Tomorrow’s Pharmacist Today

“The pharmacist of tomorrow is going to be unrecognizable to most of us. He might not be a vending machine, but he’s not going to be that quiet old white-haired guy up behind the counter, either.”  –  Jim Ammen

Part of the team… 

Harnessing the power of a pharmacist’s knowledge and expertise to control healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes has been a difficult process. Those promoting the transformation of the role of the pharmacist from the traditional dispenser of medications to a dispenser of information have always been confronted with the question of “who will pay for these services”. Fortunately, since the implementation of Medicare-D, the value of pharmacists providing cognitive services, including medication therapy management MTM services, has become more widely recognized.

But even with this increased recognition, the profession of pharmacy is still facing a sort of ‘identity crisis’. “Pharmacists see themselves as having nine different identities” according to a recent @ChemistDruggist article, thus suggesting they play a ‘flexible role’ in healthcare but remain uncertain of the future.

It’s been a long time coming…

The decade long push for recognizing pharmacists as healthcare providers is finally seeing results. Recent legislation in California became law when Governor Jerry Brown signed the pharmacist provider status bill (SB 493) recognizing pharmacists as healthcare providers. I’m sure other states will be looking at similar legislation in the near future. But will the new legal recognition as providers get pharmacists a seat at the healthcare team table?

“Pharmacists are working more closely with patients and healthcare colleagues in hospitals, outreach teams, patients’ homes, residential care, hospices, and general practice” reports the Royal Pharmaceutical Society @rpharms in ‘Now or Never: Shaping Pharmacy for the Future’. In the U.S. the team based care approach continues to get a foothold with pharmacists participating in patient centered medical home models, accountable care organizations and in collaborative arrangements with other healthcare providers. But we have a long road ahead until we’ll actually see a majority of pharmacists participating as a member of the healthcare team on this level.

It all makes sense…

There are areas where it’s been shown pharmacists can contribute as a first string member of the healthcare plan team. Take medication non-adherence for example. The cost of non-adherence and compliance to prescribed medication therapy has been reported to be well over $290 billion annually in the United States. This is often a direct reflection of the lack of a patient’s understanding of their particular disease state and how their medication therapy can control or improve their particular condition. This is a great example where having a pharmacist on the care plan team makes a great deal of sense, especially at any point of transitional care.

A major component of the patient care plan consists of properly treating the patient’s disease state with appropriate drug therapy. When there is a breakdown, pause or discontinuation of medication therapy by a patient, i.e. lack of medication adherence or compliance, one can almost always predict a breakdown in overall patient care. This can result in increased hospital re-admissions, lack of disease control, increased complications and of course, increased healthcare costs.

Including a pharmacist in the patient care plan process can improve patient outcomes, especially during transitional care. About 1 in 5 Medicare patients who leave the hospital are readmitted withing 30 days. “We know that people who have medication discrepancies, or are not adhering to what the health care team thought they were adhering to, have at least double the risk of becoming a readmission” reports Jane Brock, MD, of the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care. 

Pharmacists should be given the role of patient care managers and  should be performing services such as medication reconciliation, checking for potential adverse drug reactions, performing patient education and other patient oriented services such such as MTM whenever there is a transition in medical care. They should also be directly involved with follow-up services to ensure adherence and compliance to drug therapy and report this back to the patient care plan team. Compliance to drug therapy is critical in chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension or heart disease and community pharmacists are in an ideal position to fulfill this role. 

Moving forward…

I’ve written before on the topic of pharmacists “being the healthcare provider”. As PROVIDERS of services (including MTM services) and EDUCATORS to help patients understand their medications and medical conditions, pharmacists will be recognized as a resource to ensure continuity through the transitions of healthcare, thus changing patient’s lives, improving outcomes and saving healthcare dollars.

So again I say “Be the Provider” and take an active roll as part of the patient care planning team.

 

MORS, SMORS and Opening Doors for Pharmacists

MORS and SMORS — more than a sweet treat

I’m going out on a limb here and betting many of you have not heard of MORS and SMORS. For your information, they may be one of the best solutions around to improve medication adherence, compliance and patient safety.

Medication Organizer Reminder Systems MORS and Secure Medication Organizer Reminder Systems SMORS are a group of products designed to organize patient medications and provide audible and/or visual alerts to remind patients to take their medication on time, every time.

