LAWRENCE — Representatives from Greater Lawrence Family Health Center recently addressed the National Association of Community Health Center's Annual Conference on telepharmacy and how the process has been implemented in the Lawrence-based community health center.
Chief Information Officer Patrick Grotton, Director of Pharmacy Diane Gatchell and Timothy Hudd, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, attended the four-day conference in New Orleans. They sat on a panel addressing the topic, "Utilizing Telepharmacy Technology to Improve Access to Pharmaceutical Care in a Federally Qualified Health Center."
For more than a year, Greater Lawrence Family Health Center has been involved in a pilot program in Massachusetts. In conjunction with the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, the center has been testing telepharmacy and telemedicine technology.
The program, based at the 700 Essex St. clinic, has outgrown the telepharmacy model. However, Grotton sees the telepharmacy program as a successful model for other communities in Massachusetts.
"We're now reporting back to the Board of Pharmacy on what we learned over this year in both rollout and implementation of the telepharmacy model, in order for the state to decide on whether or not a larger program can be implemented statewide," Grotton said.
