AMCP Foundation Releases Summary Report of AMCP Foundation's Fifth Annual Symposium

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Foundation has released a summary report of its Fifth Annual Symposium, "Opportunities & Challenges: Patient Care, Prevention & Adherence." The 29-page report underscores the scope of the problem of chronic disease in the U.S., and includes recommendations on how managed care pharmacy can help improve the care of patients with such conditions.

The symposium, which took place Oct. 26 at the AMCP 2015 Nexus meeting in Orlando, Fla., addressed "one of the most significant challenges facing the United States today—treating and preventing chronic disease," said Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM, Chair of the AMCP Foundation and Chief Executive Officer of AMCP. "The ideas and recommendations that come out of this event will result in tangible strategies, programs and actions that will help improve the quality of health care delivery and patient outcomes."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly half of all adult Americans have at least one chronic disease (such as diabetes, heart or respiratory disease), and 7 of every 10 deaths are caused by these diseases. Meanwhile, roughly 50% of medications for chronic disease are not taken by patients as prescribed, accounting for upwards of $300 billion in health care costs for the consequences of medication nonadherence.

Topics addressed at the symposium included the use of predictive analytics to identify at-risk populations for a particular chronic disease; managed care pharmacy's medication therapy management (MTM) role in coordination of care; steps taken when identifying patients who are at risk for being non-adherent, and addressing factors influencing patient behavior; and opportunities for new technology, both in patient monitoring and patient practices.

Key takeaways from the symposium included:

• The magnitude of the implications, both in financial and human terms, of chronic diseases like obesity and cardiovascular disease cannot be overemphasized to stakeholder groups;
• Broader systemic changes are needed to support care integration and coordination to drive improvement in prevention efforts;
• Integrating population health into the health care environment is challenging. Medicare has led a new movement to pay physicians for chronic care management (e.g., covering care transitions);
• Some innovative activity in accountable care community models is occurring at the state level, particularly in Colorado and Minnesota. In Colorado, policy makers are employing capitated payments across social and clinical services, illustrating the ability to go beyond the walls of the clinic and into the community, but with the understanding that fiscal responsibility must be shared. Scaling these programs to larger populations and geographic areas represents a challenge and an opportunity for progress;
• Effective and meaningful engagement is needed at all levels, with payers (to determine the value of services and interventions), with the community (to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic value factors), as well as with the patient (to support that engagement, motivating them to make the appropriate choices);
• In efforts to engage the patient specifically, the patient's point of view must be incorporated much earlier in the process for developing chronic disease prevention, treatment, and adherence programs. Quite often, the metrics for improving outcomes are not patient-centered, and therefore fail in a basic way to incentivize or motivate the patient.

The AMCP Foundation expresses sincere appreciation to our program supporters—Amgen, Inc., Eisai, Merck & Co., and Novo Nordisk, Inc.—for their grant support to develop this year's symposium.

The summary is available at www.amcp.org/amcp-foundation/Resources/proceedings/.

About AMCP Foundation
The AMCP Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, is a research, education and philanthropic organization supporting the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP). Established in 1990 as the Foundation for Managed Care Pharmacy, the AMCP Foundation was created to support the research and education agenda of AMCP. The Foundation exists to advance collective knowledge and insights on major issues associated with the practice of pharmacy in managed health care settings. www.amcpfoundation.org

About AMCP 
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) is a national professional association of pharmacists and other health care practitioners who serve society by the application of sound medication management principles and strategies to improve health care for all. The Academy's 8,000 members develop and provide a diversified range of clinical, educational, medication and business management services and strategies on behalf of the more than 200 million Americans covered by a managed care pharmacy benefit. www.amcp.org.

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SOURCE Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

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