Download Abstract The American College of Cardiology/American Heart

“The Best Interventions in Lipid Lowering (BILL) Study: An Observational Study on Pharmacist Driven
Recommendations to Optimize Dyslipidemia Therapy”
Pharmacy Resident Investigator: Lisa M. Cillessen, Pharm.D.
Senior Investigator: Jenny A. Van Amburgh, Pharm.D.
Community Health Centers of Harbor Health Services, Inc.
Dorchester, MA
Abstract
The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association 2013 Guideline on the Treatment
of Blood Cholesterol to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Risk in Adults (ACC/AHA
cholesterol guidelines) introduced considerably different recommendations for the treatment of blood
cholesterol relative to previous treatment guidelines. The primary objective of the BILL study is to
optimize the medication regimens for dyslipidemia in elderly patients based on the revised
guidelines. Through patient-specific recommendations made by pharmacists, this study aims to
improve the health and wellness of elderly patients through appropriate use of lipid-lowering
medications.
An observational study will be performed at five sites: four community health centers and a Program
of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly center. Eligible patients will be identified through a search of
the electronic medical record databases using the following parameters: 55 years of age or older,
diagnosis of dyslipidemia, and primary care visit between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2014, with
an active prescription for a nonstatin lipid-lowering medication. For each eligible patient, patient
demographic and pertinent information will be collected to determine appropriate dyslipidemia
treatment as recommended by the ACC/AHA cholesterol guidelines. Once eligible patients are
identified, primary care providers at each site will be educated on the shift in focus of the ACC/AHA
cholesterol guidelines from LDL-lowering goals to optimization of medications. Secondly, patientspecific recommendations will be communicated with providers at each site to better optimize lipidlowering medication regimens. Examples of recommendations include, but are not limited to,
discontinuation of unnecessary nonstatin therapies or modification of statin therapies. The primary
outcome will be measured as the percent of recommendations accepted by primary care providers.
Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze data.