What kind of MTM? If they are talking about the kind where you call and ask a patient why they are a week late picking up their metformin every week, well sure, techs can do that. If they are talking about brown bag reviews and stuff, no way can a tech do that.
The Problem is that the actual definition of MTM states the following:
Medication therapy management (MTM) is a distinct service or group of services provided by health care providers, including pharmacists, to ensure the best therapeutic outcomes for patients. MTM includes five core elements: medication therapy review, a personal medication record, a medication-related action plan, intervention or referral, and documentation and follow-up.
Within the context of cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, MTM can include a broad range of services, often centering on the following:
- Identifying uncontrolled hypertension
- Educating patients on CVD and medication therapies
- Advising patients on health behaviors and lifestyle modifications for better health outcomes
MTM is especially effective for patients with multiple chronic conditions, complex medication therapies, high prescription costs, and multiple prescribers. MTM can be performed by pharmacists with or without a collaborative practice agreement (CPA).
Therefore, by definition a pharmacy technician does not have the clinical knowledge to conduct any MTM by its definition. I am not bagging or undermining any of the technicians' competencies; nonetheless, they just don't have the baseline knowledge just like a MA or a phlebotomist does not have the knowledge to perform any of a doctor's duties that must be done only by the doctor. I think, often times, that people forget that MTM stands for MEDICATION THERAPY MANAGEMENT. How do you manage therapy when you don't know anything about therapy management? How do you manage any of the 5 core elements of MTM by definition?
