Group MTMM Program: A Case Study

There was a time when office staff had to flip through drug code books, CPT and ICD books. But, with AthenaHealth, drug codes are embedded inside of this EHR from the moment the physician prescribes any medication. Instead of grabbing that large ICD code book, this EHR narrows an ICD-10 code by the diagnosis details. AthenaHealth also embeds clinical guidelines for any specialty guidelines. On an average month, a physician’s office would receive 1,000 faxes but, when you become associated with AthenaHealth all that filing of reports are no longer any worry to you. Why? Because this EHR also has the function of sorting and receiving incoming faxes and places results in the correct patient's’ chart. This saves staff time and can close any loop orders that can intervene in the workflow within the office.AthenaHealth has introduced athenaTEXT for physicians who uses text messaging more than calling, which is very common these days. So, AthenaHealth has enabled HIPPA which can send text, images and medical information with encryption to colleagues without the worry of information being contained from outside sources. The EHR portal is very easy to maneuver which includes the EHR homepage, patient chart, epocrates (helps physicians get right to the point of care), and meaningful use and quality programs. AthenaHealth has created two patient communication systems. One communication system that has been

When doctors prescribe medication for their patients, a local retail pharmacy is most likely to be utilized to fill the order. However, there is a growing population of older Americans that are no longer able to live independently and must reside in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. In order for this vulnerable population to receive their medications, a different kind of pharmacy is needed, these are known as LTC, long term care pharmacies. Within these specialized pharmacies there are highly trained employees called CPhTs, certified pharmacy technicians who are overseen by state licensed

In some areas of population health, technology in enhanced patient information is utilized to perform risk stratification to identify the high risk patients. These patient’s often have uncontrolled BP, diabetes with an HgbA1c over 9, COPD, etc. Once identified as high risk or potential high risk, these patients receive additional care or patient outreach to help manage their condition. Some organizations employee RN Health Coaches and Care Coordination teams to help these patients and identify gaps in care. The primary care physician assumes care of the patient along with striving for the patient to become active in their overall health thereby keeping them out of the hospital (Sanford, 2013). One enhanced area of population management is the PCMH model. PCMH practices increase patient’s engagement in shared decision making while providing compensation for care coordination, care management and medical consultation outside of traditional face-to-face visits (Berryman, Palmer, Kohl &Parham, 2013). A patient centered approach pushes for changes not only in the delivery of medicine but in traditional encounters. In addition, PCMH encourages increased access to the patient’s primary care physicians and improved patient satisfaction scores. PCMH and population health encourages providers to increase after hours care to decrease emergency department visits and/or hospitalizations. Thereby reducing cost and improving the patient’s

My interest in the PGY1 Residency Program at Kaiser Permanente Orange County has been sparked by my attraction to the field of hospital pharmacy. More specifically, I am interested in an inpatient hospital pharmacy experience that the Kaiser Permanente provides. During summer 2017, I was an intern pharmacist at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, and I learned a lot about the pharmacist’s role in a hospital setting. After completing that rotation, I hoped I could learn more about the pharmacist’s role in a hospital setting. The reason I am more interested in residency program at Kaiser Permanente is many different kinds of experiences that Kaiser provides, such as Ambulatory Care, and Drug Use Management.

In a study that investigates the care of patients with diabetes, there were no significant differences in health outcomes in patients with diabetes who were managed by either NPs or physicians. Both NPs and physicians helped improve patients’ control of blood sugar level, cholesterol, and blood pressure.

The SCHC addressed meaningful use by recording patient demographics, maintaining an active medication lists and incorporating clinical lab test results into the HER, as apart of their meaningful use objectives. For recording patient demographics, they maintained data for accurate billing and ensured that the practice workflow was adjusted to capture all of the necessary patient data. They addressed active medication lists by following the requirements for e-prescribing. Patients were able to review their active medication list during their visit. Changes to the medication list were reviewed with the nurse and adjusted within the EHR system by the doctor. They communicated information for the care coordination process by making test results efficient and safe to access. Physicians were able to make real time decisions when they receive the test results from LabCorp, Quest, and other health

Specialty pharmacy is based on the dispensing and managing medications based on the disease state. Some examples of this include but are not limited to cancer, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, and immune disorders. Specific and continuous monitoring is required for many chronic conditions and generally there is a high cost for the use of certain medications. Specialty pharmacy plays a role in ensuring the best outcome for these conditions and the minimalization of adverse reactions. Some of the appealing aspects listed about these positions include being able to work with other fields or health professionals, spending a good portion of their time working with patients, and having a flexible schedule. The more negative aspects of this position include traveling, the amount of prescriptions processed, and some respondents stated there was low patient interaction. According to United Health Groups article The Growth of Specialty Pharmacy, due to new therapies and treatments spending on specialty pharmacy is growing by double digit numbers. In 2012 the spending on specialty drugs was estimated to be about $87 billion and it is suggested that spending is could increase to $400 billion by

