How Pharmacists are Championing Women’s Heart Health

 In this episode of the PQS Quality Corner Show, hosts Kerri Musselman and Emily Endres celebrate Heart Health Month by exploring the critical link between community pharmacy, maternal health, and cardiovascular wellness. Their guest, Andrea Brookhart (Director of Population Health and Wellness at Kroger), shares her insights as both a clinical leader and a mother of twins.

This episode touches on the Pharmacist as an accessible ally, the "Silent Killer" and prevention, gender differences in cardiac care, the "Mom Factor,” and self-care.

Dr. Andrea Brookhart is a community pharmacist who is passionate about helping people live healthier lives.  In her role, she develops and implements Kroger Health’s strategy for achieving population health via value-based care.  She believes community-based providers are uniquely poised to improve healthcare quality and decrease cost by delivering preventive healthcare and improving medication use.

Dr. Brookhart is a graduate of the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Community-based Pharmacy Residency Program a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist.

Transcript

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00:00:04:11 - 00:00:19:14

Andrea Brookhart

And I think that for community based pharmacists, it's not a big leap to get someone willing to check their blood pressure, especially when you think about the role that the pharmacists may have played in women's lives.

00:00:19:14 - 00:00:38:15

Andrea Brookhart

You know, we we might be moms who are trying to dose our Tylenol or ibuprofen at the you know, my kid grew a little bit and now the back of the box doesn't say it, but my doctor said it was okay. It's just like they're not reachable right now because it's 7:30 p.m. and that pharmacist is there for them.

00:00:38:15 - 00:01:02:18

Andrea Brookhart

You know, they they help calculate what's the right dose, give those kinds of of advice and counseling. And so there is this level of trust and relationship that's there. So making an offer for performing a blood pressure screening isn't a big leap for people to accept.

00:01:02:20 - 00:01:04:01

Voiceover

Welcome to the Pharmacy

00:01:04:04 - 00:01:12:23

Voiceover

Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show. Buckle up and put your thinking cap on. The Quality Corner show starts now.

00:01:13:00 - 00:01:25:06

Kerri Musselman

Welcome, everyone, to the PQS Quality Corner show on today's episode. Given that it is February and Heart Health Month, we want to take a look at the ways pharmacists are focused on our health for their patients.

00:01:25:08 - 00:01:40:00

Kerri Musselman

I am joined today by my colleague here at PQS, Emily Endres. Emily serves as the VP, overseeing all of our client partnerships for both health plans and pharmacies, as well as payers payer programs.

00:01:40:02 - 00:01:49:08

Emily Endres

Hi Kerri, thanks for having me on today. I'm super passionate about this topic in particular, so I'm really excited to be here. Thank you.

00:01:49:10 - 00:01:51:16

Kerri Musselman

Thank you for joining us.

00:01:51:18 - 00:02:18:23

Kerri Musselman

Pharmacists are often the most accessible health care providers in pharmacies, whether independent ,chain, or in-store, are the heart of their communities where it comes to the heart of healthcare. Patients are managing blood pressure levels, heart meds, and exercise and pharmacists can help their patients along this journey. Before we get started on how at first, I'd like to introduce our guest, Andrea Brookhart.

00:02:19:00 - 00:02:28:03

Kerri Musselman

She is the Director of Population Health and Wellness at Kroger. Hi Andrea and welcome. We are really excited to have you on our show.

00:02:28:05 - 00:02:30:19

Kerri Musselman

Thank you so much for joining.

00:02:30:21 - 00:02:39:13

Andrea Brookhart

Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm really grateful to be here with both of you. I've known you both for years, so I'm excited for today's conversation.

00:02:39:15 - 00:02:41:13

Emily Endres

We're so glad you could join us, Andrea.

00:02:41:14 - 00:02:50:10

Emily Endres

Thank you, and thanks for wearing red. We're all doing such a great job of being on theme for this really important Heart Health Month.

