Utilization of collaborative practice agreements between physicians and pharmacists as a mechanism to increase capacity to care for hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients

Survival after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has improved and the number of allogeneic HSCTs performed annually in the United States is expected to reach 10,000 by 2015. The National Marrow Donor Program created the System Capacity Initiative to formulate mechanisms to care for the growing number of HSCT recipients. One proposed method to increase capacity is utilization of pharmacists to manage drug therapy via collaborative practice agreements (CPAs). Pharmacists have managed drug therapy in oncology patients with CPAs for decades; however, there are limited HSCT centers that employ this practice. Engaging in collaborative practice and billing agreements with credentialed pharmacists to manage therapeutic drug monitoring, chronic medical conditions, and supportive care in HSCT recipients may be cost-effective and enable physicians to spend more time on new or more complex patients. The goal of this paper is to provide a framework for implementation of a CPA and address how it may improve HSCT program capacity.