MTM: Know any Independent Pharmacists doing this?

[shaolinRX]

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Medication Therapy Management was such a huge topic at the onset of my P1 year.....I was soooo pumped about going somewhere with it, but as of yet no one in my community is doing it. Does anyone know any pharmacists that are out there as Independent MTM practitioners? Or, do you have any info as to why they aren't becoming the next big transition in the pharmacist's career as our professors had hoped? I'd love to be able to talk to someone that has had success with it. Any info would be great! thanx

 

[shaolinRX]

bump... someone has to know somebody.

 

[PharmD2MD]

No, I don't know anyone that is doing exactly what you are talking about. I know some pharmacists at the VA that are probably doing something similar to what your professors were talking about. The VA system is a good place for clinical pharmacists.

I think the lack of formal, billable MTM is because society and 3rd party insurers are not willing to pay for the service. And why should they? We've been doing it for free for years.

Society has to agree that MTM is a valuable service, if pharmacists want to make this a bigger, more formal part of pharmacy practice. Physicians were not highly regarded and were not seen as essential until the 1850's or so; this is when anesthesia and aseptic technique were born. Prior to this, doctors weren't able to provide much real value to their patients, and thus weren't seen as essential.

This isn't going to happen overnight. Pharmacists need to make a more concerted effort to promote their services, and the professional associations should be developing ways to bill for services. I know some work has been done in this area, but it's a long ways off. Clinical pharmacy positions are still justified financially in hospitals using a bunch of soft numbers like potential cost savings or whatever. I would like to see them be able to bill for the service directly, just like the physical therapist, dietitian, or any other ancillary professional who interacts with the patient.

BTW, I graduated from pharmacy school in 2002 and my professors were babbling about "pharmaceutical care"- which is what they were calling MTM.

I think the VA is one of the best examples you'll find of MTM in action. Do a rotation at a VA hospital.

 

[Hels2007]

Yes. I know of a couple people who work as consultants (as in, they contract with pharmacies and doctors' offices to come for, say, one day a week and do MTM counseling there). Met one of them a few years back, she works in Iowa. And I know people who work for independent pharmacies and do MTM as part of their routine work, though most of them do dispensing as well (not all, one just does patient education (as in setting up diabetes education talks for 10-20 people, etc,) & counseling). It's not common, though... you really need to have someone to do your billing for you, otherwise you drown in paperwork, so for pharmacies that already do a lot of wheelchairs/oxygen/diabetic supplies/other billable stuff and already have a trained professional dedicated to billing it is much more common than in a place that has only done dispensing before.

I guess being a consultant pharmacist for LTC is kind of similar to MTM too...