PQA/URAC Summit to present the latest on medication adherence

Pharmacists will learn about reimbursement and patient motivators for medication adherence at the PQA/URAC Medication Adherence Summit in Washington, D.C., June 2 and 3.

The Pharmacy Quality Alliance and URAC are sponsoring the Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in conjunction with PQA’s annual meeting, taking place June 1 to 2.

Sessions at the summit will include “Medication Adherence as a Priority for Health Reform,” “Raising Consumer Awareness About Adherence: The National Consumers League’s New Multi-Stakeholder Campaign,” “Understanding the Payer’s Perspective on Medication Adherence,” “Measuring Medication Adherence: Science & Application,” and “Case-Studies of Interventions to Support Medication Adherence: Overviews of Successful Interventions.”

Laura Cranston

The summit is addressing timely issues; the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently finalized rules on reimbursing payers for medication therapy management and medication adherence. Speaking on the subject of reimbursement at the summit, Jesse McCullough, PharmD, field manager of clinical services for Rite Aid, will review the chain’s work with The Pennsylvania Collaborative. Participants in the collaborative, including Highmark, a division of Blue Cross Blue Shield, are examining how to effectively build a pay-for-performance model with Medication Therapy Management (MTM) in the pharmacy space.

“Some MTM programs are reimbursing pharmacies for interventions. If a chain or independent can help a health plan hit that target, that’s how you develop a pay-for-performance model,” said Laura Cranston, executive director of PQA.

Pharmacists will also benefit from the medication adherence case studies. “William Shrank [assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School] will be looking at some of the root causes of medication nonadherence and some of the strategies that can be put into place by regional pharmacies to lower the medication nonadherence rates,” Cranston said.

For information about the upcoming summit, visit www.pqaalliance.org.