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GTMRx Institute Reaches Seven Year Membership Goal Six Years Early
Institute Focused On Getting The Medications Right Attracts Biggest Leaders in Health Care to Fight for Pervasive Issue

Tysons Corner, VA — February 10, 2021 — Today, The Get the Medications Right™ (GTMRx) Institute, a catalyst for change that brings critical stakeholders together who are bound by the urgent need to get the medications right, announced it has bested its membership goal more than six years early. The Institute now counts over 1,200 individuals and nearly 800 organizations as members in their fight to save lives and save money by ensuring access to comprehensive medication management (CMM) services. Among these members are some of the highest regarded physicians, health care providers, nurses, health IT innovators, diagnostics firms, drug companies and academic institutions on the subject in the country.

“The need to optimize medications is a commonality among every corner of health care, from physicians to pharmacists, nurses, drug manufacturers to employers as health plan sponsors, insurance providers, consumers, and everyone in between,” said Katherine H. Capps, Co-Founder and Executive Director of GTMRx. “We’re passionate about growing our membership of stakeholders invested in this fight to ensure appropriate use of medications. This requires changing payment models to reward interprofessional team-based care. Not only does our meteoric growth, but also the caliber of our membership, speak for itself. We’re fortunate to count so many of the leaders at the forefront of medical science among our active coalition and are continuing to recruit the best and brightest to be part of our mission.”

In addition to robust growth, GTMRx has published multiple guidance reports to advance medication management reform in the past year. Last July, the Institute released the GTMRx Blueprint for Change, a report based on eight months of multi-stakeholder input and guidance for how to change the way medications are managed, including a roadmap for reform, guided by four pillars of medication management reform: how we practice, how we pay, how we use diagnostics and how we integrate technology. The Institute has also released a suite of Tools from Our Experts, including case studies, infographics, published literature and white papers designed for a variety of stakeholders to help advance the cause through education, advocacy and practice transformation.

At the center of the GTMRx Institute’s approach is a push toward broad adoption of Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM), a practice level, team-based process that includes a personalized, patient-centered approach to medication use with the physician working in collaborative practice with a clinical pharmacist and other team members to ensure appropriate use of medications.

“Now is the time for a mind and policy shift to end thousands of unnecessary deaths due to the current system that leads to medication mismanagement,” said Paul Grundy, MD, GTMRx President and Chief Transformation Officer at Innovaccer. “GTMRx’s mission is simple and important: save lives and money by optimizing medication use through comprehensive medication management rooted in team-based patient care. The evidence exists and with access to companion and complementary diagnostics as a tool during the care process, we now can more precisely target correct therapies and personalized care. Our growth over the past year shows how important this movement is; it’s a cause that nearly everyone can agree upon.”

 

The GTMRx Institute is actively seeking new members and supporting funders from across the health care continuum. For more information on GTMRx and how they are moving the needle, visit http://www.gtmr.org.

Tysons Corner, VA — July 22 , 2020 — Today, The Get the Medications Right™ (GTMRx) Institute, a catalyst for change that brings critical stakeholders together who are bound by the urgent need to get the medications right, is announcing the launch of “The GTMRx Blueprint for Change,” a robust report based on eight months of multi-stakeholder input and guidance for how to change the way medications are managed, including a roadmap for reform.

As the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 accelerates, preventative medicine has taken center stage and with it continues an important debate around the need for Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM), a practice level, team-based process that includes the patient working in collaboration with the physician and a team that includes a clinical pharmacist.

Studies show nearly 75 percent of physician office and hospital outpatient clinic visits involve medication therapy and almost 30 percent of adults take five or more medications. At the same time, non-optimized medication use leads to at least 275,000 deaths annually and costs over $528 billion. The GTMRx report outlines steps for reform, including an evidence-based process of care that personalizes the approach and leads to better care, reduced costs and improved patient satisfaction and provider work life.

“The health care industry is fighting multiple health crises right now—between COVID-19 and the ongoing opioid epidemic, appropriate use of medications has never been more important,” said Katherine H. Capps, co-founder and executive director of GTMRx. “Now is the time to overhaul the process with a person-centered, team-based care approach. More than 10,000 prescription medications are on the market today, and with growing numbers of Americans being prescribed more medications, a new approach is critical and as shepherds for getting medications right, this is our time to reform a broken process.”

