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Some of South Carolina's most vulnerable citizens will get special attention as part of a S.C. College of Pharmacy project aimed at improving the safety and effectiveness of their prescription drug therapies.
The college has been awarded a two-year grant of nearly $2 million from the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services to provide academic detailing of prescription drug services for Medicaid clients diagnosed with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness. About 60,000 clients each month will be the focus of the project along with their prescribing physicians.
The detailing--which will involve extensive records review and consultations with prescribing physicians--is intended to ensure that Medicaid clients are receiving clinically appropriate, cost-effective medications. In the past few years, Medicaid prescriptions and expenditures--some of them for risky or experimental drugs--have grown dramatically in South Carolina but with no clear evidence of improved health.
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| Randall Rowen |
"There have been a number of interventions over the years to reduce the rising expenditures for Medicaid prescription drugs, but high-quality care is the goal of this project," said Randall Rowen, interim dean of the Columbia campus of the pharmacy college. "In fact, in some cases, we might recommend that a higher-priced drug be prescribed instead of a lower-cost alternative. What we're looking for is the best drug therapy for each client."
Faculty and staff in the S.C. College of Pharmacy will conduct the detailing project with assistance from professional pharmacists contracted by the college. In addition, field educators will meet with physicians to discuss optimal drug therapies for different medical conditions.
"The pharmaceutical manufacturers have known for a long time that getting face time with physicians affects the prescriptions that they write," Rowen said. "We're going to borrow a page from their marketing plan and take lunches and dinners to doctor's offices so that we can get time with the doctors, too.
"But instead of selling one drug or another, we're going to be giving the physicians objective information about the benefits and risks of all of the drugs for these patients. We think that can make a long-term difference in helping people get the best therapy they need."
If successful, the two-year project might be renewed and include other entities such as the S.C. State Health Plan. The project might also be expanded to include additional therapeutic categories of drugs.
10/06
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