Medication Therapy Management (MTM)

A.1656 John

S.2543 Kruger

Support

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York strongly supports this legislation which establishes a program for selected homebound patients at high risk for nursing home placement. If enacted, this bill represents a program to significantly reduce acute and long-term health care costs incurred by the Medicaid program.

Providing the additional service of medication compliance monitoring can save 20-40% of the total health care costs and as much as 90% of long-term care costs (i.e. nursing home admissions).

A Medication and Treatment Compliance Demonstration Program is unique in its ability to change patient behavior and make them compliant, thereby reducing or eliminating the high costs associated with noncompliance. Properly structured, the program should offer the monitoring and support services of nurses and pharmacists working as a team with patients diagnosed with chronic diseases who have been selected because of compliance problems.

In a study conducted by a private home health care service company in California, utilization of the Medication Compliance Program reduced hospitalization by 64.8% and provided a net direct cost reduction of 53.4%. This was a year long study that involved 25 of their own patients and resulted in a net direct cost savings of over $105,000 or $4,200 per patient. Savings can be significantly higher for those that are kept out of nursing homes. Since nearly 25% of all nursing home admissions and 25%-28% of all hospitalizations are due to noncompliance with medications, we urge the Legislature to implement this program as a pilot study.

Click Here to visit the PSSNY Website for a complete list of the 2007 Bills of Interest