No, but recent actions on medication therapy management (MTM) point to building momentum for the pharmacist provided service that boosts medication adherence, which improves patient health outcomes and lowers costs.
This week NACDS, along with several aligned stakeholders, urged the Senate Finance Committee’s (SFC) Chronic Care Working Group in a letter to support S. 776, the Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Empowerment Act of 2015. The legislation—sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)—will provide access to MTM for beneficiaries with a single chronic condition, specifically diabetes, cardiovascular disease, COPD and high cholesterol.
Working with the support of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, NACDS submitted a letter to the editor of Crain’s in response to an October 2 article on the staggering cost of treating diabetes in New York, which reached $1.2 billion in 2014, an increase of 31 percent. The letter enumerated the advantages of MTM in helping patients with diabetes manage their condition better, while also controlling healthcare costs. NACDS noted that poor medication adherence costs the healthcare system $290 billion annually, and also indicated that S.776 would give senior citizens in the Medicare Part D program access to MTM for chronic conditions, including diabetes.