00:02:50:12 - 00:02:55:12

Kerri Musselman

Andrea, tell us a little bit about your background and the role that you play in pharmacy

00:02:55:14 - 00:03:12:06

Andrea Brookhart

Sure. Well, I think I should start with the fact that I went to Virginia Commonwealth University for my community based pharmacy residency program, just like Kerri, and so we are VCU CPRP grads. I love that about our our connection. But that's the time that I started with Kroger.

00:03:12:06 - 00:03:36:13

Andrea Brookhart

So I started at that point, and I chose to stay with Kroger because it was very clear to me that Kroger Health had a commitment to the future of pharmacy, to helping people live healthier lives, to the idea that pharmacists should be doing everything that they are trained to do, to really contribute to the health of the populations that we serve, and for the betterment of humanity.

00:03:36:13 - 00:04:05:20

Andrea Brookhart

So I've, I've held a couple of different roles within Kroger and of course, work behind the counter and, and serve patients every single day. And I joined our corporate team in 2017. So today I'm responsible for our pharmacy services development and delivery. I'm responsible for our patient engagement strategy and for bringing together food and health. At Kroger, we believe that food for health is an important strategy.

00:04:05:20 - 00:04:24:10

Kerri Musselman

And actually, we will say that we aim to fill fewer prescriptions per person because we believe in preventing disease before it starts and controlling disease through food. And so a lot of the things that support heart health are really core to who we are.

00:04:24:12 - 00:04:31:17

Kerri Musselman

Thank you so much. And yes, VCU CPRP Definitely grad. Happy to see another grad here with me today.

00:04:31:19 - 00:04:51:18

Kerri Musselman

Again, thank you so much for joining us. And let's chat about all things intersecting between pharmacy practice and heart health. Let's take it from a frontline perspective. As a pharmacist, you see patients right after they leave the doctor's office. What is the biggest questions patients usually have when they get a new heart patient?

00:04:51:20 - 00:05:06:05

Andrea Brookhart

Yeah. This is this is an interesting question and one that, you know, when you think about a patient who is starting a new heart medication, it could range from something as common as starting a new blood pressure medication.

00:05:06:07 - 00:05:32:17

Andrea Brookhart

When you're being diagnosed with high blood pressure for the very first time, that's happening to a lot of Americans, maybe almost 1 in 2 Americans. And it's an important thing to consider that adults show up to the pharmacy with kind of a range of feelings about it. Some people might say, okay, yeah, this is something that happened to me, and this is going to be a lifelong thing for me now, and I just have to take this medicine every day.

00:05:32:19 - 00:05:59:10

Andrea Brookhart

And that's as simple as it is. And others are doing all the things to control that new condition they've been diagnosed with. Their aim is to get off of the medicine, and they want to understand everything they can understand about blood pressure. So how we handle those patients is different. And we try to meet patients where they are to provide the right education.

00:05:59:12 - 00:06:28:22

Andrea Brookhart

One of the first things that we have to educate about is really that you're not going to be able to tell that your blood pressure has improved, necessarily, when you're taking that medication every single day. And so medication adherence is one of those really important things for blood pressure. Because unless you're you're coming in with having had, you know, headaches and bad symptoms from your high blood pressure, which means that you were pretty advanced in, in your condition when you started that medication, you may not be able to tell.

00:06:28:24 - 00:06:57:02

Andrea Brookhart

And so it's hard, you know, if I, if I go a day without my thyroid medication, I can tell. And so that's something that, you know, is providing me immediate feedback and reinforcing medication adherence. But for patients with high blood pressure it's not that way. So we would certainly want to counsel them on medication adherence and the importance of that. A lot of times to monitoring can be really useful as an everyday thing, as an everyday tool that someone would check over the course of time.

00:06:57:02 - 00:07:18:08

Andrea Brookhart

Because you go into the doctor's office and people get nervous, they say, well, it's probably only elevated when I'm at the doctor's office because I get so nervous when they're going to take my blood pressure. But you know, tracking it on an everyday basis gives you the real reality of what is your blood pressure running? And you can also start to associate different things with you know, your blood pressure fluctuations.

