Pharmacy integral to collaborative care at Mass General

Abstract

When Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) planned to test a Medicare-funded disease program for high-risk, medically complex patients, a pharmacy component was viewed as a relatively minor piece of the overall project. “But what we discovered relatively quickly into the program was that it’s actually something that we needed much more of,” said Eric Weil, associate chief of clinical affairs for the division of general medicine and medical director for MGH’s Care Management Program (CMP). CMP was one of six projects selected in 2005 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take part in the Care Management for High Cost Beneficiaries demonstration program. The program targets high-cost enrollees in Medicare’s fee-for-service population. According to CMS, the goal of CMP and the other demonstration projects was to “increase adherence to evidence-based care, reduce unnecessary hospital and emergency room visits, and help participants avoid costly and debilitating complications.”