Dyslipidemia is an established risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). Primary and secondary prevention of dyslipidemia decreases CHD morbidity and mortality. Compliance and persistence with HMG CoA reductase inhibitor (“statin”) therapy has been sporadic, despite the lipid lowering ability of these drugs. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine if a structured, educational, pharmacist-directed intervention program would influence the outcomes of dyslipidemia therapy. METHODS: This study utilized a stratified, randomized, open-label, fifty site multi-center comparison of a community pharmacy-based health education and medication management program for dyslipidemia patients. Experimental group patients received a structured, pharmacist directed series of interventions and monthly lipid panel measurements. Control patients received the traditional standard of pharmacy care. Statistical analyses included t-test examination of differences in mean values for lipid panel measurements between groups. RESULTS: A majority of patients at baseline had CHD (57%) and 32% of patients had ? 2 risk factors as indicated by National Cholesterol Education Panel (NCEP) guidelines. Baseline mean low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in the intervention group and non-intervention group were 142 mg/dl and 140 mg/dl respectively, indicating a majority of moderate to high-risk patients was not at NCEP goal. Findings to date do show improvements in total cholesterol and LDL reduction after the pharmacist intervention as compared to the non-intervention group, p<0.001. Additionally, intervention patients reported improvements in the medication persistence survey scores. Preliminarily, these results indicate community pharmacists are having a positive impact on treatment outcomes and self-reported medication persistence of dyslipidemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Working collaboratively with patients and physicians, pharmacists in this study provided a comprehensive dyslipidemia management program that improved the treatment outcomes for dyslipidemic patients. As the debate continues concerning the prescription versus non-prescription status of “statin” therapies, studies such as this that indicate monitoring of lipid lowering therapy can be instituted in varying ambulatory sites will provide useful data for professional and regulatory groups.