February may be a shorter month, but there was no lack of news concerning medication management, medication adherence, and pharmacy services. To keep you better informed about the biggest trends and developments in these areas, here are 10 of the most significant news reports published during the month. Highlights include medication management reform, role of pharmacists in the future of healthcare delivery, laws in Kentucky and Massachusetts, vaccine distribution, and deprescribing.
1. Act Surprised: Experts Agree That We Need Payment and Practice Reform To Leverage Pharmacists' Care
This column from American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Executive Vice President and CEO Dr. Scott Knoer discusses a recent report that calls for significant changes to help fully realize pharmacists' potential, including payment reform, the latitude to provide enhanced patient care services, and more access to person-centered health information technology infrastructures.
2. Why Medication Management Reform Must Be a Priority for the New Administration
A column in MedCity News by GTMRx Institute Executive Director Katherine Capps calls on the Biden administration to recognize that including comprehensive medication management (CMM) services as the national standard of care will improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and save lives.
3. ASHP Publishes Reports Exploring Pharmacy's Role in Future of Healthcare Delivery
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) announced the publication of two reports that share a futuristic vision for pharmacy practice, including expanded roles for the pharmacy enterprise in healthcare organizations.
4. New Massachusetts Law Recognizes Pharmacist as Providers
You can add Massachusetts to the growing list of states recognizing pharmacists as healthcare providers, reports APhA. The law that made this official was passed in early January.
5. Don't Drive Community Pharmacies Out of Business When Patients Need Them the Most
This opinion column in Kentucky's Courier-Journal calls on the state to pass a bill which would establish a claims submission process that ensures pharmacists are reimbursed for the same services for which other care providers are reimbursed.
6. Six Under-the-Radar Trends You Should be Thinking About in 2021
One of the trends to watch for 2021 in this HealthTechZone article is "The expanding role of pharmacists," which discusses issues including the role pharmacists can play in value-based care and permanent changes in licensure requirements needed to expand pharmacists' participation in telepharmacy.
7. Overloaded Schedules and 'COVID Cowbells': For Pharmacists, the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Brings Exhaustion, but Some Relief
STAT explores how the role pharmacies are taking on in the expanding national COVID-19 vaccine rollout is affecting pharmacists.
8. Residents May Be More Open To Deprescribing When Suggested by Physician
McKnight's Long-Term Care News reports on new research showing that most nursing home residents are open to a deprescribing plan, particularly if it is proposed by their physician.
9. Medication Burden in Patients with Diabetes
Many adults with type 2 diabetes carry the burden of polypharmacy and complicated medication regimens, which are associated with worse patient outcomes and a higher potential for drug interactions, according to a column in Diabetes in Control.
10. Higher Rates of Medication Adherence Seen in MS Compared With Other Chronic Diseases
AJMC reports on research published in BMJ Open showing that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have optimal one-year treatment adherence to MS disease-modifying drugs compared with individuals with epilepsy, rheumatoid arthritis, and Parkinson disease taking their respective disease-specific drugs.
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