Change.org Petition Regarding Pharmacists

Someone posted a link to this in LinkedIn.  For those of you in the pharmacy world, pharmacists, PBMs, and even medical professionals that work with them, this seems very relevant.  We all know the value that pharmacists bring to the over all care team.  With that in mind, I signed the petition and thought I would share it here.

(BTW – I’ll admit that I thought the Medicare legislation did recognize pharmacists.)

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Recognize pharmacists as health care providers!!!

Greetings,

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Congress.

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Recognize pharmacists as health care providers!!!

Despite overwhelming evidence of the positive impact pharmacists can have on patient health, pharmacists are not recognized as healthcare providers under the Social Security Act and, therefore, cannot be paid by Medicare for therapy management and patient consultation services. The Social Security Act does recognize other healthcare professionals such as dieticians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse midwives, and clinical social workers.

By changing the compensation structure allowed under Medicare, we can ensure that patients have access to the medication expertise of pharmacists. Studies have shown that when a pharmacist is directly involved in patient care, patients have fewer adverse drug reactions, experience improved outcomes, and healthcare costs are reduced.

The perils of adverse effects from taking multiple medications affect all age groups. According to a recent survey, just over half of all Americans take at least 2 medications each day and nearly one-third take 4 or more medications each day. For the Medicare population, medication use is even higher — nearly half of Americans aged 65 and older take at least 4 medications each day.

This is a critical safety issue!!
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Sincerely,

George Van Antwerp