The American Heart Association (AHA) is pursuing an agenda to promote “health factors” that I think every practicing pharmacist can support. In our daily practice, we have opportunities to talk with patients about these factors, not just episodically, but over time. The message of AHA President Ralph Sacco, MS, MD, FAAN, FAHA—that the key to health is prevention and that collaboration is essential—resonates well with our mission. We can help promote the simple messages, as well as the complex ones that incorporate motivational interviewing. I’ve shared the link below to Sacco’s presidential address at AHA’s Scientific Sessions 2010 in Chicago, and I recommend that you check it out.

AHA’s seven health factors are ideal levels of cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure, nonsmoking, and appropriate weight, physical activity, and diet. As “life’s simple seven,” according to AHA, they lead to less cardiovascular disease and fewer strokes. In his presidential address on November 14, Sacco said, “We’re not only urging the avoidance of risk factors, in fact, we’re calling them ‘health factors,’ not risk factors. It may seem like semantics, but we believe that will motivate people to understand and embrace the benefits of healthy living. … I believe diet will be the toughest to achieve. In fact, our nutritionist and epidemiologist experts struggled to identify a realistic approach to diet.”

Several of my recent blogs have shown how consumers and the marketplace are warming to medication therapy management (MTM). If you’re ready to make the connection with real patients, then we have a website you need to see.

APhA and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacists have teamed up to create a locator map that shows MTM practitioners in every state. Don’t be a needle in the haystack—make yourself easy to be found by managed care, patients, and other pharmacists who want to learn how you’re doing it.

Below, I’ve provided easy steps to get yourself on the map! What are you waiting for?

APhA and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy offer a great way to “get connected” through the AMCP/APhA MTM Connections®. APhA member pharmacists are able to create a profile so that managed care insurers who contract with pharmacists to provide MTM can identify and contact them. Pharmacists can search the database of managed care payers to identify the names and contact information of payers contracting with pharmacists in their state. The site also offers a database of searchable annotated bibliographies of published articles and reports on MTM and other patient care services.

Being listed as a pharmacist provider in the AMCP/APhA MTM Connections® database is a valuable APhA member benefit!

APhA member pharmacists can register their profile by:

• Logging-on to MTM Central located at www.pharmacist.com/MTM
• Clicking on the AMCP/APhA MTM Connections® icon in the Featured Items Section (right hand column of main page)
• Clicking on Create a New Profile (Pharmacist)
• Entering  your APhA Member ID
• Completing all requested information
• Hitting submit

Not an APhA Member?  Not a Problem?

• Join APhA today by visiting www.pharmacist.com/join
• Go to AMCP/APhA MTM Connections® as above
• When completing profile check box for “Awaiting new APhA Member ID”

If the two New York Times articles I blogged about recently were not enough, now comes another very positive mention of pharmacy in the media. This third article in our trifecta is not from the consumer media—it’s directly from the American Medical Association (AMA).

In a posting today on the website of American Medical News, Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, Chair of the AMA Board of Trustees, writes: “The AMA recognizes the important contributions that pharmacists provide to patients in institutional and community settings, and at [a recent] meeting, it was evident that our pharmacist colleagues saw value in developing further collaborative partnerships with us in drug and disease management.”

I’ve previously shared information about our work with AMA on Collaborative Drug Therapy Management (CDTM) agreements, and this editorial is just the latest—but not the last—fruit from our efforts. Hoven recounts in her article how CDTM has worked so effectively in hospitals and clinics. She cites her own experiences in Lexington, KY, as an example:

“Every day in the hospital and other controlled settings, such as my own outpatient HIV clinic, physicians and pharmacists work together, and we value those relationships. In the community, some of us also participate in both formal and informal collaborative practice agreements, and have for years. These agreements can, but do not necessarily, include management and monitoring of medications, patient counseling and adherence counseling.”

Such efforts need to be extended in the community, Hoven writes, because “50% of patients may not take their medications as prescribed, and as many as 25% never fill their prescriptions.” She adds: “This, of course, ricochets back onto physicians and hospitals, with costs estimated at more than $100 billion in caring for people who get sicker because they did not obtain their medications or did not follow their prescribed treatments.”

Our hats are off to all the pharmacy practitioners who had a hand in creating this spate of positive news, including those who work with Hoven in the Bluegrass Care Clinic. As an association, our job at APhA is to call attention to the great things pharmacists are doing every day, promote those good works to others, and advocate for a system that recognizes pharmacists’ contributions. You make it easy!

If you’re not already an APhA member but you believe in this mission, we hope you’ll join us today. The future for pharmacists is bright, but not certain. With your help, the voice of pharmacy is collectively that much stronger. Do your part today, so that we can be even more effective in ours!

If you are wondering what your next strategic move should be in your community pharmacy practice, and if you are not currently providing medication therapy management (MTM) privately to patients, I have a testimonial to share with you from one of our members. This information is applicable whether you practice in chain, independent, ambulatory care, or clinic pharmacy, or see patients every day in some other type of pharmacy.

I am moved to share this quotation from a member with you because it is concise and speaks to a couple of the FAQs I get when speaking to pharmacists about starting their own MTM practice—part time or full time.

What about physician support? Will patients pay fair office fees?

Dr. MA e-mailed this to me yesterday after referring Mr. M to me:

“Mr. M is a lovely person (so is his wife). You can do so very much for them.

“Glad you are with me on this case. M”

This physician has asked me about my rates previously. She was kind enough to include an estimate of my fee in the conversation with her patients. I say kind because we have grown a respectful relationship. She wanted to know my rates so she would not misspeak. How many times have physicians misquoted a prescription price, leaving us with egg on our faces?

When a physician refers MTM patients to us in this way, the patients are ready to go by the time they call us. No PR needed. If they call with a realistic price in mind, the question about fee disappears.

When Mr. M spoke with me, he did not ask questions (not that I mind them). He said with determination, “I want a thorough assessment of my medicines, including drug interactions and any education you think that I need. So let’s schedule it.”

I wanted to share this because a version of this happens to me all the time.

Physicians are ready for us to participate. Consumers are ready to pay appropriately for it out of pocket!

When I did my homework to decide on fee level many, many years ago, I wanted my fees to approximate what I have to pay my lawyers, accountants, and architects. Do not undervalue the importance of pharmacology in today’s world.

There is no longer any need to hold off starting your own MTM practice, even with one or two cases a month.

I totally agree with this pharmacist. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, changes are coming.

Your first move could be as simple as having a professional sign printed that offers your medication review and counseling services on appointment for a stated fee. I’ve been suggesting to pharmacists that it’s time to connect with local physician practices. Talk with them and their management about ways to respond as medical homes begin getting “built.” Talk in concrete terms, in many states via a collaborative practice agreement, about how you can support their practice and help keep their patients on their medicines.

How can you share medical records for the benefit of your patients? Your pharmacy management system vendor may be able to help, as can the practice management system vendor for the prescribers you talk with. Approach the company in a collegial way.

You have a lot to offer! As anyone in practice knows today, it’s a competitive world. If you don’t make the connection soon, someone else might.