July 22, 2020 | GTMRx Institute Issues New Report Highlighting Need for Medication Management Reform and Steps to Achieve it
The Get the Medications Right™ Institute brings together Leaders in Health Care to Save Lives, Improve Quality of Life and Reduce Cost of CareTysons 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
March 23, 2020 | Primary care advocate Paul Grundy, MD, named interim president of GTMRx Institute
Call to action for a more rational, coordinated, team-based, systematic approach to medication use unites clinicians, advocates, diagnostics, health and tech industriesWASHINGTON, 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:- Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., chief executive officer, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists;
- Katherine H. Capps, Institute co-founder and executive director, president of Health2 Resources (Secretary);
- Steve Goldberg, MD, vice president medical affairs, population health and chief health officer, health & wellness, Quest Diagnostics;
- Brigadier General (ret.) Allison Hickey, founder, All in Solutions, former undersecretary of the Veterans Benefits Administration (Member-at-Large);
- Ira Klein, MD, senior director of health care quality strategy, Strategic Customer Group, J&J Health Care Services; and
- C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., senior policy advisor, American College of Clinical Pharmacy (Treasurer)
Grundy, known as the “godfather” of the patient-centered medical home movement, has spent four decades focused on population health and the value of a healing relationship of trust established with primary care providers. He is chief transformation officer at Innovaccer and previously served as IBM’s chief medical officer and global director, Healthcare Transformation. He serves as adjunct professor at the University of California San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine and the University of Utah Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.
“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.February 6, 2020 | GTMRx Institute identifies optimizing medication use as the decade’s most urgent, promising opportunity to save lives and money
Call to action for a coordinated, team-based, systematic approach to medication use unites clinicians, advocates, diagnostics, health and tech industriesWASHINGTON, 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.”February 3, 2020 | Tabula Rasa HealthCare Joins GTMRx Institute to Get the Medications Right
Moorestown, NJ – February 3, 2020 – Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (TRHC) (NASDAQ: TRHC), a healthcare technology company advancing the field of medication safety, announces today it will become an Executive Member of the Get the Medications Right Institute™ (GTMRx). GTMRx defines itself as “a catalyst for change that brings critical stakeholders together, bound by the urgent need to get the medications right.” The Institute’s goal is to ensure appropriate and personalized use of medication and gene therapies by advancing to a scientific, evidence-based and cost-effective decision-making process and a team-based, systematic approach to medication use. By showcasing evidence and innovation, GTMRx motivates practice transformation and pushes payment and policy reform.
“We’re delighted to welcome TRHC as our newest Executive Member, and we applaud their important and achievable goal to optimize medication use,” said Katherine H. Capps, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the GTMRx Institute. “We have the evidence and knowledge we need to fix the trial-and-error approach that is costing lives and billions each year. TRHC, together with others who recognize this urgent need, will help ensure application of this evidence across health care systems.”
According to research published March 26, 2018 in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and coauthored by Terry McInnis, MD, co-founder of GTMRx, illness and death resulting from the wrong prescription, the wrong dose, skipped doses or new medication-related issues—what the authors call “non-optimized medication therapy”—cost 275,000 lives and an estimated $528 billion a year. That represents 16 percent of total U.S. health care expenditures, according to the research.
“TRHC is joining to support GTMRx at a critical time in healthcare evolution,” said TRHC Co-founder, Chairman and CEO Calvin H. Knowlton, PhD. “More than a decade ago, we founded TRHC with the goal of increasing medication safety. Today, TRHC decreases medication-related risk, reduces adverse drug events, enhances compliance and quality of care, and improves medication-related outcomes through science and technology. We join GTMRx to further the progress of determining the right medication for the right person.”
About Tabula Rasa HealthCare
Tabula Rasa HealthCare (TRHC) is a leader in providing patient-specific, data-driven technology and solutions that enable healthcare organizations to optimize performance to improve patient outcomes, reduce hospitalizations, lower healthcare costs and manage risk. Medication risk management is TRHC’s lead offering, and its cloud-based software applications, including EireneRx® and MedWise™ provide solutions for a range of payers, providers and other healthcare organizations. For more information please visit, www.tabularasahealthcare.com.October 22, 2019 | The GTMRx Institute Celebrates Six Months, Six Hundred Members Strong
Momentum builds for personalized, team-based approach to medication managementVienna, 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:- Practice and care delivery transformation
- Payment & policy solutions
- Health information technology & AI to support optimized medication use
- Precision medicine enablement via advanced diagnostics.
