 Part 3: Appointment Reminder Calls Now we have gone through "Making the Call" and "Setting up a Scheduling System"
The information in Part 1 examined the process of training pharmacy support staff members to call and offer the patients the CMR as an annual medication review benefit. In Part 2 of this series we discussed how to set up a system where anyone in the pharmacy could access the MTM appointment calendar. Now that we have set up a pharmacy with a universal scheduling system we can put into place the process of “Appointment Reminder Calls”. Part 3: Reminder Calls These are very important as they should be done the day before or the day of the appointment. They should NEVER be done by the pharmacist unless absolutely necessary. Would you expect your doctor or dentist to call you personally to remind you of your appointment? I personally prefer that my techs do a reminder call on the day before the appointment. This gives us time to alter the schedule if the need arises. During the reminder call, the technician is trained remind the patient of their appointment, gather any lab work that was requested from the physician's office and remind the patient to BRING ALL OF THEIR MEDICATIONS. The most important part of this conversation, of course, is stressing that they should not show up without their medication bottles...all of them! I encourage patients to “clear out their medication cabinet” during this time. I tell technicians to tell them that I want to see every OTC, vitamin, sample, prescription bottle or snake oil supplement that they own! And you know what, it works! I tell them that I will throw away any outdated or unused bottles that they want to get rid of and help them clear out their “medication clutter”. This is a great way to also make sure that they are keeping their medications in a secure area. That way you can bring up the possibility of a locked medication cabinet if there are children or outside help coming in and out of the home. A Personal Impact Example Just the other day my mother-in-law asked if I would get her some more turmeric curcumin from the pharmacy I was working in because she couldn't find it on Amazon. I quickly asked her why and for how long she had been taking this supplement (without my or her doctor’s knowledge). She said she had been on it for 3 months and it was really helping her arthritis. That is all fine and great except for the fact that she requires high doses of Coumadin for a past history of blood clots! I told her that I didn’t think she needed to be taking something that would interact with her Coumadin and thin her blood even further. She called her doctor and he agreed. Now she’s upset because we won’t let her take her “magic arthritis pill”, but she understands the risks. This is just one example of the types of interactions that could be caught during an annual medication review by the pharmacist and why I am so passionate that pharmacy can make a difference in healthcare. The more patients we help like this, the more weight pharmacists will be given to carry and that is ok with me! So train your technicians to always ask and train your patients to always tell. It will make your MTM appointments so much smoother. If you enjoyed this 3 part series on training pharmacy support staff to help with pharmacist-led MTM, I hope you will consider joining the Pharmapreneur Community Newsletter so you can get every new article sent directly to your inbox! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com
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I took an online personality assessment today. This isn't unusual due to the fact that I'm a personal development junkie/nerd!
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to take this silly quiz that gives an insight into my personality (I love those quizzes like "What type of cheese are you?" or whatever; you know the kind I’m talking about). This quiz that promised to show me what type of entrepreneur I am. According to my results, I'm what is known as the Accidental Teacher. For once, I think this is a pretty fair assessment! It all started after a hard job loss and I began picking up any work I could doing pharmacist relief work [read the long version here]. Then everything really started taking off when I decided that if I was going to do medication therapy management (MTM) for one of the pharmacies where I was doing relief. As per my personality, if I was going do it I would give 110% First, I had to figure out the best and most efficient way of doing it!