00:07:18:13 - 00:07:39:17

Andrea Brookhart

Did I take my medication? Have I been taking it consistently for a couple of weeks now? I'm really seeing the improvement here, but also, if you change your diet somehow, maybe you cut down on sodium intake. Is that seeing an improvement in your blood pressure? So monitoring can provide that real time feedback to folks. That's another thing that we might talk about.

00:07:39:17 - 00:08:14:18

Andrea Brookhart

And then for those of us who you know are open to it, I think referral to a dietitian can make a lot of sense. People may have dietitians that they prefer. We also have dietitians as a part of Kroger Health. And, you know, a lot of folks, we're very attuned to the concept that people don't necessarily realize what a pharmacist can do and what are our specialized skills in supporting medication management and the right medications for a particular patient, the interactions between those specific medications... Copy and paste that conversation to dietitians.

00:08:14:24 - 00:08:36:12

Andrea Brookhart

Retail dietitians are a whole different flavor of dietitians. You think about the people who are like, dogmatic and it's this way or the highway, they're not like that. You know, they can help you practically shop on a budget in a way that really supports heart health. Like, these are real tactical, you know, tips that you're getting from folks who understand what the products are that are out there.

00:08:36:18 - 00:08:58:16

Andrea Brookhart

And so that can be a really important intervention for folks who are open to it, because, again, like we do the thing with the medications that makes us a unique contributor to this space. We have access to patients or patients have access to us, which is really important. But dietitians, they bring a whole different level of expertise about what people eat and how it impacts their health.

00:08:58:16 - 00:09:01:18

Andrea Brookhart

So that would be on my list too.

00:09:01:20 - 00:09:20:13

Kerri Musselman

And I love that you brought in the whole food and needing food, and the dietician space, because that is very key when you start thinking about heart health and being able to take care of yourself. You mentioned in your description about potentially you cannot tell when your blood pressure is high.

00:09:20:15 - 00:09:37:07

Kerri Musselman

And that's part of why it's known as the silent killer, because it doesn't often have symptoms. So you also mentioned having the patient check your blood pressure at home. How do you get a patient to be willing to have their pharmacy check their blood pressure in the store?

00:09:37:09 - 00:09:42:13

Andrea Brookhart

Yeah, we talked about you mentioned like starting, as I say, the most accessible health care professional.

00:09:42:13 - 00:10:02:07

Andrea Brookhart

And I agree, people come into their pharmacy, you know, 13 times a year or something on average compared to their provider, maybe four times a year. And these are the populations that actually are receiving active treatment. So you figure that it's a pharmacy in the grocery store like mine are. And that's even more. And in the grocery store more than once a week.

00:10:02:09 - 00:10:18:21

Andrea Brookhart

So it's a great place to perform those kinds of screenings for folks and to have someone, you know, I've definitely been in the position where I've performed a screening for someone and found some pretty uncontrolled high blood pressure that that person did not know about.

00:10:18:23 - 00:10:34:01

Andrea Brookhart

And I think that for community based pharmacists, it's not a big leap to get someone willing to check their blood pressure, especially when you think about the role that the pharmacists may have played in women's lives.

00:10:34:01 - 00:10:53:02

Andrea Brookhart

You know, we we might be moms who are trying to dose our Tylenol or ibuprofen at the you know, my kid grew a little bit and now the back of the box doesn't say it, but my doctor said it was okay. It's just like they're not reachable right now because it's 7:30 p.m. and that pharmacist is there for them.

00:10:53:02 - 00:11:11:05

Andrea Brookhart

You know, they they help calculate what's the right dose, give those kinds of of advice and counseling. And so there is this level of trust and relationship that's there. So making an offer for performing a blood pressure screening isn't a big leap for people to accept.

00:11:11:07 - 00:11:19:08

Andrea Brookhart

And then the advice that you get, you know, it varies, of course, as a result of whatever the, the actual blood pressure reading is.

