Diabetes
Loren Bonner
Pharmacist management of diabetes resulted in patients achieving their goal A1C approximately 14 months faster than those who did not receive pharmacist support, according to research published in the July–August 2025 issue of JAPhA.
“I was surprised by how quickly pharmacists were able to help patients achieve their A1C goals compared to the standard of care,” said Tumi Osunsanmi, PharmD, lead author of the study and clinical pharmacist at the University of Kansas Health System. “While collecting data, I noticed a trend suggesting earlier time to achieve A1C goal in the pharmacist management group, but it was exciting to see that observation supported by a significant statistical difference between the two groups.”
More patients in the nonpharmacist management group had an A1C goal of less than 7%, and Osunsanmi said she initially expected the final A1C to be similar between the two groups, given that the baseline A1C values were comparable.
“However, the significantly lower final A1C in the nonpharmacist management group makes sense because more patients in the pharmacist management group had A1C goals above 7%,” she noted.
Details
The retrospective, single-center chart review study included 238 adult patients—189 in the pharmacist group and 49 in the nonpharmacist group—who were followed by primary care providers at a large academic health system. The patients in the pharmacist group were referred to a pharmacist for diabetes management.
The patients in the comparator group, the nonpharmacist group, were managed by the chronic care management team, which included a primary care provider, a diabetes educator, a dietician, and a nurse who assisted with medication adherence.
“One of the strengths of the study is the composition of patients in the comparator group, which consisted of patients receiving a higher level of care,” said Osunsanmi.
She said one limitation worth noting is that specific diabetes medications patients used were not part of the study design.
“The evaluation of specific medications could have provided additional information as to why pharmacists were able to reduce A1C faster than the nonpharmacist management group,” said Osunsanmi.
Results did not take into consideration different patient comorbidities or length of disease either.
Growing body of research
The body of research demonstrating pharmacists’ capability in reducing A1C for patients with diabetes is well-established. However, there are few studies that look at time to achieve A1C goals with pharmacists involved on the care team.
For instance, a study published in 2018 in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy showed that pharmacists were able to achieve an A1C goal of less than 8% faster compared to the usual care. A 2020 CDC study demonstrated similar results with a T2D patient cohort in the University of South Florida Health Department of Family Medicine.
“Our study extends this understanding by comparing the impact of pharmacist diabetes management with an enhanced level of care,” Osunsanmi said. “While many studies have shown that pharmacists can help reduce A1C for patients with diabetes, this study provides insight into how much sooner those goals can be achieved with pharmacist management.”
Osunsanmi said the findings not only have important implications for patient outcomes, but also health care costs, considering that pharmacist services were offered to patients at the study site at no additional charge. Of course, earlier achievement of A1C goals may also contribute to a reduction in diabetes-related complications and associated health care costs.
Osunsanmi said she also believes the findings could help support the justification for expanding pharmacist positions within the primary care setting.
“The results signify the impact that pharmacists could make if they are included in a care team,” she said. ■