A policy paper just published by the AARP Public Policy Institute, Medicare Part D’s Medication Therapy Management: Shifting from Neutral to Drive, by N. Lee Rucker, MSPH, is a must read for every pharmacist who believes our patient care services are valuable.

Importantly, it should also be read by any pharmacist who doesn’t believe the evidence exists, or that public policy isn’t shifting toward enhanced use of pharmacists’ services to improve care and lower overall costs. Simply put, the paper describes the mounting evidence that medication therapy management (MTM) is an important factor in improved medication use and then proposes a number of policy changes that should be considered based on this evidence.

I know. It’s not happening fast enough! And we should have provider status now rather than still battling for it. But when AARP, perhaps one of the most powerful policy influences in Washington, DC, publishes something like this, people listen. As you can see, not just pharmacists are calling for enhanced team-based care. Recent papers in Health Affairs, the U.S. Public Health Service report to the U.S. Surgeon General, and articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA are all supportive of the concept.

The policy considerations offered in the paper include the following:

• Offer MTM shared savings
• Reduce cost sharing for MTM participants
• Explore alternate eligibility criteria
• Provide MTM as a Part B–covered service

The author concludes that there is a growing recognition that “as patient-centered care matures alongside quality metrics, there is a growing recognition that ‘more powerful solutions are necessary to promote overall medication [use] quality, not just adherence to a checklist at discharge.’ MTM has the potential to represent such a solution.” She goes on to suggest that care transitions might benefit from involvement of ambulatory care clinicians before during and after hospitalization. The paper makes a strong statement for shifting Part D MTM from neutral into drive.

Bravo AARP!