My interest in MORS and SMORS, (which always reminds me of a good time around a campfire), began nearly three years ago when I first started researching medication adherence and compliance.

Although the causes and proposed solutions to the medication adherence/compliance problem vary widely and are often debated, it seems one thing can be agreed upon by all… it is a very costly healthcare problem in the U.S. today. The cost of non-adherence was estimated to be $290 billion annually by the New England Healthcare Institute NEHI in 2009. It’s now estimated by some to be in the neighborhood of $330 billion or more annually.

When you add in the additional costs of adverse drug reactions, medication misuse, lack of control of diseases like hypertension, diabetes, etc., additional physician, hospital and emergency department visits, this figure approaches nearly a half trillion dollars annually.  And this does not even take into consideration the loss of life from inappropriate medication use estimated to be over 125,000 deaths annually.

MORS and SMORS can help patients improve their medication compliance which in turn will improve control of their particular disease and reduce healthcare costs in the long run.

Opening doors for pharmacists —

I recently presented information on April 17th, 2013, to the Oregon Board of Pharmacy on the topic of medication adherence and compliance, the costs associated with the problem and the patient safety issues that arise when patients don’t take medications as prescribed. Pharmacists need to understand and utilize the available technology, including MORS and SMORS, to improve patient outcomes and help reduce healthcare costs.

But at this time the Oregon BOP does not allow pharmacists to dispense, fill or set up medications for use in medication organizer reminder systems. Pharmacy rules for medication labeling and packaging currently prevent pharmacists from doing so as they are not compliant with Board rules and guidelines. Several other states, including neighboring Washington State, have moved forward and adopted rules to allow pharmacists to utilize this technology to improve patient care and safety.

The Board responded favorably to my request by proposing additions to the customized patient medication packaging rule (Oregon 855-041-1140) to provide a waiver for approved medication organizer reminders systems not meeting regular labeling and packaging guidelines. After the recent rulemaking hearing, the Board will now move forward and vote on the new rule and, hopefully, implement this change in Oregon pharmacy law at their August 2013 meeting.

Patient safety is the issue —

The proposed rule change is based on improving patient safety as well as improving medication adherence. Allowing pharmacists to be involved with filling or dispensing medications for use in medication organizer reminder systems will have a positive impact on medication adherence, compliance and medication safety. Do you see the opportunity for pharmacists here?

The real solution —

The impact of the proposed rule changes are not based solely on the use of medication organizer reminder systems. The real solution to the adherence dilemma is getting pharmacists involved with their patients.

A recent report published by the National Community Pharmacy Association NCPA identified what I believe to be the biggest factor for combating the medication adherence problem:

• The biggest predictor of medication adherence was patients’ personal connection (or lack thereof) with a pharmacist or pharmacy staff. Patients of independent community pharmacies reported the highest level of personal connection (89 percent agreeing that pharmacist or staff “knows you pretty well”), followed by large chains (67 percent) and mail order (36 percent).

“This predicting factor was followed in order of importance by: affordability of medications; continuity in health care usage; how important patients feel it is to take their medication as prescribed; how well informed they feel about their health; and medication side effects.”

Enter here… The Door is OPEN —

The door is now open for pharmacists to seize this opportunity to get involved with medication organizer reminder systems and assist their patients who may be struggling with medication adherence problems.

It’s the perfect addition to patient counseling or medication therapy management MTM to improve patient medication compliance and patient safety.

If your state Board of Pharmacy rules need to be changed for you to get involved, you need to BE THE CHANGE. Address the topic with your state Board and urge them to move the profession of pharmacy forward.

Feel free to contact me for assistance and advice on how to move forward with this in your state.

• Either leave a comment on this blog page
• Follow me and direct message me on Twitter @drwalker_rph
• email me directly at drwalkerrph@gmail.com

 

No Wooden Clubs or 2 by 4’s Please…

For the most part people go to their physician or healthcare provider to get help or treatment for a medical problem. But some people are so stubborn they’ll wait until the last minute, suffering with an ache, pain or other uncontrolled symptom of disease or condition until they have no other recourse but make an appointment to see their doctor. It’s often only when they get to this virtual point of no return are they willing to give in, seek advice and visit their ‘healer’ of choice.

