By Louise Esola

Pharmacists are qualified to do much more than just fill prescriptions; they can counsel patients and keep them on track. And companies that foot the bill for medical interventions that keep chronic diseases under control can actually save in the long run by avoiding costlier medical treatments.

By Kim Painter

Recent studies suggest either could be true for people who take medicines for chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. For example, one new study suggests people who fill prescriptions by mail are less likely to run short of medication. But other studies show those who meet regularly with druggists stay healthier and save money for their insurers.

When pharmacists take a more active role in patient care, disease outcomes are improved—particularly for diabetes patients, a new study shows.

Diabetics who had an intensive consultation with a pharmacist regarding their medications, as well as subsequent follow-up, saw significant improvements in hemoglobin A1c and fasting plasma glucose, Erin Slazak, PharmD, of the University at Buffalo, and colleagues reported online in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

By Tom Reinke

With an average of 12 prescriptions per person in 2008, consumers may have more contact with their corner pharmacy than with any other part of the health care system, but in many ways pharmacies are a black box. 

By Michael M, GSK Communications

Yesterday, the Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits Division of the US Chamber of Commerce convened a group of experts for a symposium called “The Case for Wellness Programs: From Evidence to Practice.”

Representatives from Congress, CDC, insurers, and business spoke about the need for employers to invest in work-based health management programs for their employees as a way to both improve health and manage healthcare spending--in other words, sometimes you gotta spend money to save money.

Community pharmacists could make a tremendous difference in the care of patients with depression through better integration in a collaborative model of care, according to a white paper released by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation.

Building on the success of pharmacists’ services to patients with other chronic diseases in programs such as the Diabetes Ten City Challenge, the foundation convened a coordinating council to discuss the collaborative role of the community pharmacist in managing depression. After reviewing available literature on depression and its treatment, the council discussed the pharmacists’ role and concluded, “Innovative approaches for expanding community pharmacist involvement in identification of patients with depression and in their care should be developed to maximize the impact pharmacists can make in the lives of those who suffer from the disease.”

Seven hundred billion dollars. That’s a ballpark estimate of how much money is wasted in the U.S. medical system every single year, according to a new Thomson Reuters (TRI) report. A sum equal to roughly one-third of the nation’s total health-care spending is flushed away on unnecessary treatments, redundant tests, fraud, errors, and myriad other monetary sinkholes that do nothing to improve the nation’s health. Cut that figure by half, and there would be more than enough money to offer top-notch care to every one of America’s 46 million uninsured. 

Diabetes do’s & don’ts
If you are one of the 21 million Americans with diabetes, you may not be taking your medications. Only 50 to 60 percent of Americans take drugs as they’ve been prescribed for their chronic illnesses. And, says Roger P. Austin, R.Ph., a certified diabetes educator writing in Diabetes Spectrum, 12 percent don’t ever fill their prescriptions at all.

Results of the Diabetes Ten City Challenge (http://www.diabetestencitychallenge.com) released by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation demonstrate how employers and pharmacists can work together to help people with diabetes manage their disease and reduce healthcare costs.

Colorado Springs city employees with diabetes have seen improved health markers and saved money through a national pilot program designed to help people take more responsibility for their health.

More than 60 city employees saw a significant drop in their bad cholesterols and their A1C levels, a key measure of blood sugars, according to a recently published study on the program.

The diabetes epidemic is one of the greatest challenges facing our healthcare system today.  Nearly 24 million Americans - 7.8% of the U.S. population - have diabetes and that number could increase to 50 million by 2025.

Chain drug pharmacists who participated in a long-term program to improve diabetes care helped cut costs by nearly $1,100 per patient per year. 

An unusual first name sometimes becomes something to live up to, Starlin Haydon-Greatting, BPharm, told Pharmacy Today. “Last year, I got the Pharmacist of the Year award for the Illinois Pharmacists Association (IPhA), and the pharmacist who introduced me said that I was on the level of Cher and Prince, needing only one name to describe me!” she said. Her name is more than just a quirky conversation starter, though. Haydon-Greatting explained that her name comes from an old Irish legend; a young girl named Starlin Ann dons her fallen father’s armor to rally her people and stave off an invading force. “I have been kind of like that!” she said, explaining, “I’ve always been a person who fought for out-of-the-box thinking… We need to challenge ourselves and move forward. That’s kind of how I’ve led my life.”

By William M. Ellis, CEO, American Pharmacists Association Foundation

City of Charleston, SC employee Bobby Stephens knew firsthand the dangers of diabetes. He saw his mother-in-law suffer amputations and blindness and friends go on dialysis because of the disease. Yet in six years of treatment for his own diabetes, he never really understood his medications, nor was he able to keep his condition under control. That changed when he met James Sterrett, PharmD.

Nearly 14 months ago, 174 City of Colorado Springs employees with diabetes entered the Diabetes 10-City Challenge, a program to test how much diabetes and its treatment costs could be controlled.

