Released in January of this year was an ACCP white paper titled “Collaborative Drug Therapy Management and Comprehensive Medication Management―2015.”1 The paper, which follows two previous ACCP position statements on collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) published in 1997 and 2003 (see Box), provides the most up-to-date report on the status of CDTM across the United States.2,3 The paper reports that the percentage of states with CDTM legislation increased from 28% to 94% between 1997, when the first report was released, and today.
The paper also highlights that CDTM can be a system for qualified clinical pharmacists to provide comprehensive medication management (CMM), especially in view of emerging practice models that focus on the provision of team-based, patient-centered care. In fact, in its Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists, ACCP states that a CMM plan relies on coordinated, team-based collaboration to initiate, modify, monitor, and/or discontinue medication therapy. Implementation of components of this plan may be delegated to the clinical pharmacist through a CDTM agreement or other formalized management protocol.4
Box. ACCP Position Statements on Collaborative Drug Therapy Management
| 19972 | [ACCP] advocates the role of qualified pharmacists as capable collaborative drug therapy managers. Furthermore, ACCP supports the pharmacists’ role in collaborative drug therapy management to improve patient outcomes and increase efficiencies in the health care system. To participate in collaborative drug therapy management, pharmacists must have access to patients and patient health information, conduct patient assessments, document activities, and undergo quality assurance programs on these activities. Scope of practice statements, identifying pharmacists’ professional authority and responsibility, shall be based on the pharmacist’s credentials and the nature of the collaborative arrangement within the health care environment or system. |
| 20033 | ACCP advocates the role of qualified pharmacists in CDTM in all practice settings. Pharmacists, practicing with physicians and other health care professionals in an interdisciplinary, collaborative manner, improve pharmacotherapeutic outcomes and provide increased value and efficiency to the health care system. With very few exceptions, the pharmacist’s role in drug therapy management should be based on a collaborative agreement between each pharmacist and physician where physician-patient, physician-pharmacist, and pharmacist-patient relationships exist. |
CDTM = collaborative drug therapy management.
The paper further discusses key factors affecting the advancement of CDTM and CMM, including the evolving view of health care, the credentialing and privileging of clinical pharmacists to provide CMM, new models of care, payer and regulator perspectives, the documented value of clinical pharmacist services, the influence of current and future payment models, and the future of clinical pharmacist participation in team-based health care.
ACCP’s white paper recommends that the clinical pharmacy discipline continue to establish and expand its use of CDTM agreements as well as other collaborative privileging mechanisms to provide CMM and improve medication-related outcomes.1 Of note, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has also published a policy statement recommending that collaborative pharmacy practice be promoted throughout the world; that each country use the most appropriate model to implement collaborative pharmacy practice; and that all national health care professional organizations work together to develop a model of collaborative pharmacy practice that suits their country’s particular health system.5
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy. McBane SE, Dopp AL, Abe A, et al. Collaborative drug therapy management and comprehensive medication management―2015. Pharmacotherapy 2015;35:e39–e50. Available at www.accp.com/docs/positions/whitePapers/CDTM%20CMM%202015%20Final.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2015.
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Carmichael JM, O’Connell MB, Devine B, et al. Collaborative drug therapy management by pharmacists. Pharmacotherapy 1997;17:1050–61. Available at www.accp.com/docs/positions/positionstatements/pos19.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2015.
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Hammond RW, Schwartz AH, Campbell MJ, et al. Collaborative drug therapy management by pharmacists—2003. Pharmacotherapy 2003;23:1210–25. Available at www.accp.com/docs/positions/positionstatements/pos2309.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2015.
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists. Pharmacotherapy 2014;34:794–7. Available at www.accp.com/docs/positions/guidelines/StndrsPracClinPharm_Pharmaco8-14.pdf. Accessed May 5, 2015.
- International Pharmaceutical Federation. FIP Statement of Policy. Collaborative Pharmacy Practice. 2010. Available at http://www.fip.org/www/uploads/database_file.php?id=318. Accessed May 5, 2015.