Medication management, or MTM, helps patients with complex medication regimens better manage their medications. It can prevent drug interactions, incompatibilities, or duplicate therapies that may lead to adverse reactions.
MTM services are offered by licensed pharmacists who collaborate with physicians to optimize patient outcomes. These clinical services include.
Medications
Medication therapy management services help reduce the overall cost of care by focusing on medications that serve a genuine purpose for recovery or symptom management. Additionally, MTM helps ensure patients aren’t taking unnecessary or potentially harmful drugs.
MTM is also beneficial for those who have multiple conditions, as well as those who take a variety of medications to treat those conditions. As such, it is essential to have a one-on-one review and consultation with an experienced pharmacist to help you better understand your drugs and their effects, find lower-cost options, or address any other concerns you may have.
Comprehensive medication management (CMM) evaluates a patient’s medication regimen, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, supplements, herbal medicines, and inhalers/pumps. CMM includes assessing whether the medications are appropriate and optimizing them whenever a medication or medical condition changes or when barriers to adherence are discovered. As a result, patients save money on unnecessary medications, and the health system saves costs associated with avoidable illness and death related to non-optimized medication therapy.
Adherence
Medication therapy management (MTM) services provide patients the tools and support to get more from their medications. This includes education, consultation, and advice from trained pharmacists who can help identify and resolve medication-related problems. MTM aims to optimize therapeutic outcomes and reduce overall annual healthcare costs.
Medication-related problems, such as nonadherence and mismanagement, are significant causes of adverse events, hospitalizations, and unnecessary medical expenditures. MTM programs improve adherence, medication appropriateness, and cost of care by using safe and effective medications, avoiding drug-drug interactions, reducing over-utilization and under-utilization, and improving symptom control and patient satisfaction.
For EmblemHealth Medicare plan members with Part D prescription drug coverage, MTM services include comprehensive and targeted medication reviews. A trained local pharmacist will evaluate your medications and how well they work for you and may recommend lower-cost alternatives. The MTM program can also provide a tool for your annual wellness visits and doctor appointments that helps you keep track of your prescriptions, supplements, and other health-related items.
Side Effects
The drugs prescribed by doctors may help improve your health, but they can also cause side effects, and some may interact with each other negatively. The pharmacist in our Medication Therapy Management clinic works with your doctor to ensure you receive the most benefit from your medications while minimizing unwanted side effects and drug interactions.
Medication Therapy Management (MTM) is a pharmacy service that optimizes therapeutic outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. This is done by providing patients with a comprehensive medication review, identifying and prioritizing medication-related problems, and developing a plan to resolve them.
Medication therapy management has been shown to significantly improve medication appropriateness (measured using a reliable and valid 10-item index of improved prescribing quality53; 4.9 vs. 0.9 points, P .001), as well as adherence to certain medications (e.g., antidepressants, blood thinners, high-dose corticosteroids). However, the evidence for other outcomes could be more consistent and precise, so we have assigned them a low strength of evidence grade. This is mainly due to the products and interventions’ complexity and the available data’s limitations.
Interactions
Sometimes, medications may interact with other treatments or medicines in your body, which can cause unwanted side effects. These interactions are known as drug-drug interactions and can be managed in various ways.
Medication therapy management services can help identify drug interaction problems and recommend solutions, such as changing medications or adjusting doses. These services are often available through your health plan or pharmacy.
The most common type of MTM service is a comprehensive medication review (CMR). A pharmacist trained in CMR meets with you to discuss your current medications, including prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and dietary and herbal supplements.
This one-on-one consultation can also help you find lower-cost options for some of your medications and assist in coordinating care with your healthcare providers. It can also help you understand why you take each medication.
Safety
Medication therapy management services optimize drug utilization by identifying and preventing adverse reactions, interactions, duplicate therapies, and nonadherence. It also aids in reducing costs associated with complex medication regimens.
Integrated with disease state management principles, MTM can help patients understand their conditions and the medications that treat them. This improves patient engagement and adherence, which can result in improved health outcomes.
MTM programs can be implemented in various ways, depending on the goals of a program and its funding source. This often dictates the scope and design of the program, especially when it comes to how many drugs are reviewed or how often a patient is evaluated.
Pharmacists deliver value in every customer interaction through services like comprehensive medication reviews (CMR), medication synchronization, drug/herb /vitamin interactions, med-checking, point-of-care testing, and more.