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'Medication management services are "a spectrum of patient-centered, pharmacist-provided, collaborative services that focus on medication appropriateness, effectiveness, safety, and adherence with the goal of improving health outcomes."' +
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' Medication therapy management (MTM) services represent one type of service under this broader umbrella. Since Medicare Part D inception, all Part D program sponsors (prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans) are required to offer MTM services to beneficiaries meeting specific criteria.' +
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' Specifically, these services must include an annual comprehensive medication review (CMR) which is defined as "an interactive, person-to-person, or telehealth consultation performed by a pharmacist or other qualified provider."' +
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" CMRs enable the provider to perform a comprehensive assessment of a beneficiary's medications to identify and intervene on medication therapy problems and must be documented using a standardized format." +
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'Recent national reports provide evidence regarding the effectiveness of MTM.' +
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" Viswanathan et al. reviewed 44 studies to assess the effect of MTM interventions. While insufficient data for some outcomes as well as inconsistent effects were noted as challenges, the review found that MTM was associated with improvements in medication appropriateness, adherence, dosing, and health plans' medication costs. In addition, MTM was associated with reduced odds of hospitalization and hospitalization costs for patients with diabetes or heart failure." +
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' Similarly, Perloth et al. conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of the effect of MTM on Medicare beneficiaries in 2010 and found that MTM was associated with improved medication adherence. Positive effects on adherence were greater for beneficiaries who received a CMR. In addition, MTM was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization, emergency room visits, and hospitalization costs for patients with heart failure and diabetes, particularly for those who received CMRs.' +
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' More recently, researchers have examined whether CMR completion rates are associated with Plan performance on other medication-related quality measures.' +
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' Only modest associations were observed;' +
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' therefore, additional research exploring these associations is warranted.' +
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