Practice Transformation
CMMI signals big changes
The CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) is signaling it plans to restructure payment models to crack down on inappropriate coding, shift the focus of value-based programs to reduce patient inequities and cut down on initiatives that only serve to empower dominant providers with large market shares, Modern Healthcare reports. “Providers, once they’re motivated by a risk budget or other incentive, they can get very creative with coding,” says Dr. Mai Pham, former head of CMMI. MGMA’s Anders Gilberg says the shift represents a sharp departure in a previous “risk over everything else” approach. (Modern Healthcare*)
Evidence & Innovation
Paper explores CMM’s role in transitions
Comprehensive medication management can be used to cultivate best practices in care transitions, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. Roughly 20% of patients experience a post-discharge adverse event in the 30 days after hospital discharge, and most are preventable or ameliorable. Numerous transitional care interventions have been developed and implemented by clinical pharmacists to reduce post-discharge adverse drug events and readmissions, but health care organizations are unsure which interventions provide the greatest value. (Journal of the American Pharmacists Association)
Low health care system literacy growing, affects vax rate
Low health care system literacy has increased from 52% in 2017 to 61% in 2021, according to a new report from Accenture. “When asked about the likelihood of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, people with the highest level of healthcare system literacy were 25% more likely to be very willing to get it than people with low system literacy,” the report reads. “This trend creates the potential for a ‘perfect storm’ of unvaccinated people who are more vulnerable to the virus.” Those with low health care system literacy are also more likely to use the ED more often. (Modern Healthcare*; report)
Connecting health care, social services
DirectTrust is creating a body to establish standards for exchanging social determinates data between health care organizations and human services providers. “Communications with and between human services providers should be available in existing clinical systems’ EHRs using interoperable standards that ensure security, protect privacy, enhance usability, and are reliable, scalable, and affordable. And perhaps most importantly, they should be acceptable to human services providers with a widely varying level of systems and users’ competencies,” Scott Stuewe, DirectTrust President and CEO, said in a prepared statement. (news release; Modern Healthcare*)
Policy Solutions
Teamwork key to antibiotic stewardship
An AHRQ national antibiotic stewardship program at ambulatory care centers was associated with reduced antibiotic prescribing during the pandemic, MedPage Today reports. There were nine fewer antibiotic prescriptions for every 100 visits by the end of the intervention, as well as 15 fewer prescriptions for every 100 acute respiratory infection-related visits, according to investigators. “A key part of our program was to enable practices to talk among themselves — everybody in the practice, the front office staff, clinicians, rooming staff — about antibiotic prescribing,” co-investigator Jeffrey Linder, MD, MPH, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said at a briefing. (Medpage Today)
How does FDA assess risks and benefits?
The FDA has issued a draft guidance to shed light on how it assesses the benefits and risks of new drugs in deciding whether to approve them. (Regulatory Focus; guidance)
WaPost: The nation’s decentralized, underfunded reporting system hampers efforts to combat the coronavirus
Among the things we’ve learned from the pandemic is this: The data is a mess. “How many people have been infected at this point? No one knows for sure, in part because of insufficient testing and incomplete reporting. How many fully vaccinated people have had breakthrough infections?” The Washington Post answers its own questions: We don’t know because the CDC has decided to track only a fraction of them. And that leads to the current challenge: When do the fully vaccinated need booster shots? American officials trying to answer that have had to rely heavily on data from abroad. (The Washington Post)
In Case You Missed It!
GTMRx in the Media
The GTMRx Institute has had several publication features be released recently, including:
- Improving Patient Outcomes Through the Integration of Pharmacogenomic Testing into Comprehensive Medication Management Care Models:The article was recently published on behalf of the GTMRx Institute” in the Journal of Precision Medicine, the world’s only journal dedicated to the precision medicine ecosystem. From early research, all the way to the clinic, the journal brings readers insights from some of the world’s renowned thought-leaders.
- Medication Optimization: Integration of Comprehensive Medication Management into Practice:The article was recently published on behalf of the GTMRx Institute” in American Health & Drug Benefits, a publication for payers, purchasers, policymakers, and other healthcare stakeholders.
- Comprehensive medication management research gap areas: A?call to action for clinical pharmacy researchers: The article, written by GTMRx workgroup members from the Evidence-Based Resources Subgroup of the Practice and Care Delivery Transformation Workgroup, was published in the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. It discusses existing gap areas and recommendations based off a review of current CMM-literature on implementation and impact. Authors include Heather L. Ourth, Pharm.D., BCPS, BCGP,;Shawn McFarland Pharm.D., FCCP, BCACP; and Ashley P. Yost Pharm.D., BCPS, BCCCP—all the from the VA.
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.
- Accelerated approval of vaccines
- Public education
- Payment reform
- Improved vaccine access for primary care practices
- More effective immunization information systems (IIS)
- No cost-sharing for certain patients
- Enhanced diversity, inclusion, and equity
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