Similarly, due to stubborness, the desire to follow doctor’s orders seems to disappear for many patients as soon as the prescribed treatment or therapy relieves the pain or symptoms they were suffering from. This happens all too often with antibiotic therapy where patients stop taking their medication when symptoms subside, terminating the therapy before the full course of treatment has ended. It’s also evident when a patient is prescribed a maintenance medication to control a disease or chronic condition such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, COPD or diabetes, often leading to uncontrolled symptoms, progression of disease state or even death.

What can we do to increase patient adherence and compliance with their prescribed medication regimen?

Lack of medication adherence… America’s other drug problem-

medication compliance cards, not clubs…

Adherence and compliance to medication therapy or prescription drug regimen seems to be an ever looming problem, adding over $300 billion in healthcare expense annually in the U.S. alone. Recent statistics posted by Express Scripts indicate 69% of non-adherence to drug therapy is behavioral in nature resulting from forgetfulness or procrastination. So what’s it going to take to get people to take their medications?

No Wooden Clubs or 2 by 4’s –

Pharmacists are continually frustrated with this problem. I’m sure physicians and other prescribers are as well. Because, for the most part, we can’t “make” a patient take their medication if they don’t want to. Even when we spend the extra time to educate patients about their disease state and prescribed medications we can’t compel anybody to be compliant if they’re unwilling to do so.

$331 billion is at stake-

Improving medication adherence and ensuring timely medication use are the greatest opportunites to cutting the nearly one-half trillion dollars of avoidable healthcare costs worldwide. Any measures taken to reduce this expense and advance the responsible use of medicines  will lead to improved health outcomes as well.

What we can do, and should do, is to continue to educate, offer encouragement and provide medication reminder devices and tools to help patients who need to improve their medication compliance.

There are many tools available ranging from simple pill boxes and reminder caps on pill bottles to smart phone apps and automated pill dispensers. Some of the most unique, innovative and easy to use reminders devices are the medication compliance cards from Med Time Compliance. These devices can be designed for specific needs ranging from their iRemindHer once a day oral contraceptive compliance card and multiple daily dosing reminder cards to unique products designed for complex dosing regimens such as growth hormone injections or chemotherapy medication regimens with variable dosing schedules.

A simple thing-

As healthcare providers we should all adopt the slogan, “Remember the Reminders” to help improve medication adherence and compliance. Adding reminders to the patient education process will undoubtedly become one of the simplest, least expensive ways to improve medication adherence and compliance in the future.

 

You May have a Drug Adherence Problem and not Know It!

We have a drug adherence problem in the United States contributing well over $300 billion each year toward the escalation of unnecessary medical expenditures.

And you may be part of the problem!  

“Three out of four Americans don’t take their medication as prescribed while one-third doesn’t even pick up their medication,” says Rebecca Burkholder, vice president of Health Policy at the National Consumers League.

Not taking your medications correctly can contribute to long term health problems, especially for patients who have chronic disease such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, COPD or heart disease.

So how do you know if you’re “part of the problem”?

Do you ever-

• forget to take your medication on time, every time?
• have trouble staying “on track” with your medication schedule?
• skip doses or cut doses in half to save money?
• forget to refill your prescriptions on time?
• take the wrong medication?
• fail to fill new prescriptions your doctor gives you?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions you are not being fully compliant with your prescription drug therapy.  Your failure, or non-compliance to taking your medications correctly can lead to:

• additional physician office visits
• progression of disease state
• emergency room visits
• hospital admissions

As a matter of fact –
If you’re not taking your medication correctly your medical condition will most likely worsen. It will result in increased inconvenience for you, increased healthcare costs and increased chance for a shortened lifespan or premature death.

Steps you can take –

1. talk to your pharmacist about your medications in depth so you understand what they do and when to take them.
2. consult with your pharmacist and healthcare provider if you have concerns about side effects from your medications.
3. find out if there are ways to save money on your medication expenses if you have trouble affording them.
4. fill your prescriptions in a timely manner, both new prescriptions and refills
5. Utilize medication management and reminder tools to help you remember to take your medications each and every day.