“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.July 3, 2019 | ASHP CEO Abramowitz Joins GTMRx Institute Board of Directors
New Organization Brings Together Multiple Stakeholder Groups to Identify Solutions for Effective and Appropriate Use of Medications.
ASHP today announced that its CEO, Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon.), FASHP has joined the Board of Directors of the GTMRx Institute. The Institute was launched in mid-April to be a “catalyst for change” with a vision to enhance life by ensuring appropriate and personalized use of medication and gene therapies. The organization’s acronym stands for “Get the Medications Right.”
GTMRx seeks to align critical stakeholders, including physicians, pharmacists, caregivers, health IT innovators, drug and diagnostics companies, consumer groups, employers, payers and health systems to advance the adoption of a systematic approach to medication use, enabled by technology, through comprehensive medication management, or CMM.
“The creation of the GTMRx Institute provides a unique opportunity for hospital and health-system pharmacists as highly-valued members of the interprofessional patient care team to work with major stakeholders across healthcare to significantly improve the safety and quality of medication use in the United States.” said Abramowitz. “I am excited to represent ASHP on the GTMRx Board of Directors as we work together to adopt personalized, patient-centered, systematic and coordinated approaches to medication use that improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.”
“Active leadership is critical in this multi-stakeholder effort to ensure appropriate use of medications,” said Katherine H. Capps, co-founder and executive director of the Get the Medications Right Institute. “Partners like Paul Abramowitz and ASHP are essential to ensure that we create the critical mass needed to transform practice toward a team-based, systematic approach to medication use while leveraging health information technology and diagnostics.”
ASHP is a founding funder of the Institute, making a three year commitment to ensure the longevity and sustainability of its important work. Noted Abramowitz, “I strongly believe that the GTMRx Institute has an excellent opportunity to reshape our entire healthcare system by demonstrating the value of pharmacist-provided comprehensive medication therapy management with the goal of ensuring that medication use is optimal, safe, and effective for all people all of the time.”
About ASHP
ASHP represents pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in acute and ambulatory settings. The organization’s 50,000 members include pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. For more than 75 years, ASHP has been at the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists advance healthcare, visit ASHP’s website, www.ashp.org, or its consumer website, www.SafeMedication.com.April 17, 2019 | GTMRx Institute launched to advance evidence-based, appropriate use of medication and gene therapies
Founding organizations include J&J, Medecision, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and Quest Diagnostics
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:- Katherine H. Capps, Institute co-founder and executive director, president of Health2 Resources;
- Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, chief transformation officer, Innovaccer; formerly of IBM and founding president, Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative;
- Brigadier General (ret.) Allison Hickey, founder and CEO, All in Solutions LLC, former undersecretary of the Veterans Benefits Administration;
- Deb Gage, president and CEO, Medecision, a subsidiary of Health Care Service Corporation;
- Steve Goldberg, MD, MBA, vice president, medical affairs, population health and chief health officer, health and wellness, Quest Diagnostics;
- Ira Klein, MD, MBA, senior director, health care quality strategy, Strategic Customer Group, J&J Health Care Services; and
- C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, consultant and senior policy advisor, American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
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 :- “The $528 Billion Opportunity” (1 p.m. EDT April 30) explores the evidence for CMM. Features McInnis and study lead author Jonathan H. Watanabe, PharmD, MS, PhD, associate professor of clinical pharmacy, University of California San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
- “Acting on the $528 Billion Opportunity: Training to Advance Comprehensive Medication Management in Practice” (1 p.m. EDT May 14) delves into the team-based nature of CMM and implications for education and training. Features McInnis and co-author Jan Hirsch, BS Pharm, PhD, director and school of pharmacy founding dean, University of California Irvine School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
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