Blue Cross N.C. and the UNC School of Pharmacy partner to improve diabetic health care costs

In North Carolina, people with diabetes pay more than twice as much in medical expenses than non-diabetics. The More Than a Script program, a collaboration between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, takes a unique route to tackle the issue. 

More Than a Script was first conceptualized by Blue Cross N.C. and brought to professors at the School of Pharmacy with an objective to improve health care costs and availability for those diagnosed with diabetes.

To do this, the program relies on local pharmacists. 

“Around 90 percent of Americans live within five miles of a pharmacy,” Jasmine Perry Strayhorn, a senior clinical pharmacist at Blue Cross N.C. and one of the primary pharmacists on the program, said.

Perry Strayhorn said that the advantage of building a program around pharmacists is that they are widely accessible and trusted by their local communities. 

Stefanie Ferreri, chair of the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the School of Pharmacy, said that community pharmacists are a great resource to help patients manage and control their diabetes.

“I've been a faculty member here, really trying to make sure that the public is aware that community pharmacists are more than just dispensing medications and giving their medications to you,” Ferreri said. “They are really a health care practitioner that can help manage your medications and manage any chronic conditions that you have.”

Through More Than a Script, participating patients have the opportunity to meet with their pharmacist every four to six weeks to receive proactive care, which is completely covered by Blue Cross N.C. 

The Blue Cross N.C. websites says care can include assistance with blood sugar management, personalized nutrition and exercise planning, medication advising and health education. Blue Cross N.C. then financially compensates the pharmacists for their roles as practitioners and educators. 

Perry Strayhorn said that More Than a Script also aims to decrease overall health care costs for patients with diabetes and hypertension. 

“Proactive education lowers emergency room visits," Jon Easter, a professor of the practice at the School of Pharmacy, said. "It can lower hospitalizations. It can lower those really expensive down-the-line treatments.” 

Easter is also the vice chair of PACE and played a key role in the inception of More Than a Script. He said that the program was first discussed at one of the School of Pharmacy’s Catalyst Meetings, where the University brings together researchers, legislators and leaders in health care from across the state. 

Easter serves on the advisory board of More Than a Script alongside other faculty members and students. The board helps to connect the program to local pharmacists and routes patients to accessible care. Perry Strayhorn said that professors like Easter work as liaisons between patients, pharmacists and other physicians. 

Easter said that the name More Than a Script counters the misconception that community pharmacists are only trained to interpret and fill prescriptions.

“I think team-based care, as we call it, is so important for a transforming health care system,” Easter said. “Physicians can grow and learn, pharmacists can grow and learn and patients can benefit from more coordinated care.”

More than a Script is one of the largest programs of it's kind in the nation, with Ferarri saying there are 100participating privately-owned state pharmacies and Easter saying there are over 10,100 patients involved in its' first phase.

Blue Cross N.C. and the School of Pharmacy hope that the initiative will eventually expand past diabetes and hypertension care to improve health care costs and availability for all North Carolinians. 

Perry Strayhorn, who is also an alumnus of the School of Pharmacy, said that the University has been instrumental to the program's growth. 

Perry Strayhorn said that UNC put itself at the "forefront of being a leader" by hosting Catalyst Events like the event this program emerged from, along with doing grant-funded research.

“So UNC was doing amazing work already, and because of that, it was a no-brainer for us to bring them to the table to have conversations around the work that Blue Cross wanted to do," Perry Strayhorn said.

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