The GTMRx Blueprint for Change includes recommendations to engage everyone involved in patient care—from physicians to clinical pharmacists, health plan sponsors, providers, consumer groups and policymakers. The GTMRx Four Pillars of Medication Management Reform include revamping:

1. How we practice: Medications are involved in 80 percent of all treatments; however, physicians have little time to speak with patients about new medications during a typical office A team-based approach where a medication expert works in collaborative practice with the physician, can significantly impact cost and quality and optimize medication management. To do this effectively, key stakeholders (i.e. payers, patients, providers) must be educated about the value of CMM.
2. How we pay: Prescription drug spending exceeds $300 billion a year, but while price and access have been at the forefront of discussions, the GTMRx Blueprint takes a deeper look into the process of care as the solution. By first ensuring the medication being prescribed is the appropriate one, this evidence-based approach, known as CMM, can help repair this broken system and mitigate the misuse and mismanagement of medications in the future.
3. How we use diagnostics: In an effort to uproot today’s trial and error approach to medication use, companion and complementary diagnostics tools, accompanied by a team-based process of care, can help better evaluate medications to ensure they are appropriate for patients. To move this forward, physicians, pharmacists and other team members must understand their value and have the ability to interpret and make use of these new diagnostic tools during the CMM process, and consumers need to recognize their potential to personalize their care.
4. How we integrate technology: It is vital for regulators, care providers and payers to work together to establish standards and best practices for interoperability making clinical data available at the point-of-care to enable the CMM process. With risk stratification tools, new data can be aggregated and integrated to identify those who need the service supporting the medication expert in identifying patients that have not achieved clinical goals of therapy.

The GTMRx Institute is funded by leading-edge health care organizations. The Institute currently includes more than 950 members from 650 companies located in 49 states plus the District of Columbia and is actively seeking new members—from physicians, registered nurses and other health care providers, health IT innovators, drug and diagnostics companies, consumer groups, drug manufacturers, payers, employers and other key stakeholders.

To review the findings and advice on how to bring about medication management reform, download the full report.

Call to action for a more rational, coordinated, team-based, systematic approach to medication use unites clinicians, advocates, diagnostics, health and tech industries

WASHINGTON, D.C., – March 23, 2020 – The multi-stakeholder Get the Medications Right Institute (GTMRx) elected Paul Grundy, MD, primary care thought leader and one of the Institute’s founding board members, to lead the organization as interim president. Grundy assumes leadership from co-founder Terry McInnis, MD, MPH, outgoing president of the Institute.

“Terry’s vision and passion helped launch the GTMRx Institute just one year ago and played a major role in raising awareness of the human and financial cost of non-optimized medication use,” Grundy said. “Only one year after we publicly put a stake in the ground on this issue, and with over 800 members, we have far surpassed our goals to gain a broad-based coalition of support and to champion a solution. I’m honored to be able to build on the blueprint we’ve established together.”

Grundy will be joined in leadership by other board members:

“We are quickly moving away from paying for an episode of care to paying for results,” he said. “Since medications are the most common medical intervention, and inadequate therapy accounts for more than half of treatment failures, it’s essential that we move to patient-centered, team-based models that recognize appropriately skilled clinical pharmacists as medication experts working in collaborative practice with physicians.”

The Institute recognizes that to target therapies and ensure appropriate use of medications, systems and practices must leverage health information technology for team-based access to clinical information at the point of care and ensure access to companion and complementary diagnostics.

To learn more about the GTMRx Institute or to become an executive member, contact us.

Call to action for a coordinated, team-based, systematic approach to medication use unites clinicians, advocates, diagnostics, health and tech industries

WASHINGTON, DC – Feb. 6, 2020 –The Get the Medications Right Institute (GTMRx) is issuing a call to action for health care stakeholders to optimize medication use as a way to save lives and save money when it convenes a stellar panel of health care policy leaders in Washington, D.C. at a livestreamed public event at the Bipartisan Policy Center today from 8:30-10:30 a.m. After the public event, leaders from academia, industry, government and care delivery will roll up their sleeves to develop a blueprint for change that GTMRx, with its 750 members, leaders and other partner organizations across the public and private sector, will implement to fundamentally shift the nation’s approach to medication use.

Suboptimal use of medications—prescription drugs that make people sicker, are wrong or are not taken as intended—costs 275,000 lives and adds $528 billion across the health care system each year. As concerns about prescription drug costs dominate the national health care debate, real-world evidence points to a solution: Enhance health and drive down costs through coordinated, team-based, patient-centered care models that leverage technology and diagnostics breakthroughs and engage medication experts.

“Fixing the current trial-and-error approach to medication use is probably the single largest and most achievable thing we can do to improve health, lower costs and enable each member of the care team to focus on what they do best,” said Katherine H. Capps, co-founder and executive director of GTMRx. “With more than 10,000 medications available on the market, we simply can’t continue to provide care the way that we have been. The time has come to scale what we know works to get the medications right.”

The event, “Get the Medications Right: Innovations in Team-Based Care,” will include two keynote presentations by The Commonwealth Fund’s Elizabeth Fowler and Gregory Downing of Innovation Horizons and Health Datapalooza, who will offer important context to the challenges and opportunities surrounding optimized medication use in today’s health care system. Following the keynotes, Susan Dentzer with the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy will moderate a discussion to showcase proven strategies at work today across health care settings. Panelists include: the Veterans Health Administration’s Carolyn Clancy, MD, deputy under secretary for discovery, education and affiliate networks; Jerry Greskovic, RPh, CACP, CDE, system director of Ambulatory Pharmacy Programs, Enterprise Pharmacy at Geisinger; and, Daniel Rehrauer, PharmD, senior manager, Medication Therapy Management Program at HealthPartners.

