Clinical and economic outcomes of medication therapy management services: the Minnesota experience.

Objectives: To (1) provide medication therapy management (MTM) services to patients, (2) measure the clinical effects associated with the provision of MTM services, (3) measure the percent of patients achieving Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) goals for hypertension and hyperlipidemia in the MTM services intervention group in relationship to a comparison group who did not receive MTM services, and (4) compare patients' total health expenditures for the year before and after receiving MTM services.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Six ambulatory clinics in Minnesota from August 1, 2001, to July 31, 2002.

Quality assessment of a collaborative approach for decreasing drug-related morbidity and achieving therapeutic goals.

Background: Collaboration between physicians and pharmacists is one approach to address drug-related morbidity and achieve therapeutic goals. A collaborative practice of pharmaceutical care has been used in the Fairview Clinics System of Minneapolis-St Paul since 1999.

Methods: The quality of therapeutic determinations made by pharmacists within this collaborative practice of pharmaceutical care was studied by a 12-member panel of physicians and pharmacists who used randomly selected patient records.