Senate Health Care Reform Bill Keeps Pharmacist-Friendly MTM, Workforce Provisions

7/16/2009

Legislators have passed the first draft of health care reform legislation, which includes several measures championed by ASHP.

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee voted to approve the “Affordable Health Choices Act, ” which creates:

A patient safety research center that would award grants for pharmacist-provided medication therapy management services to chronically-ill patients.
Community health teams, to provide transition care, including medication reconciliation and discharge planning with medication therapy management services under the medical home model.
A national health care workforce commission to gather and disseminate information about on health workforce supply, education and training capacity, look to integrate health care training.
A pathway for the development of biosimilars that would give brand name manufacturers 12 years of market exclusivity.

ASHP actively lobbied HELP committee staffers on the important contributions that pharmacists provide as part of the health care team. The Society urged policymakers to incorporate pharmacists’ services into the medical home model and to include pharmacists and clinical pharmacists in definitions of the health care workforce and health professionals that are part of the bill. ASHP also took a lead role in the work of the coalition, Leadership for Medication Management, which lobbied lawmakers to include the medication therapy management grant provision in the bill.

The Senate Finance committee is expected to release a version of reform legislation this week. The House of Representatives introduced their bill on Tuesday.