“Trailblazers like the VA, Geisinger and HealthPartners have experience and evidence demonstrating how coordinated, team-based, patient-centered care models that integrate medication experts from day one significantly reduce needless suffering and cost,” Capps said. “Because of their leadership, we have a roadmap to achieve delivery system transformation. Our role is to broadly disseminate evidence, provide a platform for change and create the sustainable energy needed to overcome practice, payment and policy barriers.”

Momentum builds for personalized, team-based approach to medication management

Vienna, Va., October 22, 2019 – Six months after its launch, the GTMRx Institute (Get the Medications Right  ^TM ) has tripled its annual membership goal, established four workgroups and created a national community of business leaders, policymakers, clinicians and consumer groups united in their urgency to address the health and cost impact of sub-optimal medication use.

“We started GTMRx as a way to give structure and lift to the valuable but disparate efforts happening at the local, regional and national level and to facilitate appropriate use of medication and gene therapies,” said GTMRx co-founder and executive director, Katherine H. Capps. “The movement toward value-based payment models creates a tipping point for system-wide transformation. We believe a national platform will get us there more quickly as we engage collaboratively with those who pay for, those who deliver and those who receive care. The support has been astounding and signals both the will, readiness and demand to implement what we know works,” she added.

An estimated 275,000 lives and $528 billion are lost each year to sub-optimal medication use, according to a study published in 2018 in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy . GTMRx is addressing this opportunity by working to overcome barriers to the right care.

Within its first six months of operation, GTMRx has established a solid foundation and assembled experts to inform an initial set of recommendations around four essential areas needed for change:

“We’re tapping into the collective knowledge, experience and expertise of the Board of Directors , Executive Members , Distinguished Fellows , workgroup members, and over 600 members . And we are in a strong position to accelerate the adoption of best practices and proven processes that we know will reduce waste, ensure appropriate diagnosis and improve both health and quality of life,” said Capps.

GTMRx also announced today that it will host a multi-stakeholder forum in February 2020 in Washington, D.C. to convene business, policy, clinical and health advocacy leaders to review initial recommendations that will guide their work moving forward as part of a Blueprint for Change.

To learn more about GTMRx and our educational resources, please visit our website. To keep current on CMM-related news, sign up here to receive our free weekly news briefs. Those interested in joining in a leadership role or as a signing member, may visit our membership page here.

Vienna, Va., April 17, 2019 – The Get the Medications Right™ (GTMRx) Institute launched today as a multi-stakeholder catalyst for change—to raise awareness of and champion a solution for effective and appropriate use of medications. The Institute has a clear call to action: Get the Medications Right.

“For the patient, it comes down to one simple question: Are these the right medications for me?” says GTMRx Co-founder and President Terry McInnis , MD, MPH. “While the national focus has been on drug costs, we believe the opportunity to optimize medication use with advanced diagnostics and personalized care can have a much larger impact in reducing total medical cost. It’s critical that we adopt comprehensive medication management (CMM) as a means to assure optimal patient health—to save both lives and money.”

The GTMRx Institute is funded by a three-year commitment from leading-edge health care organizations in support of the multi-stakeholder approach. The Institute currently includes more than 100 members and will actively seek new members —health care providers, health IT innovators, drug and diagnostics companies, consumer groups, drug manufacturers, payors and employers and other key stakeholders.

Joining McInnis on the board are:

In addition to board members, the Institute seeks executive members to join those already committed—the Veterans Health Administration and the California Chronic Care Coalition—to lead task forces focused on practice transformation, payment and policy solutions. The first major deliverable in development is a Blueprint for Change that will outline specific steps that need to be taken at the practice, payment and policy levels to make CMM a reality.

“We need to put the power of information about medications, treatments and outcomes in the hands of consumers and their care teams who are working collaboratively across the health care system,” says Deb Gage, president and CEO at Medecision and GTMRx Institute board member. “Medecision exists to help unleash better care for consumers, and we cannot achieve our mission of liberating health care without transparency. We’ve seen technology disrupt other industries in ways that provide dramatically increased access to information and ease of work flow. We are right on the precipice of this happening in health care, and we’re excited about the impact the GTMRx Institute will have on improving the health of Americans and our system overall.”

According to a study co-authored by McInnis, $528 billion dollars a year, equivalent to 16 percent of total health care spending, is consumed due to non-optimized medication use. The Institute will showcase evidence and expert practices through the GTMRx Institute Learning Network. All relevant stakeholders are invited to join the experts on two kickoff webinars :

See support statements , frequently asked questions , evidence and resources at gtmr.org.