Call to action for a more rational, coordinated, team-based, systematic approach to medication use unites clinicians, advocates, diagnostics, health and tech industries
WASHINGTON, D.C., – March 23, 2020 – The multi-stakeholder Get the Medications Right Institute (GTMRx) elected Paul Grundy, MD, primary care thought leader and one of the Institute’s founding board members, to lead the organization as interim president. Grundy assumes leadership from co-founder Terry McInnis, MD, MPH, outgoing president of the Institute.
“Terry’s vision and passion helped launch the GTMRx Institute just one year ago and played a major role in raising awareness of the human and financial cost of non-optimized medication use,” Grundy said. “Only one year after we publicly put a stake in the ground on this issue, and with over 800 members, we have far surpassed our goals to gain a broad-based coalition of support and to champion a solution. I’m honored to be able to build on the blueprint we’ve established together.”
Grundy will be joined in leadership by other board members:
- Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., chief executive officer, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists;
- Katherine H. Capps, Institute co-founder and executive director, president of Health2 Resources (Secretary);
- Steve Goldberg, MD, vice president medical affairs, population health and chief health officer, health & wellness, Quest Diagnostics;
- Brigadier General (ret.) Allison Hickey, founder, All in Solutions, former undersecretary of the Veterans Benefits Administration (Member-at-Large);
- Ira Klein, MD, senior director of health care quality strategy, Strategic Customer Group, J&J Health Care Services; and
- C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., senior policy advisor, American College of Clinical Pharmacy (Treasurer)
Grundy, known as the “godfather” of the patient-centered medical home movement, has spent four decades focused on population health and the value of a healing relationship of trust established with primary care providers. He is chief transformation officer at Innovaccer and previously served as IBM’s chief medical officer and global director, Healthcare Transformation. He serves as adjunct professor at the University of California San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine and the University of Utah Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.
“We are quickly moving away from paying for an episode of care to paying for results,” he said. “Since medications are the most common medical intervention, and inadequate therapy accounts for more than half of treatment failures, it’s essential that we move to patient-centered, team-based models that recognize appropriately skilled clinical pharmacists as medication experts working in collaborative practice with physicians.”
The Institute recognizes that to target therapies and ensure appropriate use of medications, systems and practices must leverage health information technology for team-based access to clinical information at the point of care and ensure access to companion and complementary diagnostics.
To learn more about the GTMRx Institute or to become an executive member, contact us.
