Medication therapy management is a whole view approach to the healthcare process. In 2004 it was defined and established by 11 separate national pharmacy organizations and consists of an overall assessment of a patients treatment across a broad range of disease states. When your cardiologist prescribes you one medication and your gastroenterologist prescribes you another, it is the job of the pharmacist through medication therapy management to be that last set of eyes making sure your treatments do not conflict. Medication therapy management sessions are a patient specific, one on one intervention between the pharmacist and the patient. They are frequently covered by most insurance companies and have been shown to significantly benefit both the patients overall health as well as decrease the rate of adverse events seen from medication improper use.
At Neighbor Care Pharmacy we are implementing a further twist on MTM. We use our personal approach to include OTC (over the counter) medications, vitamins, minerals and herbal products. We can monitor your prescriptions for mineral depletions, and advise you on proper supplementation. We can see if any OTC medications or herbal products will pose a risk if taken together with your prescriptions. This service is provided to our patients, free of charge. Because this particular Medication Management is on such a personal level, no chain pharmacy is interested in providing this. But we see it as an opportunity to bring back the personal connection between the pharmacist and the patient, and a service of unprecedented value.
Effective transitions from the hospital to home setting are as crucial as the patient care provided during the hospital stay. Likewise, the transition from a community setting to the hospital for acute care is a period when people are particularly vulnerable to critical medication errors resulting in more complex and extended care along with attendant increased costs. Even maintaining patients at home is an active part of the transitions process to avoid newly emerging medication related problems from escalating into conditions that might cause patients to cycle back into more intensive inpatient care. With millions of Americans taking multiple medications for chronic conditions, the costs of poor medication management surrounding hospital admission and discharge run into the billions of dollars. Care transitions with a focus on medication management are well known to improve health outcomes. The distinct medication expert on the multidisciplinary health care team is the pharmacist. In concert with physicians, nurses, and others who contribute to the overall medical care of patients, pharmacists reconcile discrepancies in medication therapy that translate into improved outcomes and reduced readmissions that would otherwise require more extensive interventions and expensive utilization of services. At Neighbor Care Pharmacy, we can utilize our expertise to effectively transition care from one setting to another. We work with many major hospitals and nursing homes and primary care physicians to get patients transitioned back to their homes in the most seamless practical matter. When it comes to transitional care, personal service is truly the best medicine.
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