Trumm Drug

Medication Therapy Management, more commonly known as MTM

Do you have high blood pressure? Diabetes? Asthma? High cholesterol? Another chronic condition that you are taking medication for? Do you have questions about any medicine you are taking? Do you have more than one doctor? If you or a loved one can answer yes to any of these and especially if you answered yes to more than one, you are a good candidate for Medication Therapy Management, more commonly known as MTM. MTM is a fairly new service offered by your pharmacist to help you keep track of all the medications you are taking, helping to ensure that you are receiving maximum benefit from them. Of course, pharmacists have always been vigilant while helping provide you with your medications, but with the recent changes in certain programs like Medicare Part D, the role that pharmacists play in helping you stay healthy has expanded. No one on the medical team is more equipped to help you understand your medication therapy. Pharmacists are the “drug experts’ of the medical team and have the added benefit of having access to your medication record. When you make an appointment for an MTM session, you will have a pharmacist’s undivided attention in a private setting. He or she will ask you about all the medicines you are taking, including anything over-the-counter or herbal. You will discuss how you feel your therapies are working for you and any questions you might have. In the end, your pharmacist may have some recommendations for you and your doctor on ways to improve your well-being even further. You may be wondering what possible benefit MTM has for you. In fact, there are many. The first and most important is your health. It has been shown in many studies that a vast amount of hospitalizations each year are due to adverse reactions to drug therapy. MTM has been shown time and again to reduce the occurrence of these hospitalizations. In one recent study, nearly half of participants were found to have interactions between drugs they were taking. More than half of those patients had adverse reactions to those interactions (i.e. the interaction made them sick). Once these interactions were found, changes were made to the medications and 80% of the patients showed improved health. In cases like this, MTM reduces health care costs by helping you avoid extra doctor visits and hospitalizations because of drug interactions. It has also been shown that with ongoing MTM, patients have considerably better health outcomes than their non-MTM using counterparts. The Asheville Project, which has been ongoing since 1996 in a town in North Carolina, has been using an approach to healthcare which includes MTM. Patients in the Asheville project have been shown to have greater reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol (among other important health improvements) than patients not undergoing continual MTM. When chronic health conditions like high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes and asthma are well controlled patients see a great reduction in overall healthcare costs. There can be fewer doctor visits and fewer hospitalizations. MTM, although a new idea to many people, is beneficial in many ways to its users. It should be thought of as an important addition to your healthcare. Even insurance companies are aware of its cost-saving potential; you may be surprised to hear that MTM may be covered by your plan!

Resources:

The Asheville Project. http://www.aphafoundation.org/programs/Asheville_Project/

Drug-drug interactions in a geriatric outpatient cohort – Prevalence and relevance DRUGS & AGING Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Pages: 343-355 Published: 2008

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