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Practice Transformation

JMCP: Sustaining CMM in the pharmacy setting
What is needed to sustain CMM in the community pharmacy setting? HealthPartners shared its insights, based on decades of experience. Among other things, the authors stressed the importance of differentiating CMM from other services and providing support for pharmacies doing CMM. They also discussed the influence payment models have on sustainability. “CMM in community pharmacies shows promise for being a sustainable practice model. However, increased reach and performance of networks, as well as number of payers in the market, will be critical to scaling CMM in the community pharmacy setting.” (Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy)
Last mile drug delivery via self-driving cars?
Hyundai is joining forces with NowRx — a tech-powered pharmacy that provides same-day prescription delivery and telehealth services — to develop new solutions for the delivery of prescription medications. The pilot includes aspects of various last-mile optimization technologies — mostly likely including autonomous vehicles. The partnership points to the evolution of pharmacy services to include telehealth and other digital health tools as health care organizations and pharmacies look to provide patient-centered services and turn the physical pharmacy into a health care destination, HealthLeaders Media reports. (HealthLeaders Mediapress release)
APhA taps Dr. Ilisa Bernstein as interim CEO
The American Pharmacists Association has named Ilisa Bernstein, PharmD, FAPhA, as the organization’s interim CEO, effective immediately. Her appointment follows the departure of Scott Knoer, PharmD, MS, as executive vice-president and CEO. Prior to this role, she led pharmaceutical and advocacy practices for two and a half years as the senior vice president of pharmacy practice and government affairs at APhA. As interim CEO, Bernstein will help steer the APhA board in its national search for a CEO. (Becker’s Hospital ReviewAPhA announcement)

Evidence & Innovation

STAT: Privacy vs profit: Patient data a hot commodity
A STAT investigation found Quintiles (now IQVIA) linked data GE Healthcare considered confidential to insurance claims from Truven Health Analytics. Data “is an easily transferable and extremely lucrative asset now traded by a complex web of businesses,” STAT reports. And it appears to be legal under HIPAA. “The data can be legally de-identified under HIPAA. But in the real world it is not de-identified because it can easily be re-identified,” said William Yasnoff, a professor of biomedical informatics at Johns Hopkins University. (STAT News)

Policy Solutions

Reversal: FTC votes to investigate PBMs
After deadlocking 2-2 earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission unanimously agreed to conduct an in-depth probe of pharmacy benefit managers. Six PBMs will be required to turn over information within 90 days: CVS Caremark; Express Scripts; OptumRx.; Humana; Prime Therapeutics; and MedImpact Healthcare Systems. The first three together control about 80% of the market. “Given that PBMs’ practices can have life-and-death consequences for Americans, the FTC has a moral imperative to act with urgency on this issue,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a prepared statement. (Columbus Dispatch)
Culture of blame: Vaught trial continues to activate nurses
In Tennessee, nurses are lobbying for legislation to end the criminalization of medical errors, spurred by the sentencing of former nurse RaDonda Vaught. The focus is now on Tennessee, but supporters plan to ramp up lobbying efforts in other states. Nurses and medical groups nationwide have expressed support for Vaught, calling for systemwide reforms and arguing that the criminalization of medical errors could discourage health care workers from reporting mistakes, Becker’s Hospital Review reports. (Becker’s Hospital Review)

In Case You Missed It!