Pharmacists are considered THE most accessible of any healthcare providers in the U.S. Use the availability of their counsel and expertise to your advantage to improve your health.

 

Dag-nabbit People – Take Your Medicine!

Dag-nabbit! 

Walter Brennan was a familiar character in many of the western movies and television shows, including “The Real McCoys”, we watched growing up as a kids in my parent’s home. I always remember when he was angry or just really emphatic he used the word dag-nabbit often in these shows.

I was recently reminded that Walter Brennan played the role of Murph, a pharmacist, in the 1947 movie “Driftwood”. I don’t remember if he used the word “dag-nabbit” in Driftwood or not. But I can imagine him as a pharmacist using it when frustrated with patients who don’t take their medication as prescribed.

Physicians and pharmacists dedicate their lives to helping patients manage their various disease states with the help of prescription drugs. Whether it is hypertension, diabetes, COPD, Parkinson’s or any other chronic disease a patient may have… if patients don’t take their medication as prescribed their disease will progress and they may find themselves in the emergency room at the local hospital.

$300 billion dollar a year problem: 

And dag-nabbit, we’ve got a medication adherence problem in the U.S. that increased healthcare costs by over $300 billion last year! Failure to take medications correctly decreases the quality of life for these individuals and it’s estimated that failure to take prescription medications as prescribed results in over 125,000 deaths each year.  So why don’t people take their medications as prescribed?

barriers to medication adherence

There are a number of reasons people don’t take their medications correctly. Communication barriers, socio-economical barriers and motivational barriers all contribute to the medication non-adherence problem.

Forgetfulness, poor understanding of disease or illness, concerns about medication costs are all contributing factors to the non-compliance issue. So how do we work towards solving the medication adherence problem?

Solving the medication adherence problem: 

Healthcare professionals need to step up efforts to engage and educate patients to the importance of taking medication correctly. Physicians, nurses and pharmacists should increase efforts to enhance patient’s understanding of their disease and how they will benefit from taking their prescription medications appropriately. Pharmacist medication therapy management MTM has also been shown to increase adherence resulting in improved patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

There are a number of organizations like Script Your Future that provide information and tools to improve medication compliance. Those who care for the elderly can also assist patients with reminders to take their medications as prescribed.

Technology can help with medication reminders and tools that improve medication adherence. Text messaging and reminders via phone are available to give personal medication reminders. There are many ‘pill reminder’ devices and systems available that have audible alarms or visual cues to remind patients it’s time to take their medication.

The LCD Compliance Card is the most accepted and used compliance device in the world. More than 10 million units have been distributed globally in several health care fields including both physician and veterinary practices.

The functions of the Compliance Card are all pre-programmed. There are no user settings. Users start the device at the desired time of day by depressing one button. There are variations of the Compliance Card that adapt to multiple regimens including daily, twice a day, or once a week.

So dag-nabbit – there really shouldn’t be any excuses not to take your medicines as prescribed!

 

Pharmacists as Patient Care Managers: A New Level of Medication Therapy Management?

It’s a fact:  People don’t take their medicine correctly.  Poor adherence or lack of compliance to prescription medication therapy costs the U.S. billions of dollars each year!

You may or may not be aware that medication adherence and compliance is a hot topic today. Over $290 billion dollars is spent annually as a result of poor medication adherence.

Poor medication therapy adherence costs over $290 billion each year.

And when you start to look at the costs of adverse drug events, inappropriate or ineffective therapy, you’re looking at somewhere between 1/2 to 1 trillion dollars spent in the U.S. annually over and above the cost of the drugs prescribed to treat U.S. patients.

Pharmacists are able to help control many of these costs through comprehensive medication reviews and medication therapy management MTM.

As we become more conscious of healthcare costs we are seeing how pharmacist MTM services will help control costs within the accountable care organization ACO or continuity of care organization CCO settings that are evolving. Patient centered medical home models have shown that the involvement of a pharmacist, in direct patient care, will help reduce these costs. Utilizing the knowledge base of pharmacists and enlisting them as ‘patient care managers’ would directly improve patient care and save healthcare dollars.

Medication therapy management MTM has been available and covered under Medicare Part D since 2006. Patients who qualify, based on the number of medications prescribed and the number of patient disease states, can receive comprehensive medication reviews at no cost, covered by Medicare Part D.

