Understanding the landscape of MTM programs for Medicare. Part D: Results from a study for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid services.

Objectives: To describe the features of medication therapy management (MTM) programs, including eligibility criteria, enrollment, services, and reimbursement, and to describe the criteria used to evaluate MTM programs and assess the evidence of relevance to Medicare.

Design: Descriptive, exploratory, nonexperimental study.

Setting: United States between July 2007 and June 2008.

Participants: 60 key informants from 46 different organizations and case studies with 28 representatives from four MTM programs.

Intervention: Literature review, key informant interviews, and evaluation of case studies.

Main Outcome Measures: MTM program features and evidence of effectiveness.

Results: MTM programs used a variety of practice models. Medicare MTM programs used different eligibility criteria than MTM programs sponsored by Medicaid or other payers. MTM programs that required patients to opt-in had less success in enrolling participants than those using opt-out. Most MTM programs conducted annual medication reviews. Most non-Medicare MTM programs provided face-to-face interventions, whereas Medicare MTM programs relied more on telephone or mail; no research tested the effectiveness of different modes. Almost all MTM programs used pharmacists to provide services. Little research on Medicare MTM programs was available. Costs were commonly measured in the MTM literature, although results were inconsistent. A few studies demonstrated significant improvements in intermediate outcomes (e.g., low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), while less studies demonstrated an impact on serious sequelae (e.g., emergency department visits).

Conclusion: Medicare MTM programs were still evolving when this study was conducted, and we found limited evidence to determine which beneficiaries would benefit most from MTM, which features achieved the desired outcomes, and which outcomes should be measured to compare MTM program performance.