drug safety resources

As part of a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Stratis Health offers quality improvement assistance to decrease the rates of drug on drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medications prescribed in the elderly. Information, tools, resources, and guidance on quality improvement methods is offered to Medicare providers, Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans, and Prescription Drug Plans. Following are resources to assist your organization in providing medication therapy management services.

For Consumers

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality publication: Tips for Taking Medicines Safely. A checklist with questions that patients can ask their doctors about taking the the right medicine in the right way at the right time.

Be Medwise. To support safe and appropriate selection and use of over-the counter (nonprescription) medicines.

Coumadin patient education video. A systematic patient education video with interactive questions for patients new to Coumadin. Includes segments on benefits, risks, protimetest, controlling protime, and when to call the doctor.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices. A nonprofit organization educating the health care community and consumers about medication safety.

Learn About RX Safety. A searchable Web site to search for a variety of drug safety topics.

Medication Use Safety Training for Seniors (MUST for Seniors). Program Information for older adults and caregivers to support safe and appropriate use of medicines for older Americans.

National Council on Patient Information and Education. To stimulate and improve communication of information on appropriate use of prescription medicines to consumers and health care providers.

Prescription Drug Safety Definition List . Definitions for acronyms related to drug safety.

For Health Care Providers

General Information

Free Resource Available from Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy. The Web site of the Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy now has a16-page PDF with a list of resources on geriatrics and geriatric drug therapy, including links to journals, journal articles, and other resources. This list will be periodically updated. These resources may be especially helpful to pharmacists preparing to take the Certified Geriatric Pharmacist examination, and to preceptors or instructors who teach geriatrics in schools of pharmacy.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web Site: Prescription Drug Coverage Contracting. This section provides specific information for Part D plan sponsors with links to information on prescription drug coverage application and renewal requirements, marketing guidelines, formulary requirements, coordination of benefits, plan reporting and oversight, and other special guidance.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices. A nonprofit organization educating the health care community and consumers about medication safety.

Medicare Advantage/Part D Contract and Enrollment Data. The Medicare Advantage (MA) / Part D Contract and Enrollment Data section serves as a centralized repository for publicly available data on contracts and plans, enrollment numbers, service area data, and contact information for MA, Prescription Drug Plan (PDP), cost, PACE, and demonstration organizations.

Medicare Part D Claims Data. Information on Part D claims data for the purposes of research, analysis, reporting, and public health functions.

QualityNet. A CMS Web site that provides health care quality improvement resources for health care providers and organizations new to the Medicare Prescription Drug Safety initiative, including tools, documents, or spreadsheets that can be downloaded and used in quality improvement work.

E-Prescribing

A Clinician's Guide to Electronic Prescribing. This guide isdesigned for practices new to e-prescribing and for those that are ready to move forward with implementing e-prescribing, with an overview of what e-prescribing is, how it works, its benefits and challenges, and the current status of adoption.

Continuing Education Credits:October 2008 National E-Prescribing Conference. The Massachusetts Medical Society and the American Pharmacists Association will provide continuing education credits for selected online presentations from the October 2008 National E-Prescribing Conference. Sessions included the e-prescribing incentive payment program; strategies and tools for integrating e-prescribing with current health care delivery practices; and privacy, security, and risk management implications. Available credits are a maximum of 22.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits, and Continuing Education for pharmacists (up to 13.25 hours of continuing education credit or1.325 CEUs).

eHealth Initiative toolkit. The eHealth Initiative Toolkit is designed to provide useful information to support health care leaders with the various challenges associated with health IT and health information exchange adoption.

E-prescribing Incentive Program . Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Program.

E-Prescribing Overview. A CMS Web site with information about e-prescribing standards required for Part D sponsors and e-prescribing's role in enhancing patient safety.

Medicare's Practical Guide to the E-Prescribing Incentive Program. This guide explains the e-prescribing incentive program, how eligible professionals can participate, and how to choose a qualified e-prescribing system. By adopting e-prescribing through Medicare's program, eligible professionals can save time, enhance office and pharmacy productivity, and improve patient safety and quality of care while earning incentives from Medicare.

Potentially Inappropriate Medications/Drug on Drug Interactions

CMS specifications. For potentially inappropriate medications and drug on drug interaction quality measures.

Drug Interaction Table. From the department of pharmacology at Indiana University.

Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Hospitalized Older Adults. A drug use evaluation using the full Beers criteria, Modern Medicine, September 1, 2008.

General Drug Safety and Patient Safety Resources/Education

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study: Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches. Includes articles on reporting systems, risk assessment, safety culture, medical simulation, patient safety tools and practices, health information technology, medication safety, and other topics.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality toolkit: Integrating Chronic Care and Business Strategies in the Safety Net. A change package for implementing the Chronic Care Model.

American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP). Health-system Pharmacy 2015 is a landmark initiative to significantly improve the practice of pharmacy in health systems.

Avoid These Drugs in the Elderly. An excellent resource for providers developed by Safe Prescribing in the Oklahoma Elderly (SPOKE) and the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality that provides justification for why the drugs should not be used and provides alternative medications.

Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice. CMS components and leaders responsible for Medicare prescription drug and Medicare Advantage health plan benefits, policies, and operations. Includes an organizational chart, regional office map, biographies, and photos.

Formulary, September 2008. Peer reviewed drug management journal for managed care and hospital decision makers, September 2008.

Minnesota Board of Pharmacy. Information regarding the activities of the Board, pharmacy regulations for the State of Minnesota, and points of contact for the Board and staff.

Minnesota Pharmacy Association. A state professional association, whose membership includes pharmacists, pharmacy students, pharmacy technicians, and those with a business interest in pharmacy.

Prescription Drug Safety Definition List. Definitions of acronyms related to drug safety.

Prescription Drug Safety Resource List. Links to information on prescription drug plans, drug codes, physician tools, potentially inappropriate medications, drug on drug interactions, and more.

QSource, Tennessee's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization. A variety of resources that focus on reducing drug-to-drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medications.

Responsibility. A Pfizer interactive Web site intended to help providers, public health professionals, patients, and caregivers learn more about medicine safety.

Safe Use Initiative. A Food and Drug Administration medication safety program of coordinated interventions with providers, regulatory agencies, insurers, and consumers to identify and reduce preventable injuries from using medications. Potential projects include evaluating consumer medication information, communicating the risk of overexposure to acetaminophen, implementing safeguards against surgery fires caused by alcohol-based surgical preps, and avoiding contamination of multiple-use medication vials.

Contact Stratis Health for assistance with your quality improvement and patient safety needs.

If your organization has projects it would like to work on, contact us to discuss how we can work together to support drug safety.

Mary Lou Haider, vice president, Contract Management and Internal Quality
952-853-8536