Common Questions:
What is Medicine Reviews PLLC?
What is MTM?
Why MTM?
Who may benefit?
What are the benefits?
What is an Adverse Drug Events and how common are they?
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What is Medicine Reviews PLLC?
Medicine Reviews PLLC is a professionally registered business that provides Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services through a licensed pharmacist in the state of Arizona.
What is MTM?
Medication Therapy Management (MTM) is a term used to describe a broad range of health care services provided by licensed pharmacists, the medicine experts on the health care team, in order to optimize drug therapy and improve therapeutic outcomes for patients.
Why MTM?
Numerous studies have indicated that pharmacist-provided medicine therapy reviews and consultations in a variety of settings have resulted in reductions in physician visits, emergency department visits, hospital days and overall healthcare costs. [1-8]
In 2006, the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 required all Medicare Part D prescription drug plans to include Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services.
Nearly all medicinal treatments involve some risk. These risks can include side effects, adverse drug reactions, interactions with other medicinal treatments or complications due to usage with other health conditions.
Many people take several medicines and supplements every day. Sometimes more than one physician or provider is prescribing these medicinal treatments without communicating with the others. Prescriptions may also be obtained from more than one pharmacy, making it difficult for the dispensing pharmacist to obtain the information necessary to ensure efficacy, appropriateness and safety. Pharmacists working in retail environments may also be rushed or unable to spend time reviewing each person’s medicines and supplements in a comprehensive manner.
New medicines enter the market every year. The list of non-prescription and herbal supplements is also large and growing. Some of these new treatment options offer substantial benefits while others don't have good evidence of benefit, have added risks and/or may be unnecessarily expensive when compared to available alternatives.
In light of these kinds of complexities, a pharmacist can help to reduce the risk of an Adverse Drug Event by providing a Targeted or Comprehensive Medicine Review.
MTM services help to ensure that current treatments are effective, appropriate and safe together while assisting customers in evaluating the risk and benefits of their treatments options.
Who may benefit from MTM?
Anyone who uses prescription medicine, herbal or OTC supplements may benefit. Those who are most likely to benefit:
1. take several medicines
2. have several health conditions
3. take medicines that require close monitoring
4. have questions or ongoing problems with their medicines
5. have recently been hospitalized
6. have prescriptions from more than one healthcare provider
7. obtain medicines from more than one pharmacy
8. do not have a personal pharmacist.
What are the benefits?
Benefits of MTM may include:
1. faster achievement of treatment goals
2. increased understanding of conditions, medicines, monitoring parameters and related lifestyle concerns, leading to empowerment and adherence
3. reduction of side-effects and risks that lead to Adverse Drug Events
4. lower total medicine costs.
What is an Adverse Drug Events and how common are they?
An adverse drug event (ADE) is an injury resulting from medical intervention related to a drug. This includes medication errors, adverse drug reactions, allergic reactions, and overdoses.
ADEs can happen anywhere: in hospitals, long-term care settings, and outpatient settings.
In inpatient settings, ADEs:
-Account for an estimated 1 in 3 of all hospital adverse events
-Affect about 2 million hospital stays each year
-Prolong hospital stays by 1.7 to 4.6 days
Each year, ADEs in outpatient settings account for:
-Over 3.5 million physician office visits
-An estimated 1 million emergency department visits
-Approximately 125,000 hospital admissions. [9]
References
1. Garrett D, Bluml B. Patient self-management program for diabetes: first-case year clinical, humanstic, and economic outcomes. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2005; 45:130-7.
2. Cranor CW, Bunting BA, Christensen DB. The Asheville Project: long-term clinical and economic outcomes of a community pharmacy diabetes care program. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2003;43:173-90.
3. Bunting BA, Cranor CW. The Asheville Project: long-term clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes of a community-based medication therapy management program for asthma. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2003;46:133-47.
4. Lipton HL, Bero LA, Bird JA, et al. The impact of clinical pharmacists; consultations on physician’s geriatric drug prescribing. Med Care. 1992;30:646-58.
5. Galt KA. Cost avoidance, acceptance, and outcomes associated with a pharmacotherapy consult clinic in a Veterans Affairs medical center. Pharmacotherapy. 1998;18:1103-11.
6. Borgsdorf LR, Miano JS, Knapp KK. Pharmacist-managed medication review in a managed care system. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1994;51:772-7.
7.Bond CA, Raehl CL, Franke T. Clinical pharmacy services, pharmacy staffing, and the total cost of care in the United States hospitals. Pharmacotherapy. 2000:20:609-21.
8. Christensen D, Trygstad T, Sullivan R, et al. A pharmacy management intervention for optimizing drug therapy for nursing home patients. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2004;2:248-56.
9. Adverse Drug Event. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. https://health.gov/our-work/health-care-quality/adverse-drug-events
