PBM Medco – Shouldn’t be the Only “Player” to have Advanced Technological & ProcessAdvantages:
http://www.genomeweb.com/dxpgx/medco-says-specialist-pharmacists-can-help-docs-recognize-pgx-opportunities-onco
The new information system by Medco Health Solutions' Therapeutic Resource Center is expected to allow pharmacists to play an unprecedented role as an intermediary between cancer patients, doctors, and laboratories by recognizing opportunities for pharmacogenomic testing.
Pharmacogenomics is the branch of pharmacology which deals with the influence of genetic variation on drug response in patients by correlating gene expression or single-nucleotide polymorphisms with a drug's efficacy or toxicity. By doing so, pharmacogenomics aims to develop rational means to optimize drug therapy, with respect to the patients' genotype, to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal adverse effects. Such approaches promise the advent of "personalized medicine"; in which drugs and drug combinations are optimized for each individual's unique genetic makeup.
Medco announced that approximately 150 of their "specialist pharmacists" will manage cancer patients by identifying treatment gaps, managing drug side effects, and addressing quality-of-life issues at its oncology Therapeutic Resource Center, or TRC, headquartered in Whitestown, Ind.
Medco will be launching a new information management system, called Advanced Oncology Solutions, which can alert pharmacists and physicians to potential adverse drug reactions, current clinical data, and pharmacogenomic opportunities for specific treatments.
In a specialty pharmacy setting the pharmacist serves as a liaison between the physician and the patient and the laboratory to ensure the testing is scheduled, performed, that the results are received by the physician. It seems this system will help them organize this data and patient / medication management. The system also seems to explain that the pharmacist would support the interpretation of the results and application to treatment decisions.
This should not be limited to Medco and Medco Pharmacists. What other specialty pharmacy operations are doing this and with what technology? Is there one system today that delivers the standard pharmacy management system needs along with the specialty customer / physician, and medication relationship management needs?
Specialty and general pharmacists gather information on patients' conditions and treatments through their own information systems – but is this completed with customizations internally?
It’s imperativeto keep patients compliant with their prescribed drugs and minimizing adverse reactions. Many oncology specialty pharmacists oversee the proper administration of anti-cancer regimens and supportive care.
However there’s a need for the non-specialty pharmacists to monitor the overall safe administration of oncologics and drugs for other conditions. What pharmacy system is in place today that can help accomplish this – to ultimately compete on the same level of execution – planned by Medco and their new information system?
Would this be a stand-alone PIS/ PMS solution or a web-based interface that can communicate with an existing pharmacy system?
There’s a GREAT DEAL of opportunity here for both the independent specialty pharmacy healthcare provider – coupled with the right pharmacy software technologies.
