On Wednesday, May 18, ACCP and CPNP, in coordination with Congressmen Eric Paulsen (R MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT), hosted a Hill Briefing on the topic of Comprehensive Medication Management. Your coalition has been working with Paulsen and Welch, and their staff, on their HR 4878, the Medicare Better Care Lower Cost Act.
For several months, the coalition has been talking with staff leaders about improving HR 4878 by including CMM as a clinical pharmacy benefit under Medicare. The briefing was a discussion about how incorporating CMM to a primary care practice can both result in better patient care and lower cost to the Medicaid program.
Ed Webb, from ACCP was the moderator for the panel, which consisted of two physician clinical pharmacist pairs from the Congressional member's districts. Dr. Mary Figueroa, JVID, a family physician from Fairview Southdale Hospital in Minnesota and Dr. Amanda Brummel, PharmD., BCACP, who works with Figueroa, presented together on their experiences using CMM and reported about the cost savings to Fairview. Their presentation was followed by Dr. Charlie MacLean, MD, University of Vermont Medical Center and Dr. Amanda Kennedy, PharmD., BCPS. The two spoke about a demonstration project that was funded by the Vermont Department of Health, implementing CMM in five primary care practices using a medical home model. CPNP worked closely with ACCP and the presenters to ensure an opportunity to interject the importance of CMM within the mental health arena. CPNP's Dr. Deanna Kelly, PharmD., BCPP, was in the audience and was poised to pose a mental health question about how the panel saw CMM working to benefit patients with mental health disorders. The panelists from Vermont (having had some experience within the mental health arena with their CMM demonstration project), responded confirming that patients with mental health illnesses have many complex medication needs. Dr. MacLean went further to speak about the "disconnect in the systems of behavioral healthcare" and added that CMM is critical to this "high cost" patient group. Due to scheduling and panel limitations, CPNP was not able to have a panel participant. Dr. Kelly did an outstanding job of representing CPNP's issues.
Twenty-nine participants signed in, however about forty attendees were estimated. Nine other members of Congress sent a representative, as well as one member on the Senate side. Eleven pharmacy stakeholder members attended as well as the government affairs representative from NAMI. All in all, the briefing was a great success, and your coalition continues to make inroads with members of both Houses on the issue of CMM.