00:11:19:08 - 00:11:36:06

Andrea Brookhart

But, you know, making referrals, hopefully folks follow through on those. So performing blood pressure screenings in a pharmacy is a great way to kind of get people in the door, and help them access that care that they may not be they may not be used to.

00:11:36:08 - 00:11:43:01

Andrea Brookhart

You know, people don't always have primary care providers. You know, we might think about it because we're all pharmacists and we know the importance of it.

00:11:43:01 - 00:12:05:23

Andrea Brookhart

And so that's probably on our list. But we've probably also, if you think back, probably gone years without one of those PCP visits, even in our lives because things get busy, you move, then you have to find a new provider. And those are the types of times in people's lives where these things creep up, creep in, and they go unnoticed for too long.

00:12:06:00 - 00:12:09:02

Kerri Musselman

Absolutely. Thank you for sharing.

00:12:09:04 - 00:12:28:08

Emily Endres

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there, Andrea. And I was just as you were talking about the propensity of patients and their willingness to accept that level of care from the pharmacy. I'll share with you both. Yesterday I had the privilege of being a substitute Euchre player. I'm from the Midwest as a good midwesterner.

00:12:28:13 - 00:12:50:18

Emily Endres

We play Euchre, right? And my mom in the 65 and older club in her her Euchre club. They needed a substitute and we happened to be off yesterday for the holiday. So again, I had the privilege and pleasure of playing with this great group of older women. And when I walked in they were like, oh, we know all about you, you're the pharmacist one.

00:12:50:18 - 00:13:25:24

Emily Endres

And I was like, well, I mean, I play one on TV, but yeah, yes, that is my industry. That's my passion. And each and every one of them had a story. So this was seven different elderly women that came to me with a personal story of how their pharmacist had impacted their life, from managing, hypertension medications to helping to manage someone that, had experienced a lot of falls and broken bones and was having a hard time with dizziness, etc. their pharmacist had literally saved their life, not just once, but twice.

00:13:26:01 - 00:13:49:19

Emily Endres

And it's it's makes a huge impact. So definitely agree. And kind of here in the vein of, Heart Health Month and especially women's heart health. As I mentioned really early on, this is a topic that's very passionate on my side. I lost my father and my uncle to heart disease when they were in their 30s, and that looks so different.

00:13:49:19 - 00:14:19:04

Emily Endres

They were men. We are women. It looks very different for women. Right. And so thinking about some of the factors when these patients walk into your pharmacies, some of those being just an awareness that, heart disease is the number one killer amongst women still to this day, we've made progress, but we're not there yet. Nearly 45% of women that are ages 20 and above that so young are living with some form of cardiovascular disease.

00:14:19:04 - 00:14:54:13

Emily Endres

And I think that stat is just incredibly staggering. And then less than half of women entering pregnancy in the United States have optimal cardiovascular health also incredibly concerning. So bringing this down to, again, kind of, women's heart health perspective, being a mother, I happen to know you both are mothers of twins, your daughters, etc. like how important is heart health in your family, in your communities, and in the roles that you serve?

00:14:54:15 - 00:14:55:07

Emily Endres

I'll let either of you..

00:14:55:07 - 00:14:56:17

Andrea Brookhart

Should I go first Kerri?I

00:14:56:17 - 00:14:57:09

Kerri Musselman

like it. Go

00:14:57:09 - 00:14:59:18

Kerri Musselman

for it. Go for it Andrea.

00:14:59:20 - 00:15:15:13

Andrea Brookhart

Okay, let me take this this answer more of a personal direction. You're right. You know, as a mom of twins and just a mom in general, heart health, it's deeply personal for me and you. You think about it through a bunch of different lenses.

00:15:15:13 - 00:15:42:17

Andrea Brookhart

But I definitely come from a family that has heart disease. Three of my grandparents either had, you know, stents or open heart surgery or some kind of, intervention that way, you know, history of hypertension and, and high cholesterol. So I'm aware that prevention is going to be a key for me and for my family. And, you know, I have I want to be an energetic and fun and loving mom.

