Practice Transformation
Can Oracle create a national EHR database?
Just after closing the deal to acquire Cerner, Oracle—or more specifically, board chair and chief technology officer Larry Ellison–said the company would create a national health records database. “We’re building a system where all American citizens’ health records not only exist at the hospital level, but they also are in a unified national health records database.” Health IT experts have been expressing doubts, however, pointing out that for decades, public and private entities make it easier for health records held at different institutions to communicate with each other. (The Verge)
Literally and figuratively valuing clinician input into EHR
Some clinicians are collaborating with EHR companies to improve functionality and create upgrades that make the platforms more responsive to clinical needs, HealthLeaders reports. The EHR industry has not been sensitive to the clinician’s needs, says Joshua Reed, DO, medical director of case management and utilization review, Hendrick Health. EHRs highlight the “brokenness of medicine.” Hendrick clinicians are among those working on these updates. In related news: Almost half of clinicians responding to a KLAS survey said that their EMR system loads too slowly, and about a quarter said the system is not reliably available. (HealthLeaders; KLAS report)
Equip pharmacists with sophisticated decision-support tools
As pharmacists’ roles expand, it becomes even more critical for pharmacists to be armed with advanced technology support tools for drug analysis, writes Mindy Smith, BSPharm, RPh, MHA, CMWA. These tools must do more than the traditional one-to-one drug analysis; they must perform simultaneous, multi-drug analysis. Used wisely, they improve outcomes and control costs. “Multi-drug analysis is rooted in pharmacy science, including pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, which can complement pharmacists’ expertise and help them identify potential multi-drug interactions, with a better understanding of actionable insights to avoid these interactions.” (Pharmacy Times)
Evidence & Innovation
Apple adds medication tracking to Health app
Apple announced plans to add a medication tracking service through its native Health app. The app includes medication reminders and scheduling, the ability to scan drugs or manually add them into the app. In the US, it also notifies people on critical drug interactions. Apple is partnering with Elsevier to identify and categorize the severity of potential interactions. “Given Apple’s scale, there is a huge opportunity to research how patient-facing drug alerts can change behavior and practice,” Dr. William Gordon, director of solution and experience, digital care transformation at Mass General Brigham, tells Modern Healthcare. (Modern Healthcare)
Policy Solutions
Tsai tapped for lead COVID response
The White House has tapped Thomas Tsai, MD, MPH, of Harvard to serve as senior policy advisor for the COVID-19 response. He will, among other tasks, oversee the continued expansion of the Test to Treat initiative. Editor’s note: Last year, GTMRx published “Report and Recommendations of the GTMRx National Task Force: Building Vaccine Confidence in the Health Neighborhood” to help guide the COVID-19 response. (Brigham Surgery News)
Colorado to hospitals: No transparency? Then no debt collections
If hospitals in Colorado don’t follow transparency rules, they will be banned from pursuing debt collections against patients, thanks to legislation that takes effect in August. Noncompliant hospitals can still bill patients, but if they pursue collection actions, they must refund any debt paid by the patient, in addition to all legal fees. The bipartisan bill passed received only one “no” vote in the House and unanimous approval in the Senate, Colorado Politics reports. (Colorado Politics)
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 June 9, Gerri Burruel, Senior Advisor, Purchaser Innovation and Engagement, Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), presented to the GTMRx Employer Advisory Group about PBGH’s advanced primary care strategies, particularly their approach to chronic care management and care coordination.
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. (HCPLAN; GTMRx recommendations)
Thursday: GTMRx sponsors interactive panel at national APG event
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.
GTMRx Webinar: Changing How We Pay May 24, 2022
As a value-based construct, it is critical for the value of comprehensive medication management (CMM) to be quantified—based on what is important to patients and defined through clinical, patient experience and cost outcomes categories.
This 30 min webinar covered how the move to value-based payment offers opportunity and sustainability of CMM services. It featured conversation with experts in the field and GTMRx leadership on strategic recommendations for implementing CMM into the care team with sustainable payment and practice structures.
Watch here.
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.
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.
