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| Monday, 25 March 2013, 23:25 HKT/SGT | |
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Source: Omnicare | |
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CINCINNATI, OH, Mar 25, 2013 - (ACN Newswire) - Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE: OCR) and WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE: WCG) announced today an agreement to provide Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services to WellCare beneficiaries residing in long-term care (LTC) facilities to improve health outcomes.
The Affordable Care Act requires prescription drug plan sponsors to offer MTM services to eligible beneficiaries that include, at a minimum, an annual Comprehensive Medication Review (CMR) that must be furnished person-to-person or using telehealth technologies. The CMR must include a review of the beneficiary's medications, which may result in the creation of a medication action plan with a written or printed summary of the results of the review provided to the targeted beneficiary. Beginning January 1, 2013, the offer of the CMR to all eligible beneficiaries includes enrollees who are in the LTC setting.
"Omnicare is pleased to work with WellCare to improve its beneficiaries' drug therapy outcomes," said Dr. Gary Erwin, Omnicare Senior Vice President of Clinical Services. "Omnicare's clinical pharmacists are experts in geriatric care with a detailed knowledge of beneficiary clinical status, existing treatment goals and care plans. Through their experience, and with Omnicare's proprietary clinical software, the Omnicare clinical pharmacist coordinates the drug regimen review and CMR processes, engaging beneficiaries and prescribers in the LTC setting to implement quality-based drug therapy recommendations in a seamless and efficient manner."
Omnicare will assist WellCare in the provision of MTM services in the LTC population, including completion of CMRs in concordance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations; completion of monthly follow-up medication reviews on members receiving a previous CMR; and provide data elements of services rendered in format necessary to produce the annual MTM CMS report, including detailed member level activities to support CMS data elements as requested.
CMS creates plan ratings, based on performance measures that indicate the quality of Medicare plans on a scale of one to five stars with five stars being the highest rating. CMS also uses display measures, which are not included in the plan ratings, to facilitate quality improvement by the plans. The percent of MTM enrollees who received a CMR will be utilized by CMS as a display measure for 2014 and is proposed as a performance measure in 2015 - utilizing validated 2013 MTM data.
In a pilot program with WellCare, Omnicare achieved a CMR completion rate of greater than 95% in those beneficiaries that resided in a long term care facility serviced by Omnicare.
About Omnicare
Omnicare, Inc., a Fortune 400 company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides comprehensive pharmaceutical services to patients and providers across North America. As the market-leader in professional pharmacy, related consulting and data management services for skilled nursing, assisted living and other chronic care institutions, Omnicare leverages its unparalleled clinical insight into the geriatric market along with some of the industry's most innovative technological capabilities to the benefit of its long-term care customers. Omnicare also provides key commercialization services for the bio-pharmaceutical industry and end-of-life disease management through its Specialty Care Group. For more information, visit www.omnicare.com .
About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. provides managed care services targeted to government-sponsored health care programs, focusing on Medicaid and Medicare. Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare offers a variety of health plans for families, children, and the aged, blind, and disabled, as well as prescription drug plans. The company serves approximately 2.7 million members nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2012. For more information about WellCare, please visit the company's website at www.wellcare.com .
Contact:
Media:
Ed Loyd
+1-513-719-0808
ed.loyd@omnicare.com
Investors:
Patrick C. Lee
+1-513-719-1507
patrick.lee@omnicare.com
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients.
The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Omnicare via Thomson Reuters ONE
Topic: Press release summary
Source: Omnicare
https://www.acnnewswire.com
From the Asia Corporate News Network
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