GTMRx SPONSOR/SPEAKER:  VIRTUAL NATIONAL PRIMARY CARE TRANSFORMATION SUMMIT JULY 26-29. FREE REGISTRATION FOR CLINICAL PHARMACISTS AND PHYSICIANS ($1095 VALUE!)
GTMRx is a proud sponsor of the Virtual National Primary Care Transformation Summit, which will take place July 26-29, 2022. The event will feature in-depth conversations and discussions with leaders from CMS/CMMI, VillageMD, Aetna/CVS, Humana, United/Optum, Boeing, Google, Walgreens and others involved in primary care transformation. As a sponsor of the event, we have arranged free registration for a number of clinicians to include NPs, PAs, clinical pharmacists, and primary care physicians (regularly an up-to $1,095 value).
If you qualify, you may register using our special link here: https://registration.eventsair.com/2022pctsummit/pct-comp-gtmrx/Site/Register.
Don’t Miss! After registering, be sure to catch our virtual panel discussion on Friday, July 29, 2022 from 11:15am – 11:00am ET. GTMRx Mini Summit 28: Integrating Pharmacists into Advanced Primary Care: A Better Way to Manage Medications
Faculty:
  • Katherine H. Capps, Co-Founder, Executive Director, GTMRx
  • Julie Ceno-England, MD, Chief Medical Officer, OneOme
  • Steven W. Chen, PharmD, FASHP, FCSHP, FNAP, Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs and Heeres Chair in Community Pharmacy, USC School of Pharmacy
  • Michael Hochman, MD, MPH, Chief Executive Officer, Scan’s Homeless Medical Group; Inaugural Director, USC Gehr Center for Health Systems Science & Innovation
  • Mitchell A. Kaminski, MD, MBA, Program Director, Population Health, Jefferson College of Population Health
New Episode of Voices of Change Out Now | Alliance for Medication Management: Work in Washington State
An innovative care coordination system is emerging in eastern Washington State. Empire Health Foundation is providing funding to develop and implement a care coordination system that brings pharmacists and care coordinators together to simultaneously address medication related problems and the associated social determinants of health that are impacting the patient’s ability to achieve the intended benefits from their medications. The program is designed to support and supplement the primary care provider’s care plan and identify potential medication related problems, social barriers and behaviors that reduce medication effectiveness.
The program is called Medication Care Coordination or MCC and has been developed as a collaboration between Empire Health Foundation, Aging and Long-Term Care of Eastern Washington (ALTCEW), Rural Resources Community Action (RRCA) and Medication Review, Inc (MRI).
The Washington State University School of Pharmacy is providing academic resources in support of the program and has generated several articles on the findings from early pilots. The Alliance for Integrated Medication Management (AIMM) is providing strategic program design, management development and implementation support to program partners.
Host Katherine (Katie) Capps talks to Jeri Rathbun, Empire Health Foundation; Dr. Bob Crittenden, Health Policy Advisor; and Dr. Candace Anderson, Pharmacists, Medication Review, Inc. Take a listen.
GTMRx Workgroup Update
On May 31, Sarah Billups, Pharm.D., BCPS, associate professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Chelsea Ganger, program specialist, University of Colorado Medicine, Office of Value Based Performance?, presented to the GTMRx Payment and Policy Solutions Workgroup about the Primary Care First (PCF) model and University of Colorado Medicine’s experience in transitioning from Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+) to PCF.
GTMRx Recommendations and Comments to HCPLAN
To inform federal policy, the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (HCPLAN) — of which GTMRx is a supporting member — sought feedback on its definition of “accountable care” and the Accountable Care Commitment Curve. HCPLAN’s definition is as follows: “Accountable care aligns care teams to help realize the best achievable health outcomes for all through comprehensive, high-value, affordable, longitudinal, person-centered care.” The curve is illustrated here. GTMRx has shared our recommendations and comments (which were due on June 2), and we encourage you to echo and support our recommendations to advance services that will optimize medication use (CMM) as part of all ACO offerings, emphasizing the value and importance of an interprofessional team working in collaborative practice alongside the patient and their clinician(s) and the importance of a person-centered, accountable medication use process designed to ensure that all medications used are appropriate, effective, safe and taken as intended and that the patient is willing and able to take those medications. (HCPLANGTMRx recommendations)
Thursday: Capps moderated APG panel
Thursday, June 2, Katherine Capps GTMRx co-founder and executive director, moderated a panel discussion, “Leverage Medication Management Services to Achieve the Quadruple Aim,” at America’s Physician Groups Annual Conference 2022. The panelists were Michael Stiffman, MD, MSPH, of HealthPartners Medical Group; Peter Teichman, MD, MPH, of Asante Physician Partners; Maisha Draves, MD, MPH, of The Permanente Medical Group; Bob Matthews of  MediSync. They discussed how expanding the role of clinical pharmacists improves efficiency and effectiveness of person-centered, team-based care; eases the primary care workload; improves patient outcomes; and decreases total cost of care.
Join us June 15 12-1 pm ET for a webinar
Building, Managing and Sustaining Your CMM Practice
Where is CMM available? What quality measures are being used to evaluate the value of CMM? What do CMM staffing models look like? How mature are CMM practices and what are the various needs based on stages of maturity?
GTMRx is developing a growing registry of CMM practices to gauge availability of these services across the country! This is an important and exciting contribution, and we invite you to learn more about this work and opportunities as this registry expands.
As a sneak peak of this important work, GTMRx workgroup leadership will highlight preliminary findings of the National Registry of CMM Practices© by the GTMRx Institute and feature real-world examples of CMM in practice to showcase the maturation of practice:
  • Early stage CMM practice (1-2 years)
  • Mid-level stage CMM practice (10+)
  • Fully mature CMM practice (20+)
Join in with your questions during the panel discussion. Learn from organizations at various lengths of maturity shedding light on the benefits of a more widely adoption of CMM and the challenges of getting there.
Register here.

