GTMRx News Brief Archive

Practice Transformation Tots likely to get COVID vax from docs Most states prohibit pharmacists from vaccinating children under 3. Even where it’s permitted, pharmacies are wrestling with whether to do so. That means physicians — especially pediatricians — will play a large role in the in this phase of the country’s largest-ever vaccination campaign, the Washington Post reports. It notes that across party lines, pediatricians are the most trusted source of vaccine information for parents, which could help overcome vaccine hesitancy. (Washington Post) Study…

Practice Transformation Diabetes care needs to be team-based A multidisciplinary team of health care professionals including physicians, nurses, dietitians and pharmacists can provide comprehensive diabetes care and management for patients, writes Susan Cornell, PharmD, of the Chicago College of Pharmacy at Midwestern University. “Working as a team allows each practitioner to work to the highest level of their license and provides more reward in what they have achieved. The key to success and efficacy of workflow is knowing what each…

Practice Transformation Increased use of generics, biosimilars help control costs Biosimilars and generic drugs may slow drug cost growth in 2022, Modern Healthcare reports. Drug prices only increased 1.9% in 2021, partly due to new biosimilars and generics, according to an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists report. “Biosimilars really took off this year,” Eric Tichy, PharmD, MBA, division chair, supply chain management, at Mayo Clinic, said in a release. “A couple of years ago there was a lot of consternation about the…

Practice Transformation Before prescribing, plan on deprescribing opioids Before prescribing opioids, physicians should—in collaboration with the patient--develop a deprescribing plan, argues Jason Doctor, PhD, of the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. It would lay out a specific path for reducing, and then eliminating, opioid use. “Properly structured, the plan will give the patient confidence that an opioid prescription may help relieve pain in the short run but will not lead to dependence or addiction in the long…

Practice Transformation Physicians lack time, support to address SDOH Most (61%) of physicians say they have little or no time to address their patient’s social determinants of health (SDOH), according to a new survey from The Physicians Foundation. Yet, roughly 80% believe the U.S. cannot improve health outcomes or reduce health care costs without addressing those factors. In addition, 63% report they often have feelings of burnout when trying to address their patients’ SDOH. (Physicians Foundation; RISE) To free up pharmacists, Walgreens…

Practice Transformation CMM a win-win for seniors Older adults are particularly vulnerable to drug therapy problems. They are also especially hard hit by social isolation. Comprehensive medication management offers a solution to both, writes Karmen L. Stephens, PharmD, BCGP. “Undoubtedly, the use of CMM as a solution to engage and interact with residents while simultaneously addressing health concerns and letting an individual know someone cares about him or her is an essential component of care for the older adult population…

Practice Transformation Opportunities abound for pharmacist collaboration Opportunities for collaboration between community and health-systems pharmacists abound, according to Tamara A. McCants, PharmD, of Howard University, During her APhA 2022 presentation, she cited several examples, including comprehensive medication management. She also talked about challenges in collaboration. Turf battles, "finger pointing as to who should have done what, and why they didn’t, and ‘we need to do this,’ and ‘we’re better at that,’” can be a bit problematic. “That is not the…

Practice Transformation CMMI should support flexible primary care, not FFS To increase the likelihood that models achieve overall cost savings and/or quality improvement, CMMI should test approaches that add flexibility and significantly increase the share of total health care spending devoted to primary care, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. Replacing Medicare fee-for-service with alternative payment arrangements could improve the effectiveness of future primary care models. The report calls on CMMI to go big: “Models that adjust small details…

Practice Transformation Pharmacist-led patient care services + PGX = success, study finds A large implementation of a pharmacogenomics-enriched CMM program led to a reduction of roughly $7,000 per patient for participating Medicare Advantage enrollees. It also led to a positive shift in health care resource utilization away from acute care toward primary care. The program focused on participants in the Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Kentucky. “The observed reduced costs, meaningful shifts in the patterns of patient healthcare…

Practice Transformation RAND: Volume-based payments still dominate Most physicians employed in group practices owned by health systems are paid primarily based on the volume of care they provide, according to findings published in JAMA Health Forum. In these practices, volume-based compensation was the most common type of base pay for more than 80% of primary care physicians and for more than 90% of specialists. “The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that PCPs and specialists despite receiving value-based reimbursement incentives from…

Practice Transformation A path forward? PBMs as a fiduciary PBMs could provide employers with the transparency they need into employee drug prices and help them save money. How? By agreeing to serve as a fiduciary, writes David A. McKay who spent 20 years representing self-funded plans in audits and litigation against PBMs. “By agreeing to serve as a fiduciary, a PBM can commit to putting the employer’s best interests ahead of the PBM’s profits when negotiating with pharmacies and drug manufacturers and…

Practice Transformation Electronic exchange closer to reality After several COVID-related delays, the ONC has set a Dec. 31 deadline for the health care industry to support apps that store records electronically, such as Apple Health. This is part of the 21st Century Cures Act, and it works both ways: Health IT developers will need standardized APIs and FHIR technology to support data exchange and interoperability, and providers will be expected to use APIs and FHIR technology. Patients won’t be required to use apps, but medical offices…

Practice Transformation Address depression to correct misinformation? People who experience depressive symptoms may be more receptive to misinformation related to COVID-19 vaccines, according to research published in JAMA Network Open. “This survey study found that individuals with moderate or greater depressive symptoms were more likely to endorse vaccine-related misinformation,” according to researchers. “[B]y addressing the extremely high levels of depression in this country during COVID, we might decrease people’s susceptibility to misinformation,” says lead author Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc,…

Practice Transformation Lessons from COVID: Curbing antibiotic overuse From April to December 2020, antibiotic prescriptions for children declined by 73% compared with the same months in 2019 for primary care practices in the Philadelphia region, according to research published in Pediatrics. Antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections (RTI) saw an even steeper decline. This suggest reducing viral RTI transmission through social distancing and masking corresponds with a reduction in antibiotic prescribing, according to the researchers. “Because many antibiotic prescriptions related to…

Practice Transformation 360x wants to close the care coordination loop To enable care coordination, data exchange must be a closed loop, MedAllies’ Holly Miller, MD, MBA, FHIMSS, explains. That’s the goal of 360X, an ONC-backed to build data standards that enable coordinated and streamlined care between PCPs and specialists. The 360X referral process is a full circle, and the primary care staff will know immediately if the patient's been declined so they can find another specialist. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise…

Practice Transformation RAND: Biosimilars could save $38.4B Biosimilar drugs could drive down prices for expensive medicines, saving an $38.4 billion, according to a new RAND Corporation study published in the American Journal of Managed Care. The number could be higher with higher biosimilar use. Most of the expected savings would come from downward pressure on the brand-name biologics they compete with, rather than lower biosimilar prices. The estimated savings are lower than two other recent assessments. The new analysis uses more recent…

Practice Transformation Sustained team-based approach reduces burnout A team-based approach to primary care reduces clinician burnout, according to research published in the Annals of Family Medicine. In 2016, Stanford Health Care’s primary care clinic in Santa Clara launched Primary Care 2.0, a team-based model. It has proven beneficial for patients and physicians —but only when the model is sustained. “The Primary Care 2.0 model of enhanced team-based primary care demonstrates team development is a plausible key to protect against burnout, but…