New Program in Tennessee Pays Pharmacists for MTM
A new pilot program in Tennessee will allow pharmacists to be reimbursed for medication therapy management (MTM) services for Medicaid beneficiaries. HB 628/SB 398, sponsored by a pharmacist in the Senate and a physician in the House, is a two-year program to recognize pharmacists as Medicaid providers and enter into collaborative practice agreements with physicians in the state to provide MTM.
“This is not an expansion of services. This is what we’ve been doing our entire careers. It has not been utilized near to the full degree of its potential,” SB 398 sponsor and Tennessee Sen. Ferrell Haile (R-18), BSPharm said of this program.
This new program will also call for an increased role of pharmacy technicians in the workflow. “As we place pharmacists in positions to provide more care, we have to maximize the role of our pharmacy technicians and get them more involved in the provision of the care as part of the pharmacy team,” said Micah Cost, PharmD, MS, executive director of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association.