Primary Care Providers’ Acceptance of Pharmacists’ Recommendations to Support Optimal Medication Management for Patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease

Background: Patients with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) often struggle with blood pressure control. In team-based models of care, pharmacists and primary care providers (PCPs) play important roles in supporting patients’ blood pressure management. Objective: To describe whether PCPs’ acceptance of pharmacists’ recommendations impacts systolic blood pressure (SBP) at 36 months. Design: An observational analysis of a subset of participants randomized to the intervention arm of the Simultaneous risk factor control using Telehealth to slOw Progression of Diabetic Kidney Disease (STOP-DKD) study. Participants: STOP-DKD participants for whom (1) the pharmacist made at least one recommendation to the PCP; (2) there were available data regarding the PCP’s corresponding action; and (3) there were SBP measurements at baseline and 36 months. Intervention: Participants received monthly telephone calls with a pharmacist addressing health behaviors and medication management. Pharmacists made medication-related recommendations to PCPs. Main Measures: We fit an unadjusted generalized linear mixed model to assess the association between the number of pharmacists’ recommendations for DKD and blood pressure management and PCPs’ acceptance of such recommendations. We used a linear regression model to evaluate the association between PCP acceptance and SBP at 36 months, adjusted for baseline SBP. Key Results: Pharmacists made 176 treatment recommendations (among 59 participants), of which 107 (61%) were accepted by PCPs. SBP significantly declined by an average of 10.5 mmHg (p < 0.01) among 47 of 59 participants who had valid measurements at baseline and 36 months. There was a significant association between the number of pharmacist recommendations and the odds of PCP acceptance (OR 1.19; 95%CI 1.00, 1.42; p < 0.05), but no association between the number of accepted recommendations and SBP. Conclusions: Pharmacists provided actionable medication-related recommendations. We identified a significant decline in SBP at 36 months, but this reduction was not associated with recommendation acceptance.