Objectives
To provide a summary of community and ambulatory pharmacy practices and billing patterns for medication therapy management (MTM) services and to identify reasons pharmacists report not billing for direct patient care services.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
United States, February 2011.
Participants
Members of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Ambulatory and Chronic Care Practitioners, and American Pharmacists Association MTM e-community.
Intervention
Online survey.
Main outcome measures
Practice setting, pharmacy services performed, billing technique, and payer, as well as reasons for not billing.
Results
MTM services were provided by 287 pharmacists. The most common practice settings included physician office (23.6%), health-system outpatient facility (21.7%), and community pharmacy (20.2%). A total of 149 of 276 pharmacists (54.0%) reported billing for MTM services; 16 of 276 (5.8%) did not know if they were currently billing. Community pharmacists were more likely to bill than all other sites combined (80.5% vs. 53.1%, P < 0.001), and pharmacists with >75% of visits face-to-face were more likely to bill (66.2% vs. 46.6%, P < 0.002).
Conclusion
A variety of MTM services are provided in outpatient settings with inconsistent billing techniques and reimbursement. Pharmacists should continue to work toward consistent, sustainable reimbursement to expand MTM services.