Dr.  Amy L. Ai will have the unique opportunity to be one of three representatives of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) to present at the GSA’s Chinese Congress and Exposition on Gerontology and Health Industry, September 12-14 in Suzhou, China.  Dr. Ai presentation at the international conference, “Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management Program: Promises and Pitfalls,” reports on a major collaborative project at Florida State University including the College of Social Work, College of Medicine and the Claude Pepper Center (PI: Leslie Beitsch, MD, JD).

Medicare Part D provides prescription drug insurance to older and disabled adults. The Medication Therapy Management (MTM) program is a component of Medicare Part D that aims to help patients with multiple chronic conditions, high drug costs and to improve the effectiveness and safety of their medication treatments. Previous research on Medicare Part D was positive, indicating that Part D had improved both the affordability and accessibility of medication, but most from insurance and pharmacist studies.

Dr. Ai and her collaborators critically reviewed the MTM program of Medicare Part D, revealing its pros and cons with in respect to economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes.   Their research suggested the potential positive clinical outcomes of the MTM program, but showed mixed finding in regards to economic outcome and very limited humanistic outcomes.  The conclusion was that further evaluation of the MTM program is necessary to determine it’s impact.

To learn more about this research, please read: Amy, A. L., Carretta, H., Beitsch, L. M., Watson, L. Munn, J., & Wilcox, C. (in press). The medication therapy program: Promises and pitfalls. The Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy.