacy liaison in the control arm does not systematically initiate screening for health-related social needs.

In traditional patient navigation programs, a lay person from the community guides individuals through the healthcare system to receive appropriate services. For the present study, the research team will train pharmacy liaisons (pharmacy technicians or pharmacy interns with at least a high school degree and four years of pharmacy experience) to provide patient navigation services, in addition to providing medication adherence support and assistance resolving barriers to accessing medication. In an effort to avoid duplication of services the patient navigation intervention will be delivered via a pharmacy liaison trained in patient navigation, thereby decreasing multiple intervention providers and increasing the potential for sustainability should the intervention prove effective.

Motivational interviewing is a counseling method that encourages patient-centered discussions. Motivational interviewing will be delivered by the intervention arm pharmacy liaison-patient navigators to identify the patient's unmet needs and encourage the patient to adopt behavior change that will promote engagement with resources and services to mitigate or alleviate HRSN.

The pharmacy liaison-patient navigator will partner with a community organization, Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD). ABCD will help connect patients receiving THRIVE+ to community resources including childcare, food, heating, and housing. The pharmacy liaison-patient navigator will interface directly with ABCD to coordinate receipt of resources for their patients.