(1180) The Impact of Technician-assisted Medication Therapy Management in a Federally Qualified Health Center

Objectives: This project’s primary objective is to determine if the utilization of MTM-trained technicians increases the number of CMRs completion rate.
The secondary objectives of this project are to determine whether including technicians in the MTM process significantly decreases the time required for pharmacists to spend on preparing for a CMR and to determine if the cost effectiveness of training technicians for this purpose is significant.

Methods: This is a prospective, interventional study taking place at Baldwin Family Health Care (BFHC) pharmacy and medical locations Michigan.
Technicians participating in this study will be enrolled and certified in a Pharmacy Technician Certification Board-approved MTM Certification Training Course, in preparation to take the MTM Certification Exam. A facility-wide protocol will be established to outline the responsibilities of MTM certified technicians and their partnered pharmacists.
Technicians will be responsible for reaching out to patients to schedule an appointment to complete a CMR with a pharmacist, completing a CMR worksheet by gathering relevant patient information, administering a survey to gauge patient opinion regarding their experience, and sending the after-visit summary prepared by the pharmacist to the patient via mail no later than 7 days after the patient encounter/appointment.
Pharmacists will be responsible for completing the CMR, any billing requirements, and preparing the after-visit summary.
Patients eligible for a CMR completed under this project will include adults with at least one medication dispensed by a BFHC pharmacy within the six months preceding the CMR appointment and/or at least one documented patient encounter with a BFHC medical provider listed as the patient’s primary care provider within the last 12 months preceding the CMR appointment.
Technicians and pharmacists will be responsible for tracking and documenting all time spent on completing each CMR, which will be recorded on the CMR worksheet.

Results: This project’s primary objective will be evaluated by an analysis comparing the number of CMRs completed in the 6 months directly preceding the start of the project (June 1, 2023 to November 30, 2023) and number of CMRs completed within project timeframe (December 1, 2023 to May 30, 2024). Preliminary results will be reported at the halfway point (March 1). Success of the project regarding this objective will be defined as an increase of at least 40% in number of completed CMRs across all BFHC locations.
The secondary objectives of this project will be evaluated by collection and analysis of the time spent by both pharmacists and technicians and comparing the time spent with their relative hourly wages. Success regarding these objectives will be defined as an average decrease in time spent by a pharmacist on CMRs by 40% and an analysis showing significant cost-effectiveness on average for all locations.

Conclusions: In addition to tasks of daily workflow, pharmacists are often expected to achieve several quality metrics, such as completing billable medication therapy management (MTM) items. The revenue generated from completing these services is strong incentive for federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) because, as non-profit organizations, FQHCs depend on revenue sources that can further drive patient-centered care and increase patient retention. A growing avenue in community pharmacy to help maximize the quality time spent by a pharmacist on clinical patient review is by using technicians as extensions of the pharmacist. Training technicians to assume roles that support pharmacists by practicing "at the top of their license" promotes optimal patient care and serves as an important tool for employee retention. This project will evaluate the impact of using MTM-certified pharmacy technicians to assist in completing comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs).