Linda Strand to keynote national Canadian practitioner meeting

Linda Strand, Vice President of Professional Services, MMS, will keynote the 41st Annual Professional Practice Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada February 1, 2010. The conference is sponsored by the pharmacy organization of the National Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists. This meeting attracts practitioners from across Canada and the theme for this year’s conference will be “Making MTM Services a Reality in 2010”. Dr. Strand will also be conducting workshops on providing care and reimbursement while she is there.

Prime Therapeutics selects Medication Management Systems to help manage MTM benefit for 1 million Medicare Part D members

PRESS RELEASE | December 15, 2009

Novel electronic therapeutic record supports Prime’s patient–centered MTM service for Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans

Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC (Prime) is the latest Medicare Part D program administrator to embrace the comprehensive medication therapy management (MTM) service technology provided by Medication Management Systems, Inc. (MMS). Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, MMS’s Assurance System™ will support Prime’s MTM program to improve the safe and effective use of medications for nearly 1 million Blue Cross and Blue Shield members under Medicare Part D drug benefit plans administered by Prime.

"This partnership underscores Prime’s commitment to improve patient care, tackle high medical costs, and achieve better medication outcomes by incorporating broader factors that impact medication therapy.” said Nathan Schultz, Pharm.D., President and COO of MMS. "And MMS’s technology and services help plans meet increasingly stringent Medicare MTM program requirements, such as comprehensive medication reviews and outcomes measurement.”

This partnership will offer members who meet the MTM program eligibility criteria an innovative service designed to improve health outcomes by providing individualized care pertaining to medication concerns. Through telephone consultation, Prime’s MTM program participants will receive an assessment of all of their medications as well as guidance to ensure that the medications are working properly, are safe and can be taken as intended.“We selected MMS to support our Part D MTM service because of their experience and leadership in MTM, their ability to meet our clinical and economic objectives and their capability to meet CMS’s evolving and expanding MTM program reporting requirements. We could not have hoped for a more comprehensive, easy-to-use solution,” said Roberta Patrow, senior director of government programs at Prime.

The Assurance System™
MMS’s proprietary Assurance System™ makes possible the detailed management of medications as well as the collection of clinical, economic and outcomes data. It:

  • Chronicles a patient’s medication usage, including prescription, OTC drugs, vitamins and herbal supplements;
  • Guides MTM providers in the identification and resolution of a patient’s drug therapy problems;
  • Provides for the establishment of evidenced–based care plans;
  • Documents MTM provider interventions and the status of patient’s response to drug therapy and goal achievement over time;
  • Interfaces with eligibility and pharmacy claims data to create patient case records and generate prompt clinical or administrative actions;
  • Provides MTM program administrators with robust analytic and reporting capabilities for the management and operations of comprehensive MTM services.

MMS Australian collaborators reduce hospitalization for heart failure with MTM services

Thinking “outside the medicine cabinet” is paying off in Australia, where a doctor-pharmacist partnership is reducing hospitalizations for heart failure — one of the most expensive conditions to treat — researchers report in Circulation: Heart Failure.

In the American Heart Association journal, researchers describe a collaborative model for ensuring heart failure patients take their medicines properly. The rate of hospitalization was cut by 45 percent in the first year of being part of a collaborative medicines review service.

“This is the first study to show these benefits in real-world practice rather than in a trial setting,” said Elizabeth E. Roughead, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a pharmacist and associate professor in the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. “If you have heart failure, getting a home visit with your pharmacist and then having a follow-up visit with your doctor about your medicines can keep you out of the hospital.”

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Patients in Canada can now access pharmacists for medication management, guided by innovative electronic therapeutic record

PRESS RELEASE | April 27, 2009

Medication Management Systems partnership includes government-sponsored program that reimburses pharmacists for care.

A new U.S./Canadian cross-border partnership will expand access for patients who turn to pharmacists for medication therapy management services. Minneapolis-based Medication Management Systems, Inc. (MMS) has partnered with Medication Management Canada, Inc. (MMC) to adapt MMS’s groundbreaking electronic therapeutic record, the Assurance System™, for the Canadian health care market.

"Our common goal is to improve patient care by rapidly expanding medication therapy management services delivered by pharmacists across Canada," said Linda Strand, PharmD, PhD, DSc (Hon), co-founder and vice president of professional services for MMS. She added, "MMS’s Assurance System™ provides pharmacists a clinical decision support system and electronic therapeutic record to promote common practice standards, document therapeutic outcomes, and improve patient care — the infrastructure pharmacists have needed."

