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The Get the Medications Right (GTMRx) Institute launched as a multi-stakeholder catalyst for change—to raise awareness of and champion a solution for effective and appropriate use of medications. The Institute has a clear call to action: Get the Medications Right.
“For the patient, it comes down to one simple question: Are these the right medications for me?” says GTMRx co-founder and president Terry McInnis, MD, MPH. “While the national focus has been on drug costs, we believe the opportunity to optimize medication use with advanced diagnostics and personalized care can have a much larger impact in reducing total medical cost. It’s critical that we adopt comprehensive medication management (CMM) as a means to assure optimal patient health—to save both lives and money.”
The GTMRx Institute is funded by a three-year commitment from leading-edge health care organizations in support of the multi-stakeholder approach. The Institute currently includes more than 100 members and will actively seek new members—health care providers, health IT innovators, drug and diagnostics companies, consumer groups, drug manufacturers, payors and employers and other key stakeholders.
Joining McInnis on the board are: Katherine H. Capps, Institute co-founder and executive director, president of Health2 Resources; Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, chief transformation officer, Innovaccer; formerly of IBM and founding president, Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative; Brigadier General (ret.) Allison Hickey, founder and CEO, All in Solutions LLC, former undersecretary of the Veterans Benefits Administration; Deb Gage, president and CEO, Medecision, a subsidiary of Health Care Service Corporation; Steve Goldberg, MD, MBA, vice president, medical affairs, population health and chief health officer, health and wellness, Quest Diagnostics; Ira Klein, MD, MBA, senior director, health care quality strategy, Strategic Customer Group, J&J Health Care Services; and Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, consultant and senior policy advisor, American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
In addition to board members, the Institute seeks executive members to join those already committed—the Veterans Health Administration and the California Chronic Care Coalition—to lead task forces focused on practice transformation, payment and policy solutions. The first major deliverable in development is a Blueprint for Change that will outline specific steps that need to be taken at the practice, payment and policy levels to make CMM a reality.
“We need to put the power of information about medications, treatments and outcomes in the hands of consumers and their care teams who are working collaboratively across the health care system,” says Deb Gage, president and CEO at Medecision and GTMRx Institute board member. “Medecision exists to help unleash better care for consumers, and we cannot achieve our mission of liberating health care without transparency. We’ve seen technology disrupt other industries in ways that provide dramatically increased access to information and ease of work flow. We are right on the precipice of this happening in health care, and we’re excited about the impact the GTMRx Institute will have on improving the health of Americans and our system overall.”
According to a study co-authored by McInnis, $528 billion dollars a year, equivalent to 16 per cent of total health care spending, is consumed due to non-optimized medication use. The Institute will showcase evidence and expert practices through the GTMRx Institute Learning Network.
The GTMRx Institute is a catalyst for change that brings critical stakeholders together, bound by the urgent need to get the medications right.
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