George Miller

High satisfaction, cost savings, and improvement in key clinical indicators among diabetics headline first-year results of Taking Control of Your Health (TCYH), an employer-based diabetes management program of the non-profit Midwest Business Group on Health.

By Natalie D. Eddington

To help guarantee health care reform that reduces costs and builds “health care teams that work” (to use President Barack Obama’s words), pharmacists must play a key role in the planning process being undertaken by the federal government. 

A program in which employers, pharmacists and people with diabetes collaborate to attempt to rein in skyrocketing diabetes-related health care costs and improve patient health shows significant promise, according to the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation.

By Catherine Rampell

Economix asked all sorts of health care experts and stakeholders this question: What should the priorities for health care reform be? 

BY ERNEST BOYD
OHIO PHARMACISTS ASSOCIATION

Affordable, accessible and quality - these are the terms most often used to describe the health care system we all hope to achieve. However, there is another term that all too often goes unmentioned, yet it’s as critical as the others - adherence.

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) recently applauded the report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) which provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of health care reform. 

The report provides an overview of current economic impacts of healthcare in the United States and a forecast of where we are headed in the absence of reform; an analysis of inefficiencies and market failures in the current health care system; a discussion of the key components of health care reform; and an analysis of the economic effects of slowing health care cost growth and expanding coverage, points out a recent APhA news bulletin.

Final program results published in JAPhA show success of pharmacist interventions

Joe Sheffer

The Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC) - an employer-funded, collaborative health management program using community-based pharmacist coaching, evidenced-based diabetes care guidelines, and self-management strategies - demonstrated positive clinical and economic outcomes, according to results published in the May/June 2009 Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (JAPhA). 

Drugstore giant Walgreen Co.’s chief executive, Greg Wasson, would like to have his army of “coaches” taking on a greater role for President Barack Obama should the White House and Congress come together to expand health-insurance coverage to the nation’s uninsured.

Chicago-area employers cut healthcare costs by almost $1,500 per person per year using Taking Control of Your Health (TCYH), a pharmacy-based treatment program for employees with diabetes. The Illinois program was part of the nationwide Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC) project coordinated by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation. 

The Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC) article published in the May/June issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association included data from 8 of the 10 areas involved in the effort. Beginning the Asheville-like interventions later, four Chicago-area employers have now analyzed their data on 86 workers, and the results are even more impressive than those reported earlier about this APhA Foundation project.

A program that linked diabetics with pharmacist “coaches” for face-to-face discussions about managing diabetes improved patient health outcomes and reduced employer costs, the project’s director told BNA.

Tampa General Hospital has doubled the number of pharmacists on its staff since 2001 and is looking for more. So is the James A. Haley Veterans Administration Hospital.

President Obama held a roundtable discussion at the White House on Tuesday with the CEOs of several employers that have found innovative ways to lower health care costs and improve the health of employees. 

Chicago employers lowered costs for their workers with diabetes by more than $1,400 per employee over a year’s time thanks to an experimental program that helped pay for their drugs and provided consultations at the pharmacy counter.

Medical and economic results from Diabetes Ten City Challenge show significant benefits in patient health, lower healthcare costs - and higher pharmaceutical usage

As the rate of chronic disease skyrockets, health costs balloon, and physicians struggle with demands on their time, health officials have increasingly turned to pharmacists as a possible solution.

Retail pharmacists working with the cooperation of local employer-based health plan sponsors can dramatically reduce the costs of diabetic health care, a major, multi-year demonstration project has found. The result, said project leaders, could be profound changes in the U.S. healthcare delivery model.

A disease management program in which pharmacists served as health coaches to patients with diabetes is reducing health care costs and improving medication adherence, according to the sponsors of Diabetes Ten City Challenge.

A diabetes disease management program conducted by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation is being made available to employers nationwide as a result of a series of successful tests.

The program is based on the Asheville Project model in which employers waive copayments and deductibles for prescription drugs and related monitoring devices, such as glucose meters, for plan members who agree to receive periodic counseling from pharmacists. In addition, the employer pays an hourly fee to the pharmacists.

WHILE IT MAY be a tough sell in the middle of a recession, investment in health care can be beneficial for employers as well as employees. 

A medical home is more than your doctor’s office. It is a comprehensive approach to medicine, with one source coordinating the full range of patient care. And that concept is gaining traction in the Lowcountry. 

The Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC) is showing promise in curbing diabetes-related health care costs and improving patient health with the help of pharmacists, according to a study published in the May/June issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

Diabetes is a huge problem in the US, both in terms of health and healthcare spending.  For individuals, poorly-managed diabetes can lead to complications such as blindness and limb amputation.  For employers, workers with poorly-managed diabetes often require costlier treatments and miss days of work.  However, medication adherence is often a challenge for patients with chronic diseases, like diabetes.  That’s where the Diabetes Ten City Challenge (DTCC) comes in.

A program that gets employers, pharmacists and people with diabetes to work together to reign in skyrocketing diabetes-related health care costs as well as improve patient health is showing promise, according to a report released today by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation.