Core tenets to implement CMM in primary care: Getting the medications right

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“We believe each of the steps of the process are applicable and all hold true regardless of the setting being acute care or outpatient.”—Mary Roth McClurg, Pharm.D., MHS, professor and executive vice dean-chief academic officer, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

For primary care practices, success in a new era of value-based, personalized care depends on their ability to coordinate with an expanded care team beyond the PCP and office staff. One area of innovation has been to implement team-based care that utilizes the clinical pharmacist as an integral member of the health care team offering comprehensive medication management (CMM) services to optimize medications and improve care.

Putting CMM into practice in primary care means transforming and adapting practice-based operations in a way that ensures the necessary resources and support are available. New research offers much needed guidance on how to implement CMM in the real world of primary care.

This issue brief reviews a framework to support the consistent implementation of CMM across practices and features insights from Mary Roth McClurg, Pharm.D., MHS, professor and executive vice dean-chief academic officer, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy; Todd D. Sorensen, Pharm.D., professor and associate dean, strategic initiatives and innovation, College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota; and, C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, FCCP, senior policy advisor to the executive director and Board of Regents, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and GTMRx Board Member.