Dr Alexis Garcia Discusses Medication Therapy Management Programs

Obtaining timely data and encouraging patient engagement are crucial to successful medication therapy management programs, said Alexis Garcia, PharmD, senior director of business development at Tabula Rasa HealthCare.

Transcript

Are different demographics more susceptible to the effects of cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes?

So everybody is different and everybody can have a different response to medications based on their genetic differences. So race and ethnicity can play a role in adverse drug events. You know, some people may be ultra metabolizers. Some may be poor metabolizers. And ultimately that's going to affect the way that they process those medications.

If medication therapy management (MTM) programs help with these issues, what are some of the barriers payers face in implementing these programs?

I think some of the biggest barriers to implementing real successful MTM programs are timely data. So you want to make sure that when you're speaking to a patient that you have the most up to date information for that patient that allows you to have more impactful interventions or recommendations with that patient, but also patient engagement. So one, how can you get ahold of this patient to talk to them about their medications and establishing that trust with the patient, that you are a clinician calling on their behalf and that you do want to help them? Make sure that they are on the most safe medications and really getting optimal use from the medications that they're taking.