Model for medication therapy management in a university clinic.

PURPOSE: Experience with a referral-based medication therapy management (MTM) clinic in a university medical center is described.

SUMMARY: The MTM clinic's mission is to assist patients who take multiple medications due to multiple chronic conditions with the management of their drug therapy to improve or maintain their health and prevent or minimize drug-related problems. The clinical services provided at the clinic have evolved into a comprehensive program providing five distinct service areas: access, adherence, coordination of care, medication therapy review, and education. During initial visits, patient information is collected, patients are interviewed, medications are reconciled, and the pharmacist identifies and attempts to solve any immediate drug-related problems and concerns. Routine visits are scheduled monthly to coincide with a patient's medication refills. On a typical day, a minimum of two MTM pharmacists and one pharmacy technician staff the clinic. On two days of the week, three MTM pharmacists are available in the clinic. The clinic averages 9-13 scheduled patient visits per day. The MTM clinic functions as a subset of the outpatient pharmacy and is merged financially in the general operational budget of the ambulatory care pharmacy. This model of MTM patient care is intensive and comprehensive and is significantly different from the majority of MTM models currently provided by Medicare Part D plans.

CONCLUSION: A referral-based MTM clinic managed by pharmacists at a university medical center outpatient pharmacy provides care to patients with the goal of improving medication access, medication adherence, continuity of care, medication therapy management, and patient education.