The Enhanced Pharmaceutical Care Center

The Enhanced Pharmaceutical Care Center (EPCC), the first collaborative practice arrangement between UNC School of Pharmacy and a chain drug company, began operation during the 1998-99 academic year.  The center, located at the Kerr Drug Store in Chapel Hill’s University Mall, is open 40 hours per week and is staffed by a full-time coordinator, Kerr pharmacists, and a community pharmacy practice resident. The Mission of the EPCC is to "demonstrate that pharmaceutical care services provide benefits to patients, pharmacists, pharmacies, prescribers, healthcare payers, and the pharmaceutical industry and to provide a premier training site for pharmacy students, residents and practitioners who wish to develop innovative practices in the community practice setting."

The Center’s operational goals are to develop and evaluate a range of pharmaceutical care programs and services that demonstrate community pharmacists in a chain store environment can:

• Improve patient adherence with and benefit from prescribed medication regimens
• Prevent potential adverse drug events and/or detect and manage adverse drug events
• Optimize therapeutic outcomes and quality of life for patients with chronic diseases/disorders by providing comprehensive and collaborative disease state management services
• Improve patient satisfaction with pharmacy services and overall provision of health care
• Reduce overall health care costs through optimization of drug therapy and minimization of drug misadventuring
• Improve productivity and quality of the work environment through implementation services that supplement drug distribution/dispensing functions

The EPCC currently provides drug therapy monitoring and disease management for patients with asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and lipid disorders; intensive medication and disease counseling for high-risk populations; medication ("brown bag") review clinics; health screenings (diabetes, hypertension, lipid disorders, glaucoma, osteoporosis); immunizations; general wellness and health education programs; and drug information services, smoking cessation, arthritis management, and women’s health programs.

Recognition and promotion of our activities by local news organizations and national pharmaceutical organizations and publications have enhanced interest on the part of patients, physicians, insurers and other pharmacy groups.