During that time and because of that dedication to consulting, I decided to put up a website. Through my own business building process, I began to put together some marketing materials and started sharing my journey via the blog. Everything that has happened since is what I consider one of the biggest blessings I've ever received! (This is where the "Accidental Teacher" part comes in) Pharmacists began contacting me, hungry for more information about how they too could become MTM consultants. The response to my blog was so overwhelming that I had to do something; I didn't have enough hours in the day to help everyone, I had to figure out a way to get my message out to more people and help other pharmacists realize their entrepreneurial dreams. After a lot of hard work, I have finally figured out how I'm going to do it! I've already shared the news with my coaching clients and members of the Pharmapreneur community, but I also want to offer this opportunity to as many pharmacists who are interested in building a consulting business. During the month of December it will be offered to Newsletter subscribers at a very special price! Join here --> http://btpharmacyconsulting.com/newsletter If you are interested in learning more about how you can build a clinical services business of your own I encourage you to join our NEWSLETTER today so that you don't miss out on a special offer only available to members of the Pharmapreneur Community! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical services programs. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC can be found at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com Link to the Press Release!  HowThere is an exciting new industry arising the the field of healthcare. It known as pharmacogenomic testing. This means science can now map your genome, then use the information to help your doctor and pharmacist choose the medications that will work best for you. You may have also heard it referred to as “personalized medicine”. Genetic lab testing is no longer an ideal for the future. It is here, responsive and dynamic. It is being made easy to use by intelligent software with medication tracking capabilities. What is it? Personalized DNA profiles are being made available to your health care providers, thanks to the labs and software being produced by the New Jersey company Emgenex. The testing process is very simple. Once your personal doctor or pharmacist is setup to perform the test, they will be able to swab your cheek for DNA. The swab is sent to the lab and a report of the genomic sequence is made within 3-5 days. Your doctor or pharmacist will receive a detailed report of your genetic profile that they will be able to use to put you on the most effective medications. Gone are the days of “trial and error” prescribing. This new genetic testing software allows for responsive and dynamic management of your medications and it doesn’t cost a fortune. Considering the human genome project took 13 years and cost nearly US $3 billion for a composite genome, while a whole genome can now be sequenced in approximately a day for under US $1000. Great news for Medicare members as well. Medicare is breaking new ground by paying for its member to receive these tests with no out of pocket expense to the member. Genetic testing allows your healthcare providers to use your genetics to an advantage and design a personalized medication regimen based on your genome. How can it help patients? For clarity, allow me to provide a very common example of how a simple genetic test could save your life. Patient A: A 58 year old male has his first heart attack. In the hospital he gets a stent placed, and his cardiologist puts him on clopidogrel (Plavix). He goes home thinking the medication will work to prevent another heart attack. However, if Patient A is a poor metabolizer of an enzyme called cytochrome (CYP) 2C19, he may not respond fully to the platelet inhibiting effects of clopidogrel and will be at higher risk for another heart attack or stroke. The medication clopidogrel is an inactive chemical structure. It requires activation by the liver enzyme CYP2C19. Clopidogrel is what is know as a prodrug. A simple genetic test is all that is needed to determine if the patient’s liver can make enough of the enzyme needed to activate clopidogrel to its full anti-clotting potential. If the doctor or pharmacist is able to check the new prescription against the patient’s DNA profile, they would be able to use an alternate medication such as prasugrel (Effient) or ticagrelor (Brilinta). So what are one’s chances of being a poor metabolizer of enzyme 2C19? A gene variant (*2) is present in 25% of whites, 30% of blacks, and 40%-50% of Asians. If that isn’t convincing enough, the genes responsible for this activation of clopidogrel also play a role in the clearing of certain drugs from the body. A person who is a poor metabolizer of 2C19 will be at higher risk of being over-medicated on certain antidepressant drugs. Genetic testing isn’t only helpful when started on new medication therapy. It can also help oncologists decide treatment options in certain cancers such as breast, colon, and non-small cell lung cancer. How can Pharmacists use this information? Pharmacists can help ease the transition from “defensive medicine” to proactive medicine by helping physicians become early adopters of this new pharmacogenomics testing technology. Point-of-care DNA testing can be easily added to a pharmacy’s spectrum of clinical service offerings. When pharmacists can combine medication therapy management with the power of personalized genetic testing, they can provide excellent patient care. Knowing your genetic profile can help your doctors avoid using medications that may be ineffective or even supra-therapeutic and harmful. The genetic test is one that can keep you and your loved ones from hospitalizations due to adverse drug reactions and ineffective medications. The future is now, join the precision medicine movement and ask your doctor or pharmacist about genetic testing today! If you want more information on how you can add DNA testing to your pharmacy or as part of your independent consulting services, contact Dr. Thielemier at blairthielemier@btpharmacyconsulting.com to find out how you can begin offering pharmacogenomics testing services! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD is an independent MTM consultant pharmacist licensed in Arkansas and Missouri. She is the founder of BT Pharmacy Consulting, LLC. and works with pharmacists to create and build clinical service programs and individual consulting firms. She is a contributing author for Pharmacy Times and serves on the Arkansas Care Transitions Medication Safety Committee. More information about Dr. Thielemier and BT Pharmacy Consulting can be found on their website at http://btpharmacyconsulting.com |
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