Junling Wang, PhD, professor of Clinical Pharmacy, and Kenneth Hohmeier, PharmD, assistant professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Director of Community Affairs, and Residency Program Director of PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency Program, at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, have been funded by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to study medication utilization patterns among the Medicare population. The total funding for this research is $60,000. This research team also features Julie W. Kuhle, RPh, Vice President, Measure Operations, Pharmacy Quality Alliance, and Ms. Yanru Qiao, research assistant at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy.
The federal government including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has placed great importance on the quality and efficiency of health care while monitoring and incentivizing the performance of health care plans. This has been partly reflected in the governments’ methods to measure and improve the quality of the care that it pays for under the Medicare prescription drug (Part D) program. For example, one of these methods, known as the Star Ratings system, has been used by CMS to measure the quality of care provided by Medicare Part D plans since 2008. However, it is unknown if the current Star Ratings measures are the most appropriate indicators for population health. The research team led by Wang and Hohmeier aims to explore appropriate measures for medication utilization patterns among the Medicare population. By determining these patterns, this team will be able to advise the policy makers and the academic community on these patterns and the importance of measuring these patterns appropriately.