Health Partners of Western Ohio, https://hpwohio.org (Health Partners) a FQHC, offers comprehensive, Pharmacist-led Medication Therapy (MTM) and Disease Management (DM) services to at-risk patients as part of an integrated multidisciplinary holistic approach to patient care.
Clinical pharmacists work side by side with medical, dental, behavioral health, and chiropractic service providers to identify and address medication-related issues at each key step in the care process. Primary Care Physicians. (PCP) working alone do not always have adequate time or knowledge to focus on the complex medication management needs of patients with chronic conditions.
Managing chronic conditions generally requires following complex regimens that involve multiple drugs, and as a result, up to half of patients with chronic conditions do not take their medications as recommended. Low adherence means that many patients are not adequately controlling their chronic conditions.
Also, physicians working with low income, at-risk patients in FQHCs face significant barriers. Although clinical pharmacists can be valuable members of an integrated, multidisciplinary care team, they are often not available to play this role in FQHCs, PCP offices, and at other primary care settings.
Evidence suggests that having clinical pharmacists manage medications and provide DM support as part of an integrated, multidisciplinary care team when using an approach called MTM, can improve patient care and in some cases, lower costs.
Health Partners of Western Ohio now offers comprehensive pharmacist-led MTM and DM services to at-risk patients as part of an integrated, multidisciplinary, holistic approach to patient care. All Health Partner sites and providers use the same EHR system to document findings and communicate relevant information across the care team.
The system gives every team member access to all parts of a patient’s record and the ability to see every care intervention. It also allows the clinical pharmacist to know on a real time basis which patients need triage, MTM, or DTM visits, and provides all the information needed to perform virtual and phone based consultations.
Go to https://innovations.ahrq.gov/profiles/integrated-patient-care-and-pharmacisit-led-medication-therapy-improve-chronic-disease to read the AHRQ Study Integrated Patient Care and Pharmacist-Led Medication Therapy Improve Chronic Disease Management for At-Risk, Underserved Patients