Celebrating 3 Years of Impact: GTMRx Institute Turns 3!

The Get The Medications Right Institute (GTMRx) is celebrating 3 years of impact and advancement of our goals. Now, more than ever we remain committed and anchored in our mission and goals to:
  • A personalized, patient-centered, systematic and coordinated approach to medication use will vastly improve outcomes and reduce overall health care costs.
  • We must align systems of care to integrate comprehensive medication management, engaging patients to ensure that they are willing and able to take those medications that are indicated, effective, and safe, to optimize their outcomes.
  • We need immediate delivery system, payment, and policy transformation to streamline clinical trials and reduce costs of bringing drugs to market while enabling successful, broad-scale adoption of integrated, comprehensive medication management (CMM) services.
  • Appropriate diagnosis and access to advanced diagnostics with companion/complementary and pharmacogenetics (PGx) testing is essential to target correct therapy.
  • Success requires team-based, patient-centered care models that recognize appropriately skilled clinical pharmacists as medication experts who work in collaborative practice with physicians and other providers.
Thank you to all who have joined us and aided in our mission to advance personalized, patient centered, team-based care. If you aren’t already a part of the Institute, you can join us by agreeing to our belief statements here: https://gtmr.org/become-a-signing-member/
A Comprehensive Overview of the Institute, It’s Vision, Mission and Leadership
The Get the Medications Right Institute is working to decrease misuse, overuse and underuse of medications and avoid waste by advancing comprehensive medication management to ensure appropriate and personalized use of medications and gene therapies. Learn more in this brochure.
Interested in supporting our work?
Please contact Jeff Hanson (e: [email protected])
Join us to be part of meaningful change
Irma, like many others, struggles as a result of our current trial-and-error approach to medication. That is why we advocate for a new, comprehensive approach to medication use and prescribing. As a non-profit 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organization, the GTMRx Institute and Foundation relies on funding from our supporting members. We ask that you consider becoming a Supporting Signing Member so we can continue to provide relevant, timely resources to get the medications right!
If you’re interested in supporting the Institute or Foundation at a higher level, please contact us. Your dollars will bring about meaningful change for people like Irma.

Become a Supporting Member Today

AmazonSmile is an easy way for 0.5% of your qualified purchases go to the GTMRx Foundation at no cost to you. And signing up is simple—go to smile.amazon.com and select “Get the Medications Right Foundation” as your charity of choice. If you prefer to directly donate instead, you can do so here.
Adding the foundation on AmazonSmile will help us continue to provide no cost educational webinars, issue briefs, weekly news briefs and promote the need for transformation of our current system of medication use through social media campaigns.
The GTMRx Institute is supported by our Founding Funders, Executive Members and Strategic Partners.
  See past issues of our weekly news brief here
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