Establishing the Role of the Pharmacist in the Patient-Centered Medical Home… The Opportunity is Now

Abstract

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is an approach to delivering comprehensive, continuous, coordinated care across all life stages and has been hypothesized to be one potential solution to the discrepancy between the high cost but low quality of health care in the US. Although a plethora of literature exists on how pharmacy interventions can improve the quality of patient care through medication therapy management programs, there is a paucity of data supporting pharmacists' involvement in PCMHs. Pharmacists are uniquely trained and positioned to make important contributions to PCMHs as medication care coordinators. The opportunity is now for pharmacists to establish their role within this medical setting.

Training Community Pharmacy Technicians about Their Roles in the Provision of Medication Therapy Management Services

“…The demand for clinical service pharmacists is increasing. 8,9 In 2010, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decreased eligibility requirements so that more patients qualify for MTM services. 10 Such a demand increases the need for technicians capable of assisting pharmacists in the provision of these services.…”

Pharmacist Contributions to the U.S. Health Care System

“…for contributing to the U.S. health care system in roles for which they have been identified which include: (1) medication care coordinators for patient-centered medical homes [7][8] and primary care teams [9][10][11][12], (2) members of chronic disease management teams that focus on 'episodes' of care in which related services are packaged together [11,[13][14], and (3) being the healthcare professional responsible for ensuring optimal medication therapy outcomes through medication therapy management (MTM) service provision [3,11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. However, as shifts in professional roles occur, a great deal of capacity is required related to new service provision as well as strategic decisions regarding educational training, professional training and redeployment, updates to practice acts and regulations, new documentation and billing systems, enhanced information exchange, collaborative practice models, infrastructure, technology, policy, and new business models.…”

“…This implies a use of medications that is safe, effective, appropriate, affordable, cost-effective, efficient, and specific to the needs of a given patient [3][4][5][6]. Pharmacists have been identified as important contributors to the healthcare system serving such expanded roles as (1) medication care coordinators for patient-centered medical homes [7][8] and primary care teams [9][10][11][12], (2) members of chronic disease management teams that focus on 'episodes' of care in which related services are packaged together [11,[13][14], and (3) being the healthcare professional responsible for ensuring optimal medication therapy outcomes through medication therapy management (MTM) service provision [3,11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

Identifying Work Setting Profile Factors From the Career Pathway Evaluation Program

“…1 The pharmacy profession has been building capacity so that pharmacists are ideally suited to serve in new roles such as being medication care coordinators for patientcentered medical homes 2,3 and primary care teams, [4][5][6][7] members of chronic disease management teams that focus on "episodes" of care in which related services are packaged together, 8,9 and the healthcare professional responsible for ensuring optimal medication therapy outcomes through medication therapy management service provision. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Pharmacists are faced with an array of choices about job positions and educational pathways that can enhance their careers.…”