Link → What Impact Will The ARRA Have On Pharma? [Enhancing Compliance Through Implementation Of Patient Centered Medical Home]
Excerpt: The [Obama] stimulus also targets programs with the greatest potential to improve the quality of primary care and extend it to a greater number of people. One such program is the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a work-in-progress since the late 1960s. Stated simply, PCMH is about forging tight partnerships between primary physicians, patients, and when desirable, family members. These alliances are supported by up-to-date, electronic record keeping, allowing doctors to track the progress of patients in their care on an ongoing, holistic basis. The PCMH approach takes aim at two primary goals in medicine. One, to manage disease through prevention. Two, to prescribe medication for problems-in-the-making before they can become acute.
Doctors’ unrestricted access to patient information is a PCMH keystone and an aspect of the concept especially relevant to pharma. According to some estimates, roughly 50% of patients on regular medication stop taking their meds after just one year. There are also a significant number of people who fail to fill prescriptions the first time due to their high costs or the perception that the medicine is unnecessary or will prove ineffective. This, in fact, is often a dangerous misperception well-illustrated in the case of hypertension. For many, the condition presents no obvious symptoms, yet untreated, high blood pressure can bring on fatal consequences.
“When the PCMH concept is embraced nationwide, it will have tremendously positive ramifications for both patients and the pharmaceutical industry,” says Edwina Rogers, executive director, Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a Washington-based trade association and foundation for stakeholders in the medical home movement. “A large piece of the home movement is medication management and adherence to recommended pharmaceuticals. A required part of the model ensures prescriptions are filled, with a clinical pharmacist or caseworker monitoring the process.
