Patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-provided telephone medication therapy management program.

BACKGROUND: Patient satisfaction with medication therapy management (MTM), a required component of the Medicare Part D benefit, is an important outcome to consider when evaluating MTM programs.

OBJECTIVE: To measure patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-provided telephone MTM program.

METHODS: The study design was nonexperimental and cross sectional. A survey was mailed to Scott & White Health Plan Medicare Part D beneficiaries (n=60) who received telephone MTM in 2007. The survey was composed of 15 Likert-scaled questions (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) that assessed satisfaction with MTM. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis. A qualitative content analysis of patients' responses to 3 open-ended questions was also conducted.

RESULTS: The response rate for the survey was 80% (47 of 59). Study participants were 70.8 (+/-7.9) years old, and most were white (84.1%) and female (54.3%). The alpha coefficient for the satisfaction scale was 0.88. Overall mean satisfaction score was 4.0 (+/-0.6), with items ranging from 3.6 to 4.3. The highest level of agreement (mean=4.3) was with the following statements: (1) I can easily contact my pharmacist when I have questions or concerns; (2) My pharmacist adequately answers my questions; and (3) I am content receiving MTM over the telephone. The patients agreed least (mean=3.6) with the following statements: (1) When necessary, my pharmacist has encouraged me to receive preventive health care services; and (2) When needed, my pharmacist refers me to other health care providers.

CONCLUSIONS: Most of the beneficiaries were satisfied with their MTM care. The positive response to telephone MTM is important because Medicare Part D plans are using the telephone as a method of MTM delivery. Education regarding the pharmacist's role in preventive care and pharmacist follow-up with non-pharmacist health care providers may lead to greater satisfaction levels.