Dr. McInnis is President of Blue Thorn, Inc, Healthcare Consulting, and Principle Investigator to the recent national report: Get the medications right: a nationwide snapshot of expert practices.
Serving as the AIMM Board of Directors President has been meaningful to me, professionally and personally. A long-time physician champion for comprehensive medication management (CMM) services, AIMM’s mission to lower healthcare costs and improve health outcomes of high-risk patients through training and coaching in disease state MTM and CMM services resonates strongly with me. Understanding the differences in progressing from drug “siloed” MTM services to those disease state MTM and CMM services that focus on achieving clinical goals of therapy is a key function of AIMM. Using a standardized approach that is adopted by team-based care across the care delivery system, CMM services require a clinical pharmacist in collaborative practice to adopt a holistic management of the engaged patient encompassing all the medications and conditions to assess and assure that the most appropriate, effective, and safe medications are personalized for that patient.
It has been an honor to serve as the AIMM President for the past two years. Especially rewarding is how we have worked to intentionally broaden the diversity of the AIMM Board of Directors. AIMM leadership now incorporates the patient perspective and the health plan perspective. This is so important as our health care system is making a monumental shift from fee for service to a value-based business model. Provider organizations are now responsible for quality of care and have financial risk. Delivery systems are expected to offer integrated services and coordinated care. Prioritizing clinical pharmacy services through integrated comprehensive medication management across the continuum of care is fundamental and critical for providers and health care organizations to achieve not only the patient quality goals, but to substantially increase access for primary care and other specialty areas by decreasing the workload of these providers, while maintaining financial viability in reducing unnecessary hospitalizations/ER. Let’s tap into the 2nd largest healthcare workforce- our pharmacists and utilize their expertise as medication experts to work inter-professionally as key team members with other clinicians. Value-based care offers the opportunity to develop the policies and systems of care necessary with providers, and payers to come together and align services to meet the needs of patients in true health care reform.
As AIMM moves forward to help organizations meet the needs of our rapidly changing environment, I am encouraged for what all this will bring forth for all patients as we laser our focus on a coordinated and systematic approach to medications through CMM service integration.
Terry McInnis, MD, MPH, CPE, FACOEM
President, AIMM