00:15:42:17 - 00:16:04:19

Andrea Brookhart

And that means taking care of ourselves and it doesn't have to be complicated. You know, we a lot of times we get kind of caught up in the perfect being the enemy of the good here. But it's about consistency. You know, things that can feel sustainable, not like overly restrictive. How do I do that for myself? And then how do I instill that in my kids?

00:16:04:21 - 00:16:23:05

Andrea Brookhart

And so those are the types of things that I think about when it when it comes to heart health. So, you know, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables and exposing them to that, even if my kids are in a phase where they don't want to eat broccoli, if I'm serving broccoli, I'm putting it on the plate. And, you know, I remind them that their taste buds turn over every two weeks.

00:16:23:05 - 00:16:43:12

Andrea Brookhart

And that's the thing that we talk about. I don't even know if that's a true fact, but I heard it on the internet and I say it a lot because it's really about exposures, right? You have to expose kids like 11 times or something before they might like it. So, you know, just keep trying. Right. And serving well-rounded meals, you know, they are not always going to eat what you want off the plate.

00:16:43:12 - 00:17:13:08

Andrea Brookhart

But, you know, if you serve the well-rounded meal, they're they're seeing that modeled with some protein, some carbs, some that at every meal, and then being active with them and like promoting them, engaging in sports that they enjoy or activities they enjoy and outdoor play and, just kind of getting active with them. I think that if we model that behavior and, and we do that ourselves, that they'll be better off and hopefully that they'll take those things up for themselves.

00:17:13:10 - 00:17:37:15

Andrea Brookhart

I also think for women, it's it's really hard and for moms because we kind of get wrapped up in mom guilt, like, I go to the gym, I lift weights and I go to the gym two mornings a week, specifically before work, before everybody's up, I'm out the door, and my kids have meltdowns about that. Like more than I care to admit.

00:17:37:17 - 00:17:54:22

Andrea Brookhart

At least every other week somebody is having a meltdown because I'm not going to be there when they wake up in the morning. But it's important for me, and I remind them that, like, if they want me to do all these mother son challenges from Instagram where, you know, we lift up and look like we're in the Titanic situation, like to do that stuff.

00:17:54:22 - 00:18:15:12

Andrea Brookhart

I have to take care of my body and I need to exercise. And so that's part of what I'm doing to take care of me. And so I think with all of that, it's just that's the hard stuff about heart health is making sure that you do take the time for yourself, because taking care of yourself is the foundation of being able to take some, take care of your family.

00:18:15:14 - 00:18:39:08

Kerri Musselman

And I'm going to lean in on that just a little bit more. Because from when you start thinking about it, it's both physically and as well as mentally. So having twins is not easy, especially those early years. And so the stress that comes with that, the mental exhaustion that comes with that is another piece of it. So when I also start thinking about heart health, I think about the diet.

00:18:39:08 - 00:19:09:06

Kerri Musselman

I think about the other pieces. But I'm also wanting to make sure that I make I take some moments for myself to just sit and decompress. So whether that means somebody throwing a tantrum and I have to step away, it's fine. I've realized and know that about myself and understanding where my limitations are when it comes to dealing with that kind of stress, to be able to not put myself and my body to that mental exhaustion.

00:19:09:08 - 00:19:29:04

Kerri Musselman

And so, like Andrea mentioned, you put different foods on their plate you have and try different pieces. You walk through all these different areas. And one of the things I will say, as I've gotten older, they've gotten more adventurous. They they're wanting to do different things. And so one of the other things is being able to be active with them.

00:19:29:04 - 00:19:52:01

Kerri Musselman

And continuing to chase, walk around, do all the things up and down the stairs, and being able to do all of that really helps. And even my oldest now, as he's gotten more active and older, and one of the things is you have to stay involved and active in something. I don't care what that is, but we're going to make it happen.

00:19:52:03 - 00:20:10:20

Kerri Musselman

And even if that means juggling around schedules or working through various different pieces, it's making sure that you take care of both yourself and your family. Because as moms, we tend to put others before ourselves. And so knowing that we have to take care of ourselves to be able to take care of others is another huge piece that we start thinking about.

00:20:10:23 - 00:20:26:16

Kerri Musselman

And that's what what I've also been very cognizant of, especially after the twins were born, because you realize that you have to take care of yourself where you're going to be. You cannot feel someone else's cup if yours is not full.

00:20:26:18 - 00:20:34:12

Emily Endres

Well, ladies, I think we started this conversation tackling heart health, but now we have figured out parenting too which it is fantastic.

00:20:34:14 - 00:21:00:14

Emily Endres

So some really great advice, that was shared by you both thinking again about, in particular women's heart health and how that translates certainly into your, your personal lives. And if we want to think about taking some of those thoughts and processes, you know, back into your professional life, into strategy, etc., that perhaps you, Andrea, are helping to lead within the organization.

00:21:00:16 - 00:21:21:18

Emily Endres

What do you think is one of the most impactful ways then, that pharmacists can work to impact women in this journey of heart health that would, again, would make the most, change or affect the most change. What does that look like for you, Andrea and Kerri, I'd love to hear what you think that looks like on the side too.

00:21:21:20 - 00:21:51:00

Andrea Brookhart

Yeah, we certainly have, you know, programs that are running and are robust and and some of them that, you know, we've spoken about before or work together on and when we're performing, you know, screenings for folks who or blood pressure checks for folks who are already diagnosed with hypertension, and may or may not have, you know, a second reading in this year that we need to assess their blood pressure control.

00:21:51:02 - 00:22:10:10

Andrea Brookhart

Pharmacists are very effective at getting that engagement to happen. You know, because we're already probably talking about medication adherence on a regular basis. We're already counseling them on this medication and that medication and maybe a new therapy. They may start to help support, who knows. Menopause or something like that. And so there's a lot of trust there.

00:22:10:10 - 00:22:31:02

Andrea Brookhart

And I think that it offers that big opportunity for us to intervene not only with the the point in time check of the blood pressure, but also with controlling blood pressure over the course of time, because people have different needs, you know, somebody who is is trying to control blood pressure may need more than one medication to do it.

00:22:31:02 - 00:22:49:17

Andrea Brookhart

You know, our bodies are smart. They want to be at the set point that they have decided this is the thing for them. And so to kind of outsmart those things and get the blood pressure under control, it may take that. And that collaboration between a pharmacist and that patient's prescriber is a really great way to help, to support control.

00:22:49:19 - 00:23:11:15

Andrea Brookhart

But there's other things that pharmacists come across in their everyday practice, especially when they're in the community that are important to know. You know, the fact that heart attacks look very different for women than men, and the symptoms are very different for women. You know that it's not a lot of times that you have the classic like, what does everybody think of chest pain,

00:23:11:15 - 00:23:31:15

Andrea Brookhart

And your left arm hurting. That's not the stuff that happens for women. And so I think that it's something like two and a half or 2.6 times more likely to miss, an angina diagnosis when women and men are presenting with the same kind of level of severity of disease. They're much more likely to be missing in women, those diagnoses.

00:23:31:15 - 00:24:02:19

Andrea Brookhart

And it's because of that lack of awareness, I think, playing a big role. And so, you know, the American Heart Association does a lot of stuff to help, to support awareness campaigns. But folks like pharmacy pharmacists and pharmacy team members in the community can help to support those awareness campaigns, too, because awareness is the first piece. You know, if I think that I'm just having heartburn and nausea and this is actually a sign of a heart attack in me at at an age that, you know, would make sense, or with a family history that would make sense.