E prescribing can be a part of the EHR in Epic, which would include patient data, and not just prescription information. When e prescriptions are utilized in Epic, the medication is checked for interactions with the patient’s other medications and allergies. Check systems within Epic look for drug-allergy, drug-drug, and how the medication reacts with the disease. In a case study of 17 physicians in an ambulatory clinic conducted by Abramson et al., error rates from prescribing decreased from 35.7 per 100 prescriptions to 12.2 per 100 prescriptions in a year of e-prescribing as reviewed in this study. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 stated that healthcare providers would have access to EHRs to ensure the meaningful use standards per the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Meaningful use is attained by increasing the quality of patient outcomes by having access to the medication data, the patient’s history, and diagnosis by the prescriber. Prescribing is safer, when the provider is aware of the patient’s history, current medications, and allergies, therefore better patient outcomes. In the United States, the HITECH Act and the meaningful use standards stated by CMS have increased the use of e-prescribing per Friedman (2009). The CMS made e prescribing a

Gawande’s (2015) article “Overkill,” suggests that physicians overprescribe drugs and tests which are ultimately unnecessary for patients. To eradicate such behavior, I would implement an electronic health record (EHR) with the following functions: Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) with a clinical decision support system (CDSS) to assist physicians/clinicians (stakeholders) in their medical practice or at hospitals. These functions will help to alleviate redundant tests and make suggestions about treatment. According to HealthIT.gov (2014), CDSS caters chiefly to drugs, laboratory testing, radiology procedures, and helpful clinical literature (HealthIT.gov, 2014).

Meaningful use is defined as using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology. It is important to healthcare because of the following; quality, safety and efficiency which reduces health disparities by having computerized physician order entry (CPOE) to document all medical orders that other health care providers inside and outside the hospital to be aware of health management. Maintaining an active medication lists ensuring that any health care provider working with a patient is aware of most or all the medications that a patient is being treated with, and allows the EHR system to make the health care provider aware of any controlled medications, allergies, or drug-drug interactions. Implementation of clinical decision support rules

According to the Journal of the American Pharmacist Association, “MTR is systematic process conducted between patient and pharmacist whereby patient specific information is complied; assessing medication therapies to identify medication-related problems, developing a prioritized list of medication-related problems, and creating plan to resolve them.”(pg.6).This is a collaborative effort between the pharmacist and patient designed to improve patient’s knowledge about their medication and to address any concerns that the patient may have, meanwhile empowering patients to self-manage their medications and health conditions. During the MTM encounter, the pharmacist develops a PMR which is an inclusive record of patient’s medication including prescription and non prescription medication, herbal products and other dietary supplement. The PMR is intended for the use of medication self management and should be carried by the patient at all time; the maintenance of the PMR is a collaborative effort between patients, pharmacist, physicians, and other health care professionals and should be

The sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement,6CPA (2015 – 2020) takes effect from I July 2015. In 6CPA, an increase in the total funding has been allocated to community pharmacy. One of the continuing community pharmacy programs from 5CPA is the medication management programs which support quality use of medication (QUM) services to reduce adverse medicine events and associated hospital admissions or medical presentations. Three individual programs under this program sections are home medicines review(HMR), residential medication management review (RMMR) and QUM and Medscheck and Diabetes Medscheck. The medication management programs aim to identify, prevent and resolve actual and potential problems related to drugs, optimise pharmacotherapy and

The report confirms that some institutions are using paid pharmacy interns and students in the IDS Pharmacy to assist with a variety of different tasks. Assessing the impact of using pharmacy interns in the research pharmacy was not the focus of the survey. However, establishing a paid pharmacy internship program within the IDS pharmacy department has the potential for cost savings. Moreover, it can also provide an opportunity for the pharmacist to spend more time engaging in direct pharmacist responsibilities,

At this particular site I saw the importance of pharmaceutical care and its importance between patient and pharmacist. The major idea of pharmaceutical care is having a patient-centered pharmacy practice. This was practiced heavily at this pharmacy. Patients were counseled on any new prescriptions that they had and they were always informed about any changes in their medications. In my second week of IPPE I had to inform a patient that their medication would look

The Texas Pharmacy Association is trying to help inform the student body on these exact topics with the Student Pharmacist Advocacy and Relations Program (SPARx). This new program was implemented last semester and aims to serve as