Objectives: To evaluate the impact of a pharmacist-provided telephonic medication therapy management program (MTMP) on drug, medical, and total expenditures in a Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plan population from the perspective of the health plan sponsor.
Study design: Prepost analysis with a matched control group.
Methods: The intervention group was composed of MTMP-eligible MAPD members who received a pharmacist-provided telephonic consultation during the first quarter of 2008. Propensity score matching was used to select a matched control group among the remaining pool of MTMP-eligible MAPD members who did not receive a pharmacist-provided telephonic or face-to-face MTMP consultation in 2008. All-cause healthcare spending was determined before and after an intervention period for the MTMP consultation and control groups. A difference-in-difference analysis was performed to assess the impact of MTMP consultation on all-cause healthcare spending.
Results: A total of 432 MTMP-eligible MAPD members who received an intervention were matched to a comparison group of 432 members. The MTMP consultation group and the comparison group had different unadjusted total expenditures after intervention. The MTMP consultation group had an average of $3680 less per member in the postintervention period compared with the preintervention period, while the matched comparison group had an average of $393 more in the postintervention period compared with the preintervention period. Results from difference-in-difference regression analyses suggest that MTMP consultation was associated with lower total expenditures after adjusting for other baseline covariates.
Conclusions: Pharmacist-provided telephonic MTMP consultations can lead to decreases in total all-cause healthcare expenditures.