Addressing old thinking about medication management and considering patient input on drug choice and administration more often are two key ways providers can help make pharmacy care more age-friendly, experts told McKnight’s Long-Term Care.

“Medication management trends continue to play catch-up to our rapidly growing older adult population,” said Chad Worz, PharmD, BCGP, chief executive of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists. “While in the past, we may have had a favorite medication for a particular condition due to its effectiveness, we now have multiple choices.”

Expect an increased focus on personalized care through deprescribing, said Erin Donatelli, PharmD, BCP, FASCP, vice president of clinical and consulting services for Remedi SeniorCare. And consider that therapies once reserved for younger populations can now be used in more targeted and effective ways to treat depression, dementia and psychosis in older patients.

Many experts agree on the need for greater interdisciplinary collaboration to optimize medication regimens and simplify the medication pass, said Stephen Creasy, PharmD, senior director of clinical services for PharMerica. “In preparation for staffing mandates, there will be a continued focus among the various clinical teams to ensure a care plan is patient-centered but also efficient in the delivery of that care to not stress resources on hand,” he said.

Donatelli advocates for streamlining through specialized packaging, medpass consolidation and deprescribing, and she agreed with Creasy that spending containment will be critical. Creasy endorsed dispense-level edits, therapeutic interchange programs and formulary management.

Donatelli, meanwhile, encouraged more remote monitoring and telehealth expansion to improve access to health assessments, diagnoses, interventions and consultations from a distance. Change matters. As Bobby Dunn, RPh, president of Guardian Pharmacy Gulf Coast, noted, despite technological advancements, “nearly half of adverse drug events, emergency room visits and hospital admissions are still preventable.”

From the october 2024 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News