00:24:03:00 - 00:24:33:12

Andrea Brookhart

Those are things that we need to have women engage about right away. And so, you know, we would need 14 podcasts to talk about all the ways that a pharmacist could support women, from pregnancy to mom life and menopause and, you know, potentially hormone replacement therapy or whatever else may be going on for folks. But I think that, you know, talking about medication adherence, getting on the right medications and helping to optimize that control of a condition over the course of time.

00:24:33:14 - 00:24:47:06

Andrea Brookhart

And, and then being aware of the things that you may encounter as patients ask for advice on an everyday basis. Those are some of the key things that pharmacists can do to help support women.

00:24:47:08 - 00:25:13:07

Kerri Musselman

And just one other thing that I'll add on to that is, as we mentioned earlier in this podcast, engaging with other disciplines, talking to a dietician, who may be able to support talking to other individuals if you have the other aspect of stress, talking to a social worker or talking to someone who does behavioral health can also assist with those pieces.

00:25:13:12 - 00:25:19:17

Kerri Musselman

So understanding where you need and how that could look across the spectrum is huge.

00:25:19:19 - 00:25:46:08

Andrea Brookhart

Yeah. Maybe one more thing. Now that we've got our juices flowing on that something that isn't necessarily directly related to heart health, but it is related to the outcomes that people get are social determinants of health are a big factor for people. You know, if I if I'm making decisions about whether to purchase medication this month or put food on the table, those are the types of decisions that get really difficult to see.

00:25:46:08 - 00:26:14:05

Andrea Brookhart

Good health outcomes come out of, if I can't pay my electric bill and, you know, I'm needing to buy this expensive medication, those things aren't going together for me. So pharmacies also kind of play an important role in connecting folks to, to solutions that would help them address some of those underlying needs. You know, we all have to have our basic needs met to be able to be our healthiest and live our healthiest lives.

00:26:14:10 - 00:26:23:11

Andrea Brookhart

So I'd say that's one more that supports not just heart health, but certainly across the board outcomes.

00:26:23:13 - 00:26:44:16

Emily Endres

Yeah, I think that's so key. I was going to say something in that similar pathway, Andrea, and the opportunity to connect patients in just a different way. I think you mentioned earlier like white coat syndrome, if you will, if you're a patient in a doctor's office, that level of conversation is just very different than being in your community where you are making that choice, in particular for Kroger customers.

00:26:44:16 - 00:27:03:01

Emily Endres

Right? Like if I get this piece of food item, then I know that I need or I also know I have my medication that I need to pick up over here as well. So certainly a vital role in that kind of convener connector relator space, which is incredibly critical. Yeah.

00:27:03:03 - 00:27:25:24

Kerri Musselman

Andrea, thank you again so much for joining Emily and I on today's podcast Quality Corner Show. You are a wealth of knowledge and we hope to have you back again soon. For pharmacists wanting more information about streamlining clinical services such as blood pressure checks within your pharmacy workflow, we recommend checking out EQUIPP Copilot.

00:27:26:01 - 00:27:51:11

Kerri Musselman

Visit pharmacyquality.com/equipp-copilot to find out how to save time and or non dispensing revenue for all our listeners. We hope you stay heart healthy. We want to thank you for joining us today, and we will see you in the next episode of the Quality Corner Show Before you go, we have one final message from the PQS team.

00:27:51:13 - 00:28:14:13

Voiceover

The Pharmacy Quality Solutions Quality Corner Show has a request for you. Our goal is to spread the word about how quality measurement can help improve health outcomes. And we need your help in sharing this podcast with friends and colleagues in the health care industry. We also want you to provide feedback, ask us questions, and suggest health topics you'd like to see covered.

00:28:14:15 - 00:28:34:01

Voiceover

If you are a health expert and you want to contribute to the show or even talk on the show, please contact us. You can email info@pharmacyquality.com. Let us know what is on your mind, what we can address so that you are fully informed. We want you to be able to provide the best care for your patients and members.

00:28:34:01 - 00:28:37:05

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And we wish all of you listeners out there well.