But pharmacist MTM is also evolving from providing MTM services to only Medicare Part D patients. Many pharmacists are moving forward providing MTM services to patients not covered under Medicare D, including patients who are not covered for MTM services, or those who would be considered private pay patients.

Although patients may not meet the criteria of 3rd party payers for MTM services (# disease states, # meds taken, etc.), these patients can benefit from comprehensive medication reviews. A pharmacist medication review and coaching for patients who are diabetic, hypertensive, COPD, etc., will improve adherence, often saving healthcare expenses and improving patient lives through better medication therapy.

There is a great deal of pharmacist interest in providing independent MTM consultations to these patients who do not fall under the Medicare D category. This is the area of focus Spectrum Health MTM Group is working on to provide comprehensive medication reviews on a much broader scope through a network of individual, independent pharmacist MTM consultants.

Spectrum Health MTM Group is pushing the concept of  pharmacists as patient care managers and helping MTM pharmacists to work with patients and healthcare providers to improve patient lives, improve adherence to medication therapy and reduce healthcare costs.

For more information visit www.ezMTMbiz.com 

 

The Pharmacists of Tomorrow

“The pharmacist of tomorrow is going to be unrecognizable to most of us. He might not be a vending machine, but he’s not going to be that quiet old white-haired guy up behind the counter, either.”  —  Jim Ammen as quoted on QuoteSea.

W.C. Fields in The Pharmacist, 1933

The profession of pharmacy is rapidly changing in the 21st century. Gone are the days past when there was a pharmacy on nearly every corner in town and the Rexall brand was known in every household. Independent druggists were first line caregivers in the community, often prescribing medications for illness and ailments when patients could not see a physician. Community pharmacists were seen as a pillar of society… independent, highly visible in the community and usually considered well off financially.

Hospital pharmacies, on the other hand, were usually found in the basement, with an existence almost unknown to physicians, nurses and patients alike. The hospital pharmacy existed, in the mind of many people, solely to perform the dispensing and delivery of prescription medications as ordered by the physician. And likewise, the hospital pharmacist often had an image to match. Their salaries even lagged behind those pharmacists in a community setting until fairly recently. But hospital pharmacist stepped up to the challenge.

Times are a changin’…

Hospital pharmacists began performing many clinical functions supporting the delivery of care in addition to the delivery of drugs. An increasing level in the sophistication and number of pharmaceuticals required an increasing level of knowledge and sophistication on the part of pharmacists as well. While the community pharmacist was still counting by fives and ‘lickin and stickin’ labels, hospital pharmacists were taking on greater roles in drug delivery and patient centric clinical functions. Adding to that the increasing numbers of chemotherapeutic agents, radiopharmaceuticals, biopharmaceuticals, nuclear pharmacy and technological advances in drug delivery have made hospital pharmacy a specialty at the very least.

We now see community pharmacists suffering from numerous attacks on their livelihood. Increasing numbers of third party payers, decreasing margins and higher stress and demand in the prescription filling process have fueled the frustration of many pharmacists:

“The word out in the pharmacy community is that the small pharmacist was sold down the river by the drug companies and the PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers)” — Doug Larson

“I’ve been a pharmacist for 40 years now, and Monday morning I didn’t want to come to work because I knew what would await me. Basically, we’ve got a travesty on our hands” — Charles Pace

“It’s every independent pharmacist’s worst nightmare. There isn’t one component that’s working. It’s so extensive that it’s hard to imagine it’s going to get fixed — Todd Brown   (all quoted from QuoteSea/pharmacists)

These and many other unrepeatable quotes and comments are being heard daily from pharmacists who are overworked and under appreciated, being pushed along towards burnout and increasingly locked into the ‘golden handcuffs’ of the chain pharmacy bullies of the industry. Is it any wonder community pharmacists are complaining?

“I’ve tried to maintain an uneasy balance between your friendly unassuming neighborhood pharmacist and Anthony Perkins in ‘Psycho‘ – Roger Bart, (check the date) September 29, 1962!!

Anthony Perkins as 'Norman Bates' - 'Psycho' 1960

Many of the remaining independents are on the verge of financial ruin. Those who work in chain drugstore settings are frustrated, confused and tired of the ongoing abuse they receive. It’s amazing that we don’t have more pharmacists going postal or psycho as a result of the stressful conditions they work in.”

What will it take to bring about the necessary change in the profession? Payment for cognitive services or medication therapy management services is a step in the right direction. Recognition as healthcare providers by healthcare, governmental and third party payers would also help change this environment. But what will be the driving force to secure the future of community pharmacy?

You Are!

We, who want to be the pharmacists of tomorrow, are going to have to step up and take the lead toward securing the profession. We can’t count on professional associations and lobbyists to do it for us. Many of our professional associations are being managed by non-pharmacists (and we complain about non-pharmacists in corporate managerial positions). New pharmacists coming into the ranks must be prepared to recognize the opportunities that exist. And like the rest of us, they also need to stand up for what is morally right for the profession. We all need to take a lead on providing care that is patient oriented and always look out for the patient’s interests, even when it might be contrary to the ‘business as usual’ profit driven policies of corporate pharmacy. Doing so will win their confidence and secure their advocacy for the services you provide them. If your patients are being served appropriately and their needs taken care of you can be sure their voice of support will be heard.

Step up and do the ‘next right thing’ when it comes to taking care of your patients. Look forward to and expect the changes to take place, but only after you have done your part. Our future will be what we make it to be. Each of you in the profession of pharmacy has an obligation to stand for what you believe. After all, if you don’t, who will?

 

Why It’s Called Healthcare… Not Patientcare

God heals, and the Doctor takes the Fees…
Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanack , 1736. 

Maybe old Ben Franklin even recognized the beginning of a trend in healthcare. It’s not the fault of the doctors per se but healthcare is not always focused on patient care, it’s business… big business. Non-profit hospitals used to be dedicated to giving appropriate healthcare to all, even those who could not pay. Now we see non-profit hospitals, formerly operated by faith based organizations, being turned into for profit corporate systems providing care to a community based on direction from share holders and management teams.

In Ben’s day the physician, more times than not, received payment in kind  from his patients.  A basket of eggs or sack of potatoes from the garden for minor services. Possibly the chicken itself; a goat, pig or cow for more major transactions. If the patient couldn’t pay, or pay in kind, they usually provided service later on to repay the ‘debt’ of receiving treatment and to express their gratitude. I’m sure that most patients were more than happy to repay for appropriate health care services in that day and age, especially when they survived and got better.

Life was probably much easier before health insurance:

Although the concept of being protected through health care insurance is a great idea it’s contributed to a big business mentality. Third party payers and corporate insurance companies are in it to cut costs and make money, or at least not lose money.

Yes, healthcare is big business. We don’t see the family doctor working out of his home doing house calls much any more. They’re usually affiliated with a hospital or group practice of multiple physicians. We don’t see many ‘mom and pop’ pharmacies anymore either. We now have the Walgreens, CVSs, Walmarts and mail order pharmacy. All of them along with pharmacy benefit management groups (PBMs) selling patient information to generate more revenue.  And with this type of change we’ve seen the transition from real patient care focused practices to enterprises designed to ‘drive’ healthcare services and generate profits to satisfy stockholders. Is this truly in the best interest of the patient?

Patient care seems to get lost in the healthcare world today. Even the patient centered medical home model (PCMH), while touting the focus on patient care, is really designed to manage healthcare costs. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) and continuity of care organizations (CCOs) basic premise is to control healthcare costs.  That doesn’t say much about patient care, does it. So when did we lose patient care and how do we get it back?

Having a mission statement does not mean fulfilling the right mission:

I don’t think that patient centered care is totally lost. But patient centered care must come from the individual providers. Now I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen. It just happens less often than it should. Those of us involved in healthcare, whether physicians, nurses, pharmacists or other auxiliary personal all need to be focusing what we do around the idea of what is best for the patient. Sometimes it means taking a stand for what is right for the patient, even if it’s not in the best economic interest of the healthcare machine.

Providers can be the stimulus that changes healthcare to patientcare. Focus on what is best for the patient in the long run. If the system is broken or fails to take care of people by following the usual and customary ground rules, changes need to take place. Decisions based on positive patient outcomes need to be made as opposed to decisions base merely on economic factors. Maybe if providers start doing this, with each patient, the system can be changed from within. One could only hope that by doing so we can change healthcare to patientcare.

