Attachment H -- Advance Email To Demonstration Leaders

Evaluation of the Phase I Demonstrations of the Pharmacy Quality Alliance

Attachment H

Pre-Interview Email Communication to Demonstration Site Leaders

[This Email communication to the Demonstration Site Leader to be sent approximately 2 weeks prior to the on-site interviews]

Dear PQA Phase I Demonstration Site Leader,

Thank you for your participation in the evaluation of the PQA Phase I Demonstration Project.  As you know, a critical component of the evaluation will be on-site interviews with your project team. These interviews are intended to capture qualitative information regarding respondent and organizational characteristics, resource requirements, measurement methodology, performance measure evaluation, training received, and the reporting process. This evaluation is being conducted by the CNA Corporation and Thomas Jefferson University on behalf of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Your responses will be kept confidential to the extent permitted by law, including AHRQ’s confidentiality statute, 42 USC 299c-3(c).

Interview Date(s): We request to visit your site from [insert possible dates]. 

Interview Sample: Interviews will be conducted individually and privately with each person identified, and will be approximately 1 hour in length.  We ask that you please identify 6 representatives who 1) were involved in the demonstration project and, 2) held one or more of the following job functions during the project:

• Pharmacy operations management

• Clinical pharmacy staff

• Quality improvement and/or utilization management

• Analytics management responsible for oversight of performance report analyses

• Analytics staff assigned to complete the performance reports

• Information technology (IT) staff responsible for developing and/or coordinating Internet components of the project

• Senior management (executive leadership, i.e., Vice President level and above)

Overlap among job functions is acceptable.  While we certainly understand that your site may not have 6 individuals that have been engaged in the implementation and management of the project, we do ask that you identify as many as you can, and include relevant individuals from the organizations you partnered with in order to complete the project. 

While we value any and all insight that you can provide about the PQA Phase I Demonstration Project, due to time constraints, our site visit will only encompass interviews with the above individuals.  Regrettably, our site visit will not allow sufficient time for our participation in any other evaluation activities that your site may be independently planning (such as focus groups).

Room Requirements: Since your demonstration project team members may be located at different sites, it would expedite our visit if you could identify one location at which we can conduct the interviews.  It would also be helpful if you could identify a private room at the site for completion of the interviews, so that we may ensure privacy and confidentiality to each participant.

Pre-Visit Suggestions for Site Leaders: Please note that as the project leader, we will be asking you about the resources required to complete the project. It would therefore be helpful if, in advance of our interview, you reviewed project documentation to determine 1) the date of project start, and date of project completion; 2) the individuals who were involved in completing aspects of the project, including but not limited to staff at your site whom we will be interviewing; 3) job functions of these individuals; 4) approximate time commitment per week (i.e., what percentage of their work week was spent on the project, on average).

Next Steps: Kindly reply to us as soon as possible with respect to the following:

1. Please confirm that your site visit may be scheduled to occur on the suggested date(s)

2. Please furnish a list of individuals who meet our sampling criteria. We will subsequently confirm the date and time of the interview with each of the participants at your site, and will also provide a schedule that specifies the times at which each person will be interviewed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Laura Pizzi (laura.pizzi@jefferson.edu) or Erin Thomson (erin.thomson@jefferson.edu).  We realize that participation in these evaluation activities requires time and effort not only of you, but of your project team, and we greatly appreciate your cooperation.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Laura Pizzi, PharmD, MPH (Thomas Jefferson University)

Erin Thomson, MPH (Thomas Jefferson University)

Joyce McMahon, PhD (CNA Corporation)

Elizabeth Schaefer, MA (CNA Corporation)

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