Practice Transformation
Forrester: Burnout, turnover will lead to medication errors in 2022
In 2022, clinician turnover and burnout will contribute to “irreversible patient impacts” such as adverse drug reactions due to medication errors, increasing the risk of illness and mortality among patients, according to a report from Forrester research. Fierce Healthcare shared several other predictions from the report. Among them: Health disparities will disproportionately hurt rural Americans, and 60% of virtual visits will relate to mental health. (FierceHealthcare)
Opinion: We must support PCPs
Primary care physicians are dispirited, burned out and leaving the profession, writes family physician Jen Baker-Porazinski, MD. They are suffering, and it’s time to act. “It is well past time that America’s health care system supported primary care doctors in their faithful commitment to their calling. As a nation, we can’t afford to fail in this. If doctors continue to leave medicine, retire early or choose to specialize for better pay and less bureaucracy, then who will be left to care for the health of Americans?” (MedPage Today*)
Meeting the challenges of pediatric vaccines
Medscape Medical News recently asked several pediatric experts to share best practices for meeting the challenges of immunizing children ages 5-11. Many of the questions focus on addressing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation and correctly ordering the right amount of vaccine to avoid spoilage. (Medscape Medical News)
Evidence & Innovation
Meds falling from the sky
In an agreement with Intermountain Healthcare, drone startup Zipline plans to begin delivering medicine and other supplies to homes in Salt Lake City. Its fixed-wing drones have been transporting medical supplies to rural clinics in Rwanda and Ghana since 2016. Zipline said it expects to make its first deliveries in the spring of 2022. Intermountain Healthcare plans to expand to deliver a range of medications and products, including prescriptions, specialty pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter items and to reach hundreds per day within four years of launching the service. (Bloomberg*; announcement)
Conflicts of interest beset psychopharma textbooks
Most medical journals require disclosures of industry payments. Textbooks don’t. In fact, analysis published in Community Mental Health Journal. Found that six of nine widely used psychopharmacology textbooks had at least one editor or contributing author who received personal payments from drug makers. Overall, 11 of 21 editors or authors received more than $11 million between 2013 and 2020. Nearly all the payments were for activities other than research—mostly consulting and promotional speaking. (Community Mental Health Journal; STAT News)
Policy Solutions
Federal HIT strategy focuses on data sharing
Surveys show that patients want access to their health data, and they support efforts to improve how their data is shared among their providers. Fortunately, the new federal health IT five-year strategic plan supports easier data sharing, explains Marsha K. Millonig, BPharm, MBA. “It is an outcomes-driven plan designed to meet the needs of patients, caregivers, health providers, payers, researchers, developers and innovators.” Embedded in her article is a video explaining the 2020-2025 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan. (ComputerTalk for the Pharmacist; strategic plan.)
Note: sources that have an asterisk require login to view the article.
In Case You Missed It!
GTMRx Workgroup Update | Payment and Policy Solutions Workgroup
On November 16th from 2:00-3:00pm EST, Jon Easter, BPharm, Professor of Practice from UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, spoke to the GTMRx Payment and Policy Solutions Workgroup. Easter discussed the interim results of Mel Livet, PhD, and his CMM telepharmacy research project with eight rural primary care clinics in Arkansas and North Carolina: “Implementing a CMM Telepharmacy Service into Primary Care Clinics within Rural and Underserved Areas.”
GTMRx Membership Spotlight | Shawn McFarland, , Pharm.D., FCCP, BCACP
This month, we would like to recognize Shawn McFarland from the Veterans Health Administration. He is the co-lead of the Evidence-Based Resources Subgroup of the Practice and Care Delivery Transformation Workgroup and co-author of two important papers: “Assessing the Impact of Comprehensive Medication Management on Achievement of the Quadruple Aim Review” and “Medication Optimization: Integration of Comprehensive Medication Management into Practice.
The GTMRx Institute is comprised of over 1500 members, many of whom are champions in the world of CMM. They lead our workgroups, serve on our taskforces, publish CMM evidence and research, and guide and support our work. Our members are crucial to the work we do to advocate for a better medication management system. As a thank you, we will be starting a new membership shoutout series to highlight members and their many accomplishments. So on behalf of the Institute and those who benefit from CMM, thank you Shawn!
ICYMI | New Issue Brief: More than a theory: Putting CMM in practice, Annie Ideker, MD, & Mary Roth McClurg, Pharm.D., MHS
We need a better way to manage medications. Medicine is the main way we treat illness, but it’s also the source of avoidable misery.
Health care delivery has long been fragmented, and the growing shortage of primary care clinicians is compounding the problem. There is also a lack of communication. “We have not closed the feedback loop between specialists, primary care providers and pharmacists relating to medication use.” Adding to the problem is the aging population. More people are living longer. They have chronic diseases, and they’re taking more medications. This alone adds so much complexity to one’s ability to manage medications. At the same time, more medicines are available to take, and prescription drug costs are rising. Read on for more.
CMM IN ACTION | The Integration of Telehealth Delivery within a Comprehensive Medication Management Practice
Considering the advantages of telehealth and the future direction of health care, it is no longer a question of if telehealth needs to be implemented into practice; rather, it is a question of how to integrate telehealth and CMM services. Core to a plan is a patient care team that works together to achieve a goal of enhancing patient-centered care and medication optimization. Outlined are essential steps to integrating telehealth services and CMM practice.
In this episode, Dr. Thomas Mattras, the director of operations in the Office of Primary Care at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, joins GTMRx executive director, Katherine H. Capps, to talk about personalized, proactive, patient-centered care; how to encourage physicians to utilize clinical pharmacists in their practice; and shares patient success stories from CMM services.
Listen here.
Advocacy in Action
GTMRx is pleased to announce that we have launched our Advocacy Letters and Policy Documents page on the GTMRx website. Advocacy is a core component of the GTMRx Institute’s mission, and our policy positions are aimed at advancing acceptance and recognition of the importance of creating a systematic, evidence-based approach to medications and their rational use through CMM in practice. To advance our efforts, comments are submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), members of Congress, the Administration, and other public sector payers (OPM) as appropriate.
This toolkit explores the benefits of CMM for individuals and for the employers who pay for benefits. Research published in March 2018 reveals the waste to the system when the wrong drugs are prescribed, drugs are skipped or drugs make people sicker which in turn leads to an estimated 275,689 deaths per year. In financial terms, there’s also a $528 billion price tag attributed to non-optimized medication use. This toolkit was developed with guidance and support from the GTMRx Employer Toolkit Taskforce.
Use this toolkit to work with your:
- Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
- Medical carriers
- Benefit consultants
- Solution providers (PGx, others)
- Employees
Read the report here.
Additional resources:
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.
