Attitudes toward and factors affecting implementation of medication therapy management services by community pharmacists

Abstract

ObjectiveTo compare the attitudes of community pharmacy managers who did and did not contract with Mirixa to provide Medicare Part D medication therapy management (MTM) services in 2006. DesignCross-sectional descriptive study. SettingUnited States in 2006. Participants100 pharmacy managers contracted to provide MTM services in 2006 and 100 pharmacy managers not contracted to provide MTM services in 2006. InterventionTelephone-administered survey of independent community pharmacy managers. Main outcome measuresPharmacist knowledge of and attitudes toward Medicare Part D MTM services. Results200 pharmacy managers completed the study (n = 100 for each group). Pharmacists who contracted with Mirixa to provide MTM services in 2006 were more familiar with Medicare Part D MTM (80% vs. 59%, P = 0.001). Significantly more pharmacists contracted with Mirixa to provide MTM services agreed that they were qualified to provide MTM services (96% vs. 88%, P = 0.01) and strongly agreed that an annual personal medication review would benefit patient outcomes (59% vs. 45%, P = 0.04). No significant difference was found between groups with regard to other variables addressed in the survey. ConclusionResults of this study suggest that familiarity with Medicare Part D MTM services was a key factor in whether pharmacists chose to contract to provide MTM in 2006. Additionally, significantly more pharmacists who contracted felt strongly that personal medication reviews would improve patient outcomes.