Pharmacist involvement improves detection of drug therapy problems in wellness visits

Drug therapy problems are easily identified when pharmacists are involved during Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs), reports a recent study.

The authors evaluated the difference in the number of drug therapy interventions between patients seen by pharmacists and those seen by nonpharmacist providers during Medicare AWVs. Pharmacists completed the medication history portion of AWVs at a primary care, interdisciplinary clinic in Texas, US.

The authors collected drug therapy problems and compared these to those identified by physicians conducting AWVs. Then, they classified the drug therapy problems into four categories, namely (1) indication, (2) effectiveness, (3) safety, and (4) adherence. Each category was further divided into subcategories to further specify the problem.

Fifty patients in each group received an AWV. In all four categories, pharmacists were able to identify more drug therapy problems than did physicians (100 vs 20 interventions, respectively).

Additionally, significant differences were found in most subcategories: indication without medication (p=0.005), suboptimal regimen (p=0.0034), drug–drug interaction (p=0.0267), warning/precaution requiring additional monitoring (p=0.0267), nonadherence (p=0.0058), and patient lack of understanding medication therapy (p=0.005).

An earlier study exploring the existing practice models and practice opportunities surrounding pharmacist-delivered Medicare AWVs reported an opportunity for ambulatory/community pharmacists to expand their practices to include AWV services in states that allow collaborative practice agreements. [J Pharm Pract 2020;33:666-681]

“Interprofessional collaboration between physicians and pharmacists can optimize and aid adoption of pharmacist-delivered AWV services,” the researchers said.