Extending Quality Care Delivery for Catalyst Health Network (Part 1)

Contributors

“Our medication compliance rates have jumped from 67% to 95% … and we’re doing that in ways that truly benefit patients’ health long-term.” Dr. Jamison Albracht shares the results he’s seen in recent years, as Catalyst Health Network has continued to align patient outreach with patient outcomes.

Indeed, as a pioneer in value-based care delivery in Texas and a champion for independent primary care providers, Catalyst Health Network has led the charge for patients to have access to all the resources they need for their health—whether that’s during their doctor’s appointments or in all the days between visits. As a result, outcomes have materially improved. Patient satisfaction has increased. Physician burnout has diminished.

As part of this ongoing series from Stellus Rx, Dr. Albracht shares his insights on how Catalyst Health Network is shaping the future of primary care … and the value of pharmacy in the patient journey.

So let’s start broadly. Can you share with us a little bit about Catalyst Health Network today and the care you strive to provide for patients?

Dr. Albracht: The work we do at Catalyst Health Network is built on years of bringing clinical programs and services to patients that optimize outcomes, engage patients in their own health and reduce total cost of care. That means we practice evidence-based medicine at the most appropriate price point.

It’s not a stretch, then, to characterize Catalyst’s approach to care delivery as a point of light for national healthcare reform. And in fact, we’d like for all our business models to utilize the value-based care concept—that’s with Medicare, with Medicare Advantage and even in our commercial and direct-to-employer contracts. Why’s that important to us? Well, we know that if we’re aligned to do what’s in the best interest of patients every time, everyone wins. Patients win because they get better health and better care. Providers win because they actually get to spend more time with their patients. Payers win as costs reduce. What we’re doing here is healing our communities—and healing healthcare.

When you talk about evidence-based medicine and aligning efforts in the best interest of patients, that certainly extends beyond what patients experience in their doctor’s office. How do you go about extending care delivery in a consistent, high-quality way?

Dr. Albracht: No medical group can impact every phase of every patient’s healthcare journey on their own. So we have strong partnerships with other organizations that are aligned to our mission and the change we’re creating in healthcare. These are organizations that support payer contracting … or home-based palliative care … or identification of social determinants of health … care teams that extend Catalyst’s reach into patients’ daily lives and routines, so we can guide them toward better outcomes. Stellus Rx is a classic example of one of these organizations—helping us take care of patients better by adding the expertise of clinical pharmacists to our care teams.

Before we added a clinical pharmacist to our care team for patient outreach and medication support, our medication compliance rates were right at the national standard. Patients were taking their medications about 67% of the time.

If you have a diabetic taking their medicine 67% of the time, you have a diabetic who’s uncontrolled. But that diabetic patient will invariably say, “Doctor, I take my medicine. I work on diet and exercise. I’m trying to do everything you tell me.” So, what’s the doctor left to do? They add more medicine, which increases potential for side effects and other interactions. And guess what? They’re only going to take that medicine 67% of the time as well. You’re not gaining any ground, despite the additional effort, additional medications and additional costs.

Contrast that to what happened when we integrated clinical pharmacists from Stellus Rx into our practice. They dovetail right into what we do for our patients. They’re in our EMR and see patients’ A1c, their blood pressure, whether they’re regularly coming in for scheduled physician visits. They have become my eyes and ears between the time I’m able to see my patients. And more than that, they build relationships with our patients—they know patients by name and patients know their pharmacists by name.

And how has that changed the results you’re seeing?

Dr. Albracht: Our medication compliance rates have jumped from 67% to 95% … and we’re doing that in ways that truly benefit patients’ health long-term. I’ll give you an example. When we started this work, we looked at drug-naïve patients that came in with A1c greater than 11, and clinical standards at that point in time indicated that we needed to start those patients on insulin.

Instead, we enrolled them with our clinical pharmacist. We prescribed oral medications. We introduced them to  a diabetic educator and we were able to get those patients’ A1c to a controlled state with the most cost-effective medicines.

We found we had much better compliance and much better outcomes. Patients received a much better price point and as a result of their improved health, they needed less intervention from their providers. We track and measure how many calls come into our office related to refills, interactions, medication questions. And once we enrolled these patients with Stellus Rx, we saw a dramatic decrease in the services and resources we had to use in addressing those patients—the Stellus Rx clinical pharmacist took care of those issues.

It’s to the point where we believe this should be the standard of care. And in fact, practicing without a clinical pharmacist to support chronic condition patients should be considered substandard. That’s how much impact Stellus Rx has had on the way we practice medicine.

Published: October 28, 2025