Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health has received a 2026 Best Practices Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists for a program that reorganized pharmacists into a single population health team and assigned one to each primary care practice.
Cone Health brought pharmacists from several separate programs, who had worked with different patient groups, onto one team, with the goal of giving providers and patients a single pharmacy resource for medication questions, cost and side effect challenges and identifying patients who need more support. The team used in-person, virtual and follow-up visits. Pharmacists worked with 11,363 patients through more than 35,000 visits and other encounters in 2025, according to a Nov. 12 news release from the health system.
Among patients in diabetes programs, average A1C fell to 7.7% from 9.2%, and blood pressure control rates rose to 75% from 41%, Cone Health said. The program has grown from six clinics to more than 80 Cone Health and affiliated primary care practices across the region.
“By assigning pharmacists directly to medical practices, we created stronger relationships between pharmacists, providers and patients,” said Kristen Kruszewski, PharmD, chief pharmacy officer for Cone Health. “Those relationships helped us identify problems sooner, provide more coordinated support and reach more patients who could benefit from pharmacy services.”
Dr. Kruszewski, who joined Cone Health from Geisinger in January, has said she is positioning pharmacy as a driver of value-based care. ASHP’s Best Practices Awards recognize pharmacy programs that improve patient care and can serve as models. Past winners have included health systems with pharmacist-led remote monitoring and technician training programs.
