Strategies to Optimize Medication Use

The Accountable Care Learning Collaborative (ACLC) hosted a webinar to discuss how value-minded organizations are integrating strategies to optimize medication use to lower costs and improve patient care. Optimal use of medication is increasingly seen as a crucial organizational competency for health systems, especially as they commit to contracts requiring accountability for population costs and quality.

The Accountable Care Learning Collaborative (ACLC) hosted a webinar to discuss how value-minded organizations are integrating strategies to optimize medication use to lower costs and improve patient care. Optimal use of medication is increasingly seen as a crucial organizational competency for health systems, especially as they commit to contracts requiring accountability for population costs and quality.

The ACLC’s Committee on Medication Optimization is developing a case study brief and competency guide. The committee consists of a group of 15 recognized accountable care organizations (ACOs) – systems of health professionals and hospitals responsible for providing coordinated care to patients to help improve quality and reduce unnecessary spending. The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) and Managed Health Care Associates (MHA) are sponsors of the ACLC Committee on Medication Optimization’s work.

A guest speaker at the webinar, Amanda Brummel, Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations at Fairview Health Services and an ACLC Committee member, said the committee’s research will help to accelerate the readiness of health care organizations to succeed under value-based payment models. She said by using data to identify opportunities for medication optimization, ACOs can strategically deploy clinical staff and resources to design treatment interventions for patient populations in a more effective way. Ms. Brummel shared her organization’s experiences with medication use programs. “Medication optimization is something we are very passionate about,” she said.

Kimberly Westrich, NPC Vice President for Health Services Research, served as a panelist for the webinar. Ms. Westrich is a member of the ACLC committee and has directed NPC’s body of research highlighting the role of medications in ACOs for achieving cost and quality benchmarks. “It’s an honor and a privilege for NPC to be one of the sponsors for this activity,” she said. Support for ACLC’s activities reflects NPC’s ongoing work highlighting the importance of medication optimization in an ACO environment.