The University of Mississippi Medical Center Department of Pharmacy currently collaborates with the Delta Health Alliance for a Medication Management program supported by Electronic Health Records (EHR’s) in Coahoma, Panola, and Yazoo counties.  Funds from the BLUES Beacon Community project will serve to expand this initiative to include new EHR locations and network with the Health Information Exchange system expansion through telephonic patient care management.

Individuals with a diagnosis of diabetes (based on ICD-9 codes) will be identified within the Indianola Family Medical Group’s AllScripts® electronic health record.  A clinical pharmacist and/or pharmacy students will perform bi-monthly medication reviews with these patients every two months for 12 months.

After each review, the information gathered will be documented into the Allscripts® system for review by the prescribing provider. During each monthly call the pharmacist or pharmacy student will assess the patient’s level of adherence with each chronic medication, discuss reasons for non-compliance, and identify any potential or actual medication related problems. Minimal problems identified during the call will be addressed by consultation provided by the pharmacy specialist during the call.

Patients with more complicated problems requiring longer face-to-face consultation will be referred to their primary care provider.  The phone visits will last approximately 20 minutes, and the visit will be documented in the patient’s EHR for improved continuity of care by the primary care provider.  This increased understanding of medication therapy and “hands on” approach to adherence is intended to enhance the proper utilization of the medications and decrease overall health care cost and will serve as the outcome measurement to determine success of the project.

You may email at: beacon@deltahealthalliance.org