MID Programs Provide Real-Time Patient Monitoring, Explains Dr Christie Smith

Medically integrated dispensing (MID) can help reduce cost of care through real-time monitoring of patients to address adverse effects in a timely manner, said Christie Smith, PharmD, MBA, vice president, pharmacy and payer strategy, Cencora.

In her session, Smith discussed innovative care models and MID programs. She was joined by Marci Conlin, vice president, pharmacy network management, Prime Therapeutics/Magellan Rx Management; and Kyle Verley, director, network management, Prime Therapeutics.

Transcript

How are innovative care models, such as MID programs, working to remove barriers to care and address disparities?

We are constantly working to help address SDOH, social determinants of health. Our providers are stretched all over the place, and so we try to support them in helping patients get the right resources to what they need, basic resources. I think that it is challenging. It is challenging. I think we need more nonprofit organizations to help not only physicians but payers. I think the payers need to provide some sort of financial support so that providers and the entire community can afford to help their patients in those ways.

What are innovative care models implementing to reduce costs of care?

So, for example, in the model that we're participating in, what plans have seen is that MID actually is a cheaper cost model than specialty pharmacy. I've worked for a specialty pharmacy in my lifetime. I love specialty pharmacy. But there are certain situations where it would make sense for certain therapies to be considered in this model. Basically, the total cost of care has been reduced under the [MID] model. And I think I sort of alluded to some examples like you can see in real time if a patient will or will not need the medication due to disease progression, side effect management from the cost of that drug.

That side effect management is so critical because this where, if a patient is having severe diarrhea, because that’s a common reaction, and they have to go to the hospital to get treated because of dehydration and all of that, that cost avoidance is huge for a medical plan vs when this script is outside of the practice’s direct authority.