"Pharmacy practice in Canada is becoming more integrated with the patient’s care team, requiring a significant change from the current practice to include new methods and tools," explained Sunny Loo, executive director of MMC. "The benefits of the Assurance System™, as an integral part of this evolving pharmaceutical care role, became apparent and our partnership with MMS puts us in the ideal position to support Canadian pharmacists in meeting this challenge."

Sustainable Program to Expand the Role of Pharmacists
The more than 31,000 licensed pharmacists across Canada are dealing with rising health care costs and provider shortages which are increasing the demand for them to provide clinical services to patients. In response, Alberta’s Health and Wellness office, the provincial government Ministry of Health, provided funding for a demonstration project this year to expand the tools and resources available to pharmacists on the health care team, adding value for patients and developing a viable reimbursement model for pharmacists at the same time. The Assurance System™ was chosen by participating pharmacists as the ideal data tool to support the project and document medication management.

"Pharmacists are able to contribute to the care of the patient in unique, meaningful ways, including understanding the patient’s medication experience, identifying, resolving and preventing drug therapy problems, and generating new knowledge about the effectiveness and safety of medications. With the Assurance System™, pharmacists are able to be of significant help to patients and physicians as well as other health care providers," said Dr. Strand.

The Assurance System™ is the bridge, allowing the pharmacist to do the following:

  • Track patient encounters and outcomes
  • Offer up-to-date best practices guides in medication use, effectiveness, safety and compliance
  • Link the network of pharmacists and care providers
  • Provide robust data analysis
  • Report patient outcomes
  • Create an electronic therapeutic record of all medications used by patients
  • Facilitate electronic claims submission

Plans to expand beyond Alberta are already underway. MMC is working on pharmacy practice change initiatives in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. "Approximately 50 percent of people in Canada are taking some type of prescription medication at a given time, so the need for this service is very large. There is no question that as the practice of pharmacy changes, the tools and resources need to change too, and with the Assurance System™ we are well positioned to meet those needs," said Loo.

MMS client, General Mills, first to adopt new worksite pharmacist program

PRESS RELEASE | March 10, 2009

MyMedsManagementSM program by Medication Management Systems promotes healthy use of medicines; provides on-site help navigating therapies

To combat the growing complexity of drug therapies and improve the use of medications, General Mills is the first employer to offer on-site access to a new individualized care program through Medication Management Systems, Inc. (MMS).

“A first-of-its-kind program, MyMedsManagementSM underscores General Mills’ commitment to promoting a healthier workforce while tackling high medical costs at the same time,” said Nathan Schultz, Pharm.D., President and COO of MMS.

Jeanne Denz, Director of Global Benefits at General Mills agreed: “The MyMedsManagementSMprogram provides General Mills employees and their families with a personal pharmacist who will work with them on an ongoing basis to better understand the drugs they are currently taking as well as to resolve any drug therapy problems. This personal relationship with a pharmacist will help participants better achieve therapeutic goals in coordination with physicians and other healthcare providers.”

Participants access MMS’s pharmaceutical care delivery system where a specially trained pharmacist evaluates their personal medication experience. The pharmacist then implements a personalized care plan in order to identify, prevent, and resolve drug therapy problems. Pharmaceutical care is delivered to participants in face-to-face interactions with a pharmacist on-location at General Mills’ headquarters facility or in the community via MMS’s Pharmaceutical Care Practice Network. Alternatively, participants may elect to receive care from a pharmacist in MMS’s Pharmaceutical Care Call Center.

“General Mills is recognized nationally for its comprehensive yet customized approach to employee health and wellness,” noted Schultz. “MMS’s MyMedsManagement meets this high standard and is very much aligned with General Mills’ desire to tackle high medical costs by promoting a healthier workforce. MMS is proud to have been selected by General Mills to launch this innovative service.”

Dr. Cipolle receives inventor recognition

On September 18, 2008, Dr. Robert Cipolle (Professor PCHS) was recognized at the 2008 Inventor Recognition Ceremony at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.

Dr. Cipolle (and collaborators Dr. Strand and Dr. Morley) received special recognition by being singled out by Vice President Mulcahy for their important work in documentation and medication management systems that have been translated into real world uses.

Read more at: http://www.research.umn.edu/techcomm/Ustartups.htm