AIMM partners with organizations to develop a RITZ (Regional Integrated Transformation Zones). A RITZ is a strategic response to gaps in medication management systems nationwide, created by uniting a community of service providers committed to better health outcomes for populations who are not achieving their desired clinical goals. Read more about our RITZ initiative here.

Our current RITZ partnerships, listed below, fall into two categories: payer provider partnerships and care delivery transformation.

Payer Provider Partnerships focus on improving how people pay for care.

AIMM is partnering with the University of Utah (UU) College of Pharmacy (CoP) to install a sustainable comprehensive medication management (CMM) service to improve the quality and effectiveness of health care in the greater Salt Lake region and eventually the state of Utah. AIMM will support the UU CoP in achieving its vision to: “Form a state-based provider, pharmacist, payer, and patient alliance that will allow practitioners and funders to create real, sustainable solutions to optimize medication use across the state.”

AIMM and UNC Eshelman have been awarded a $400,000 grant from the Dogwood Health Trust to improve patient care, optimize medication use and access, and better chronic care management for individuals in Western North Carolina. AIMM will contribute our expertise to this project by providing project management and our experience with design of healthcare delivery system models, including enhancing access to medication management services by underserved and rural populations. By partnering with local stakeholders, AIMM will bring our national experience to identifying the medication management needs of patients in rural, Western North Carolina and potential solutions to addressing gaps in care, including social determinants of health.

Care Delivery Transformation partnerships focus on producing value through team-based implementation of care.

The Empire Health Foundation (EHF) is partnering with AIMM in an 18-month initiative designed to improve care for high-risk patients over the age of 50 in the rural communities of Eastern Washington. Of the more than 141,000 residents spread over 6 counties, it is estimated that 30,000 residents over the age of 50 are managing more than one chronic condition, taking numerous medications and seeing multiple providers. AIMM and EHF are working together toward creating measurable, sustainable health improvements in four focus areas: improving health outcomes; strengthening health systems; growing physician supply; and building nonprofit capacity.

AIMM is the fiscal sponsor of Advancing Kidney Health Through Optimal Medication Management (AKHOMM), helping to advance its goals to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs for those with kidney disease. AKHOMM and AIMM’s values align, as we are both organizations championing team-based medication management and the importance of pharmacists on CMM teams. AIMM assists in AKHOMM’s work sponsored by companies such as Vifor, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Apexus, ASHP, and AIMM joined forces to create the “A3 Collaborative,” a leading-edge learning collaborative that offered healthcare providers support to accelerate the implementation of sustainable comprehensive medication management (CMM) services. The A3 Collaborative facilitated 12-month long transformational experiences for more than 100 health systems and organizations between 2017 & 2020. The A3 Collaborative provided an opportunity for these groups to take their practices to the next level with a national learning collaborative & network of high performing peers.

The Cardinal Health Foundation engaged AIMM to facilitate a learning collaborative for a grant program called E3 (Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Excellence) in Healthcare. E3 grants were designed to impact the quality of healthcare, and offered recipients multi-year funding to take their healthcare improvement projects to scale and make them sustainable. Cardinal Health also awarded nearly $1 million in grants to impact the opioid epidemic across five states through its new Optimal Prescribing in Pain Management (OPPM) initiative. AIMM supported grant recipients through a learning collaborative designed to produce action, measurement and increase impact by encouraging efforts to collaborate with other healthcare providers and patients to support optimal medication use in pain management.

Concordia University Wisconsin’s School of Pharmacy (CUW-SOP), along with CUW’s Batterman School of Business and with financial support from The Dohmen Company, offered an 18-month initiative called the Concordia Medication Management Accelerator. More than $50,000 was awarded to entrepreneurs with the most compelling business plans for CMM initiatives. AIMM supported this initiative by running a learning collaborative for 10 Wisconsin-based organizations, helping them to adapt AIMM’s strategies employed by front-line practitioners in partnership with organizational leaders to assume accountability for patient safety and health, improve quality of care, and champion payment models that recognize the value of medication management services integrated in to a comprehensive and coordinated approach to primary care.

The Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC) is a partner in the state’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services awarded State Innovation Model (SIM) grant and will convene Learning Community education sessions, provide online learning resources, and ensure technical assistance. AIMM partnered with IHC to support their efforts with the Iowa SIM grant. AIMM served as an integral resource for the state’s six Community Care Coalitions (C3s), as they developed strategies to address integrated medication management approaches as a catalyst for change within communities. C3s are locally-based coalitions of health and social service stakeholders collaborating to promote the coordination of health and social services across care settings and systems of care.