Low-risk Medicare patients entering home care who received medication therapy management by phone were three times less likely to be hospitalized within the next two months, while those at greater risk saw no benefit, according to a study led by Purdue University.
The study helped determine which patients benefit most from medication therapy management by phone and a way to identify them through a standardized risk score, said Alan Zillich, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Purdue, who led the research.
“Hopefully, this study will help home health care providers target the intervention to those who it will help and improve patient health,” he said. “It also tells us there are some patients for whom medication therapy management by phone doesn’t work and that we need a different strategy to help these patients.”
In medication therapy management a pharmacist evaluates the medications prescribed and how a patient is feeling to identify and resolve issues, including untreated conditions, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, inappropriate drugs or doses and whether a patient is taking the medications as prescribed.
“We know that medication therapy management (MTM) improves adherence, improves outcomes and improves lives,” said Patrick Dunham, CEO of Curant Health, which provided the medication therapy management interventions. “Reducing hospital admissions for the lowest-risk patients in this study by 86 percent is another powerful proof point for the value of MTM and its capability to simultaneously reduce costs and improve care across the health care continuum.”
