OH pharmacists lobby health plans to expand patient care role
Fresh from the success of a 10-year demonstration in Asheville, North Carolina, Ohio pharmacists are lobbying insurers to convince them to pay for care coordination services. The pharmacists contend that they're among the only ones in a position to know all of the drugs patients are taking, particularly those with complex, chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma.
The pharmacists are taking their cue from the "Asheville Model," under which the city of Asheville and another local employer paid a fee to pharmacists to consult with patients. The program also gave employees an incentive to see the pharmacists, such as waived co-pays. The program has produced positive health results, including improvements in patient blood pressure and cholesterol levels, researchers have found.
To learn more about this initiative:
- read this Cleveland Plain Dealer piece
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By Anonymous | Posted 9:21pm | May 12, 2008
Many pharmacies, including large pharmacy chains, sell cigarettes. This has always posed an ethics controversy, as those same pharmacies sell medicines to help counteract the damage from those same cigarettes. Now, if pharmacists want to expand their roles as health care professionals, the fact that the pharmacies continue to sell cigarettes poses even larger questions.
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