 

Why Can’t Pharmacists Prescribe: Response to @ThePharmerGuy

Twitter’s @ThePharmerGuy recently posted on his blog ‘Another Day Behind the Pharmacy Counter…’ asking the question:  Why Can’t Pharmacists Prescribe?  He details a very good argument as to why pharmacists should have prescription authority.   My thoughts on this topic follow below:

I totally agree it’s past time for pharmacists to be given prescribing authority, at least on a limited basis. There are so many instances where a pharmacist could make the decision to appropriately select and prescribe from a limited formulary of medications for a number of common disease states.

Pharmacists receive more intensive training and are more qualified to make decisions regarding appropriate medication therapy than most nurse practitioners or physicians assistants I know, and probably more qualified than many MDs as well.

Prescribing authority is given to MDs, NPs and PAs, in my opinion, after receiving basic training algorithms to assist them in making prescribing decisions based on their diagnosis. They don’t receive near the training or knowledge base in pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, adverse drug reactions and drug interactions that should be used in the drug prescribing process. They are also somewhat dependent on and easily swayed by the influence of pharmaceutical sales and marketing efforts, something which pharmacists are able to sort through by throwing out the hype and making better clinical decisions based on rational therapeutic approaches.

And, from what I have seen, most prescribers are easily swayed by their patients as well. All of the direct to consumer pharma advertising has created a patient population who go the the doctor with their expectations of what should be prescribed… and sometimes get upset when they don’t get what they want!

Pharmacist prescribing would expedite patient care and lower the cost of care by facilitating or streamlining the process of finding the correct medication and dose to reach and maintain therapeutic goals. This would tie in very well with a medication therapy management type of pharmacy practice that monitors new medications and makes changes or adjustments quickly and efficiently based on patient response to therapy.

All this would help to reduce costs associated with patient medication therapy,improve and streamline the process of reaching therapeutic goals, aid in assisting, educating and counseling patients to ensure compliance and adherence to drug therapy and improve patient outcomes.

The PharmD vs. BSPharmacy status for prescribing authority will need to be addressed in some manner. Pharmacists were making decisions regarding appropriate medication selection and use decades ago. It wasn’t until the prescriber and dispenser functions began to change that pharmacists  began to lose the authority to ‘prescribe’ all but those medications given OTC status. Generally speaking, most RPhs have as much knowledge and decision making skills when it comes to prescribing as those who prescribe the prescription orders they fill and dispense. Same with PharmDs.

Yes, it is time for pharmacists to be given prescribing authority, if even on a limited basis. I would expect that this authority would be expanded after a year or two of monitoring said prescribing authority based on the positive outcomes we would see.

 

Pharmacists Call to Action: Medication Therapy Management MTM is Here

Nearly three years ago I wrote a blog post titled ‘OBRA (’90), Where art Thou… and Where art We?’ .  In it I wrote  the following paragraph as I was questioning why many pharmacists are reluctant to be ‘patient pro-active’ and get involved with changing trends in the profession: 

” I don’t understand why some pharmacists have been reluctant to get involved with the evolution of their profession and provide effective patient counseling. Perhaps those pharmacists are practicing in a workplace not conducive to patient counseling or maybe they are fearfull of patient interaction. Possibly they are just not interested in getting involved, in which case I would suggest they consider a new profession. Regardless of the specific scenario, I think it is time for another call for action. Pharmacists need to get involved in counseling and educating their patients now!”  (Pharmacy 2.0 and 1/2 March 18th, 2009).

Fast forward to the year 2012.  The pharmacy world continues to watch and wait as we follow the WAG vs. ESI saga amidst reducing third party reimbursement, changing pharmacy regulations and many pharmacy Boards extending a ‘blind eye’ towards idiotic (or insane)  ‘15 minutes or it’s free ‘ types of corporate policies that are dangerous for the public and demeaning to the practice of pharmacy.

I’ve heard it for years… pharmacists will be providing counseling and cognitive services to patients and GETTING PAID FOR IT in the near future.   I remember first hearing it before I graduated from pharmacy school in the ’70s.  I always believed it and thought OBRA ’90 legislation might be the beginning of it.  But I was disappointed to see this happening only in a few areas of pharmacy like long term care.  Many pharmacists failed to recognize the potential for patient counseling and most members of the pharmacy corporate world continued to place profits before patients, ignoring the need and disregarding the future of the profession.

