Background: The implementation of chronic care management (CCM) services has often been hindered by issues with reimbursement, raising concerns about sustainability. To date, little if any literature has examined the financial feasibility and sustainability of CCM services in rural practice settings.
Objective: Assess financial reimbursement and productivity metrics for pharmacist-led CCM services at a rural, medically underserved family medicine clinic.
Methods: This study retrospectively examined data from the clinic's CCM program from October 2020 through May 2021 and included total clinical encounters, minutes of pharmacist time spent on calls, CCM claims, work relative value units (wRVU), financial reimbursement, and overall personnel costs.
Results: Over an 8-month period, 46 patients were enrolled in CCM services. Of the 49 CCM calls placed during this time, 31 (63.3%) were billable, though only 20 (64.5% of billable calls) were ultimately reimbursed. Approximately 37% of pharmacist "time-on-task" was not billable. Compared to the $643 required to cover pharmacist time on CCM calls, $822 of reimbursement was collected. This $179 profit, or 27.8% return-on-investment, is similar to results from more urbanized practices. Furthermore, services were "net productive" in wRVU generation, which may appeal to physician stakeholders interested in such targets.
Conclusions: Concerns about profitability and sustainability have prevented more widespread CCM implementation. In the present study, pharmacist-led CCM services achieved a 27.8% return-on-investment. Though rural-based CCM services may never attain significant profit margins, this data suggests they can still be financially self-sustaining and "net productive," all while providing high-quality patient care.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2023.01.004 | DOI Listing |
Prof Case Manag
January 2025
Lynn S. Muller, JD, RN, BA-HCM, CCM, began her career at Pace University as a Registered Professional Nurse (RN), went onto earn her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Health Care Management at St. Peter's University of New Jersey and then her Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law. She is currently a practicing Attorney and the managing partner of Muller & Muller. Her practice includes the defense of healthcare professionals before the state licensing boards, case management litigation, family law, wills, trusts, and estates, as well as consulting representation of medical practitioners, facilities and health service corporations on such issues as regulatory compliance and day-to-day operations. Dr. Muller is a popular and sought-after keynote and session speaker at national and regional conferences. She is the Contributing Editor of Professional Case Management: The Official Journal of the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), She is a former member of the Board of Directors of CMSA of New York City and a former adjunct Professor at Saint Peter's University School of Nursing in the MSN and DNP Programs. Dr. Muller is the author of over 80 articles in nursing and case management journals and listed on the NIH website. She is a contributor to the 2016 CMSA Standards of Practice and CMSA Career & Knowledge Pathways. Dr. Muller is the author of both legal chapters of the 3rd edition of Case Management: A Practical Guide for Education and Practice and 3rd edition of the CMSA Core Curriculum for Case Management. She is a former Commissioner for the Commission for Case Management Certification (CCMC), where she now serves on the Professional Development and Education Committee, is a Certified Facilitator for CCM CERTIFCATION 360™ a Multi-day Immersion Program and other special projects. She is a contributor to the CCMC Case Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK) and a past President of the New Jersey Chapter of CMSA. Dr. Muller is the former Director of Social Services for the Borough of Bergenfield, N.J., a community-based case management program she developed and initiated. Dr. Muller has also served her community as public defender, municipal court judge, councilwoman and chaired the Borough's Barrier Free Committee.
Prof Case Manag
January 2025
Lynn S. Muller, JD, RN, BA-HCM, CCM, began her career at Pace University as a Registered Professional Nurse (RN), went onto earn her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Health Care Management at St. Peter's University of New Jersey and then her Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law. She is currently a practicing Attorney and the managing partner of Muller & Muller. Her practice includes the defense of healthcare professionals before the state licensing boards, case management litigation, family law, wills, trusts, and estates, as well as consulting representation of medical practitioners, facilities and health service corporations on such issues as regulatory compliance and day-to-day operations. She is a popular and sought-after keynote and session speaker at national and regional conferences. She is the Contributing Editor of Professional Case Management: The Official Journal of the Case Management Society of America (CMSA), She is a former member of the Board of Directors of CMSA of New York City and a former adjunct Professor at Saint Peter's University School of Nursing in the MSN and DNP Programs. She is the author of over 80 articles in nursing and case management journals and listed on the NIH website. She is a contributor to the 2016 CMSA Standards of Practice and CMSA Career & Knowledge Pathways. She is the author of both legal chapters of the 3rd edition of Case Management: A Practical Guide for Education and Practice and 3rd edition of the CMSA Core Curriculum for Case Management. She is a former Commissioner for the Commission for Case Management Certification (CCMC), where she now serves on the Professional Development and Education Committee, is a Certified Facilitator for CCM CERTIFCATION 360 a Multi-day Immersion Program and other special projects. She is a contributor to the CCMC Case Management Body of Knowledge (CMBOK) and a past President of the New Jersey Chapter of CMSA. She is the former Director of Social Services for the Borough of Bergenfield, NJ, a community-based case management program she developed and initiated. She has also served her community as public defender, municipal court judge, councilwoman and chaired the Borough's Barrier Free Committee.
Cureus
December 2024
Cornea and Refractive Surgery, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, PAK.
Background: Glaucoma, particularly open-angle glaucoma (OAG), is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, associated with optic nerve damage, retinal ganglion cell death, and visual field defects. Corneal biomechanical properties and cellular components, such as corneal nerve and keratocyte densities assessed by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), may serve as biomarkers for glaucoma progression. This study aimed to explore the relationship between corneal nerve parameters, keratocyte density, and optical coherence tomography (OCT)-derived retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients and controls.
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January 2025
Critical Care Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
Rapid accumulation of knowledge and skills by trainees in the intensive care unit assumes prior mastery of clinically relevant core physiology concepts. However, for many fellows, their foundational physiology knowledge was acquired years earlier during their preclinical medical curricula and variably reinforced during the remainder of their undergraduate and graduate medical training. We sought to assess the retention of clinically relevant pulmonary physiology knowledge among pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) and critical care medicine (CCM) fellows.
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