Medicare part D and the nursing home setting. 2008

David G Stevenson, and Haiden A Huskamp, and Joseph P Newhouse
Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. stevenson@hcp.med.harvard.edu

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to explore how the introduction of Medicare Part D is changing the operations of long-term-care pharmacies (LTCPs) and nursing homes, as well as implications of those changes for nursing home residents. METHODS We reviewed existing sources of information and interviewed stakeholders across various perspectives. We conducted 31 semistructured telephone interviews with key stakeholders between November 2006 and January 2007. RESULTS Part D represents a substantial departure from how prescription drugs were previously financed and administered in nursing homes, and nursing home providers and LTCPs have struggled in adapting to some of these changes. Part D increased the variation around formularies and drug management processes for residents at the facility level, creating additional burden on clinical and pharmacy staff and introducing a tension between facilities' need to dispense medications quickly and assuring of coverage for those drugs. Nursing home and LTCP stakeholders perceive wide variation across Part D plans in their ability to meet the needs of nursing home residents. CONCLUSIONS Although LTCPs, nursing homes and their clinicians, and Part D plans will gain experience with the benefit in the nursing home setting over time, stakeholders we interviewed identified a range of longer term issues and questions that merit attention as the benefit proceeds.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007407 Interviews as Topic Works about conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes works about school admission or job interviews. Group Interviews,Interviewers,Interviews, Telephone,Oral History as Topic,Group Interview,Interview, Group,Interview, Telephone,Interviewer,Interviews, Group,Telephone Interview,Telephone Interviews
D008134 Long-Term Care Care over an extended period, usually for a chronic condition or disability, requiring periodic, intermittent, or continuous care. Care, Long-Term,Long Term Care
D009735 Nursing Homes Facilities which provide nursing supervision and limited medical care to persons who do not require hospitalization. Homes, Nursing,Nursing Home
D010594 Pharmacies Facilities for the preparation and dispensing of drugs. Community Pharmacies,Pharmacy Distribution,Community Pharmacy,Distribution, Pharmacy,Distributions, Pharmacy,Pharmacies, Community,Pharmacy Distributions,Pharmacy, Community
D011307 Drug Prescriptions Directions written for the obtaining and use of DRUGS. Drug Prescribing,Drug Prescription,Drug Prescribings,Prescribing, Drug,Prescribings, Drug
D005569 Formularies as Topic Works about lists of drugs or collections of recipes, formulas, and prescriptions for the compounding of medicinal preparations. Formularies differ from PHARMACOPEIA in that they are less complete, lacking full descriptions of the drugs, their formulations, analytic composition, chemical properties, etc. In hospitals, formularies list all drugs commonly stocked in the hospital pharmacy.
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001291 Attitude of Health Personnel Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc. Staff Attitude,Attitude, Staff,Attitudes, Staff,Health Personnel Attitude,Health Personnel Attitudes,Staff Attitudes
D014481 United States A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D017149 Private Sector That distinct portion of the institutional, industrial, or economic structure of a country that is controlled or owned by non-governmental, private interests. Private Enterprise,Enterprise, Private,Enterprises, Private,Private Enterprises,Sector, Private

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