But I still believed it to be true.  Pharmacists will be providing comprehensive patient counseling and cognitive services and getting paid for it.  This is a valuable service to provide to our patients and customers that will improve their lives.  This is a service that saves health care dollars in the long run.

Early this century, MTM became the new pharmacy buzz word.   According to my ‘trusted sources’ at Wikipedia, Medication therapy management (MTM) is a partnership between the pharmacist, the patient and their caregiver, and other health professionals that promotes the safe and effective use of medications and helps patients achieve the targeted outcomes from medication therapy.  (see www.pharmacist.com)

I like that definition of MTM.  Unlike the Medication Modernization Act 2003 it specifically states that MTM is a partnership between THE PHARMACIST, the patient and their caregiver.  Not a nurse, not a physician or any other health care professional.  The pharmacist is THE member of the health care team best qualified to provide medication therapy management services.

So who’s ready to get on board with MTM?  Will pharmacists finally step up to the plate and qualify themselves to be actively involved with MTM?  The future is happening right now!  Pharmacists are being paid for MTM and other cognitive services.  This is becoming reality and will become the norm in pharmacy practice.

There is power in numbers.  It will only be through the power of those involved in providing these types services.  It cannot be achieved any other way.  Not by by associations or organizations;  and certainly not through legislation or pharmacy boards.  It will only come from the strength of those providing the MTM services.  Everyone and everything else is only an appendage and supportive in nature.

Together, as a unified group, MTM pharmacists can make that happen.  You might ask “how are we to do this”?  

The Community Clinical Pharmacists MTM Group on LinkedIn is one of the ways to achieve this.  If you have not started a LinkedIn profile you need to consider it now, especially if you want to start an MTM practice.  The ccpMTMgroup is designed primarily for pharmacists who are interested in providing independent MTM consulting services.  This is the first step in setting up a network of MTM pharmacists committed to promoting and providing pharmacy MTM services.  I invite you to join this group and take part in the discussion and be part of this transition towards independent MTM consulting. As a group we can overcome the obstacles in our path and achieve this goal.

Albert Einstein  defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”.  Pharmacists cannot expect to continue with a ‘business as usual’ attitude and expect the necessary changes to take place.  We need to create an environment to accommodate these changes.

Now is the time for a new call to action that stimulates pharmacists to take steps to make this change happen. Pharmacists cannot continue (as @empress_penguin ‘s Twitter profile translates) like  “clumsy penguins swimming in the sea of mothers across health and welfare”  and expect this change to happen.  (Google Translate – Japanese to English).  (Since I don’t speak Japanese I don’t fully understand what that means but it seems to be representative and descriptive of the pharmacy profession at times.)

We need to change that now.  Pharmacists need to stop swimming ‘clumsily’ and erratically with the currents.  We need to set our sites on the goal and fight the currents in the river of Lethe we’ve been in for years.  Pharmacists must learn to swim upstream towards those goals that will maximize our efforts to improve patient care and strengthen our position as a health care professionals.

Decide now to commit to action or get out of the way of progress.  If you stood back with a ‘wait and see’ attitude when OBRA ’90 was put in place, we don’t need you now – unless you are ready to step up and make the necessary changes.  “It’s time to get down and dirty and practical, so let’s focus on what might really work to make progress on… change at the grassroots level”.  (see ‘How to Create Change’, sustainablebusiness.com)

To be successful in this endeavor MTM Pharmacists need to:

• Decide to ‘DO IT’ and incorporate MTM opportunities into their pharmacy practice
• Commit to a PLAN OF ACTION to facilitate the necessary changes for practicing appropriate MTM principles
• FOLLOW THROUGH with their plan for implementing MTM within their practice setting
• Support and encourage their colleagues who are involved with MTM and educate the public to the benefits of MTM services

We cannot continue with the ‘wait and see’ attitude that has constrained the profession of pharmacy in the past.  If we educate ourselves, educate our patients, get involved and follow the course we will gain momentum in the process and our efforts will bring positive results.  But it’s up to us, YOU and I, to work towards this end.