PCMA: New Research Confirms Value Pharmaceutical Care Management Services Provide to Patients

8/13/2003

From: Phil Blando of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, 202-207-3614

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 -- The following was released today by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association:

-- PCMA: New Research Confirms Value Pharmaceutical Care Management Services Provide to Patients

-- Merritt: 'Medicare Needs to Be Modernized and Provide Seniors With Drug Therapy Management Services'

New peer-reviewed research released this week confirms that pharmaceutical care management services improve patients' compliance with drug therapy regimens and should serve as a fresh reminder of the value that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) can bring to a reformed Medicare program providing prescription drug coverage, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association said today.

"PBMs have pioneered pharmaceutical care management services and brought more accountability to the system," said PCMA President & CEO Mark Merritt. "These data confirm that collaborative drug therapy management works extraordinarily well for patients. It's time Medicare availed itself of these same proven tools and techniques."

The data, published in the current issue of the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine, found that pharmaceutical care management, including physician-pharmacist collaboration, helped resolve a number of drug therapy problems, particularly for individuals managing chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma. The research found that the most common drug therapy problems included patients' need for additional drug therapy, incorrect drug usage and/or dosage, and ineffectiveness. The authors also noted that pharmaceutical care practitioners "can consistently ensure that patients' drug-related needs are met."

Among the new study's key findings:

-- The percentage of patients meeting drug therapy goals improved from 74 percent at the time of an initial pharmaceutical care encounter to 89 percent at the time of their final pharmaceutical care encounter.

-- The decisions made by pharmaceutical care practitioners working in collaboration with physicians to provide drug therapy management services are clinically credible. Expert panelists indicated agreement with the therapeutic evaluations in 94 percent of the cases reviewed, with the panel expressing a neutral opinion in an additional four percent of cases. In only two percent of the cases reviewed did panelists disagree with therapeutic determinations.