“The concept of an interdisciplinary care team has been around for a long time. The pharmacist is an integral part of this team but has often been working in disparate systems and has been unable to truly connect with the rest of the team."
RESTON, Va. (PRWEB) March 06, 2018
Altruista Health, Inc., an innovative provider of medical management and population health technology solutions for health plans and provider organizations today introduced a first-of-its-kind Medication Therapy Management (MTM) application for Medicaid members. Altruista has rolled out the application with TennCare, the state of Tennessee’s Medicaid program serving 1.4 million members, to cut the risk of drug-drug interactions, improve patient compliance and reduce barriers to care.
TennCare already uses Altruista’s GuidingCare® population health platform to coordinate care with providers who are participating in the state’s patient-centered medical homes and Health Link programs. The new MTM module brings pharmacists into the care team, where they play a critical role in monitoring prescriptions and over-the-counter products for potential interactions, determining patient compliance by frequency of refills and identifying barriers to care that inhibit compliance, such as cost, language and transportation.
“The concept of an interdisciplinary care team has been around for a long time. The pharmacist is an integral part of this team but has often been working in disparate systems and has been unable to truly connect with the rest of the team,” said Altruista Chief Medical Officer Munish Khaneja, MD. “With the addition of the Medicaid MTM module in Tennessee’s care coordination tool, the pharmacist can truly perform a much-needed assessment of the medications – both drug interactions and barriers – while connecting deeply with the other care team members.”
Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities often have complex and chronic health needs that require long-term medication therapies. They are often older (45+) and require more prescriptions as they age. The MTM application will allow pharmacists to better manage this smaller percentage of a population that often accounts for most of the costs. The application also allows pharmacists to track the use of multiple pharmacies and providers, dosages, off-label use of drugs, and medication use by beneficiaries identified to be at risk. Careful prescribing and patient compliance can often prevent poor outcomes and more costly hospitalizations or higher levels of care.
“Pharmacists play an integral role in our member’s health journey,” said Dr. Victor Wu, TennCare’s Chief Medical Officer. “Engaging our members on how to use their medications and manage their diseases is essential to empowering them to take control of their own health. Integrating pharmacists with primary care and mental health providers in a collaborative care team approach can be highly impactful.”
After piloting the Medicaid MTM application with TennCare, the module is now available to other payers and providers as part of the GuidingCare platform that enables health plans to manage their populations while reducing avoidable expenses and improving health outcomes. More than 38 million members are managed on the platform by health plans and provider organizations in over 35 states.
Dr. Khaneja and Renee Williams, Pharm D, the Director Clinical Pharmacy Services with TennCare, will be discussing the Medicaid MTM program and new application at HIMSS on Tuesday, March 6 at 2 p.m. in the Population Health Solutions Lab Pavilion in the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. For more information visit the HIMSS website here.
About Altruista Health
Altruista Health delivers population health management solutions that support value-based and person-centered care models. Our GuidingCare® technology platform integrates care management, care coordination and quality improvement programs through a suite of sophisticated yet easy-to-use web applications. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, Altruista Health has grown into a recognized industry leader, culminating in a spot on the Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500. Health plans and healthcare providers in more than 35 states use GuidingCare to transform their processes, reduce avoidable expenses and improve patient health outcomes. For more information, visit http://www.altruistahealth.com.
About TennCare
TennCare is the state of Tennessee’s Medicaid program which provides health insurance to approximately 1.4 million low-income Tennesseans including pregnant women, children, caretaker relatives of dependent children and older adults, and adults with physical disabilities. With a satisfaction rating above 90 percent since 2009, TennCare provides health insurance through the use of managed care. For more information, visit http://www.tn.gov/tenncare.