New GTMRx Study Finds 9 out of 10 Employers Feel They Would Benefit from a More Innovative Way to Manage Medication Therapy Problems
Leaders in Comprehensive Medication Management Reveal New Insights from Survey of HR Decision Makers
Tysons Corner, VA — October 20, 2021 — Today, The Get the Medications Right™ (GTMRx) Institute, the catalyst for change to medication management that brings together critical stakeholders across health care, is revealing the results of a new study of more than 300 human resource decision-makers in the U.S. The survey, which polled HR leaders at companies with 200+ employees about the challenges in medication management, found that 87% feel their company would benefit from a more innovative way to manage medication therapy problems. Nearly all (92%) of those polled feel offering a medication expert and/or clinical pharmacist would be helpful in better understanding medications.
“The landscape for managing the drug benefit is more complex than ever before — and for many employers, that begins with moving beyond formulary design to looking at how medications are being managed for the individual patient — is there someone on the care team asking — is this the right medication for this person?” said Katherine H. Capps, co-founder and executive director of The GTMRx Institute. “Our goal as a group is to continue to listen to the challenges of all groups, including employers, so that we can champion medication management reform at the highest level. We are committed to supporting employers in their journey to prioritize the wellbeing of their workforce as well as the health of their company — and we feel strongly that integrating person-centered and team-based comprehensive medication management (CMM) is the best way to get there.”
The GTMRx Institute — and its membership of close to 1,500 health care, business and consumer leaders — advocates for the broad adoption of CMM, a more rational process of care in which physicians and clinical pharmacists work together to ensure that each medication is appropriate for the patient, effective for their medical condition, safe given the patient’s health status and other medications and able to be taken by the patient as intended.
A majority of survey respondents (55%) report they offer medication adherence programs, but only 53% offer chronic condition management programs and programs that steer patients toward medications documented to produce the most efficacious clinical outcomes. Only 46% of employers offer plans that steer patients toward the most financially affordable medication (when there are not significant differences in clinical efficacy between medications). The data reinforces that employers are committed to improving medication management — but they are in need of new and more innovative solutions. Today there is an opportunity for health care stakeholders to address these needs by moving away from the fragmented medication management programs to integrated, comprehensive solutions.
“This survey highlights what we’ve always known is true — innovative program design for health plans and PBMs is critical for moving beyond formulary design and one-off adherence programs to impacting the medical side by delivering more comprehensive and integrated care, and employers are committed to embracing a new model,” said Paul Grundy, MD, president of the GTMRx Institute. “Advanced primary care that integrates comprehensive medication management can help employers provide the type of programs that focus on appropriate, safe and effective use of medications.”
GTMRx is committed to sharing ongoing insights from critical stakeholders in the fight for CMM and is helping employers manage the process by providing tangible tips to help decrease waste and ensure value from dollars spent on the drug benefit. For more on the steps employers can take to make CMM an integral part of the employee health benefit strategy, visit GTMRx’s employer toolkit.
And for the full Employer Survey results, please contact aimee (at) superior-pr.com – and for more insights, visit the GTMRx Employer Toolkit: https://gtmr.org/employer-toolkit-2/.
About the Get the Medications Right™ Institute
The GTMRx Institute is a catalyst for change that brings critical stakeholders together, bound by the urgent need to get the medications right. We are physicians, pharmacists, nurses, patients, health IT innovators, drug and diagnostics companies, consumer groups, employers, payers—aligned to save lives and save money through comprehensive medication management. By showcasing evidence and innovation, we motivate practice transformation and push payment and policy reform. Together, we ACT to champion appropriate, effective, safe and precise use of medication and gene therapies. Learn more at gtmr.org.
About the Survey
Zogby Analytics was commissioned by GTMRx to conduct an online survey of 305 HR decision-makers in the U.S. who worked at companies with 200+ employees. Using internal and trusted interactive partner resources, thousands of adults were randomly invited to participate in this interactive survey. Based on a confidence interval of 95%, the margin of error 305 is +/- 5.6 percentage points. This means that all other things being equal, if the identical survey were repeated, its confidence intervals would contain the true value of parameters 95 times out of 100.
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Media Contact:
Aimee Eichelberger
Aimee (at) superior (dot) com
312.952.1528
