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Patricia S. Meisner, Co-Founder & CEO, ActualMedsActualMeds offers a cloud-based platform that interoperates with Electronic Health Record (EMR) and care management systems such that medication management may be incorporated into the patient’s ongoing care, and information about their active medications can be shared across the care continuum. The platform captures data from EMR, matches it with prescriptions filled by patients and to corresponding claims data, and provides it to the care team in real-time, enabling them to immediately recognize gaps or discrepancies in the data. This automated process performed in the background ensures that the care team doesn’t have to go through any hassle of data collection, including printing information, transcribing, or calling pharmacies. The result is increased workflow efficiency that enables best practice medication reconciliation to be performed for more patients at transitions of care, with greater improvement to outcomes.
ActualMeds’ platform utilizes a robust risk rule framework that analyzes risks in drug-drug interaction as well as gaps in care at the point of care and in real-time. For instance, duplicate therapies or a missing prescription. This adds value to the care team’s time by helping them see the risk and quality measures rather than spending time on the data itself. Further, the platform generates recommendations and interventions for the care team, helping them optimize the patient’s medication regimen. ActualMeds also enables users to reconcile the medications and communicate patient medication action plans across multiple stakeholders and organizations.
There are many “point” solutions to help with various aspects of medication management for patients as well as providers, but they tend to strand data with the user or confine it to the care setting. What differentiates ActualMeds from the competitors is its platform. “Whether the patients are at home, skilled nursing, or long-term care facility, there may be point solutions in each but once the patient moves to the next care setting, the medication information often does not follow. We don’t just map data from one system to another, but combine data from disparate sources and transform them to meaningful information that is available to the care team at the right time and the right place,” explains Patricia. Further adding to its strength is the dedicated team of experts in the company, most with over 20 years of experience, including business professionals, clinical pharmacists, and software developers, who understand the challenges of marrying data interoperability with medication management workflows.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need to keep patients at-home for care delivery due to the extreme restrictions and capacity challenges placed in the acute care setting and, as a result, Covid and non- Covid patients are relocated across care systems. The healthcare system itself is being further transformed with the relaxation of regulatory requirements for patient care at home, including those related to telemedicine. Much of the transformation catalyzed by COVID-19 is likely to become permanent as it is directly driving the Affordable Care Act goals to deliver better healthcare cost-effectively and to improve patient outcomes. As all patients move through the care continuum, ActualMeds can provide timely information that is critical to a successful transition.
We provide patient-centered medication management that reduces the risk of adverse drug events and keeps the high-risk patients out of the hospital
Illustrating the same, Patricia highlights an instance in which the company helped one of their pharmacy services customers to provide the New Jersey Covid-19 field hospitals with real-time medication history for patients admitted. Using the platform, the pharmacists were able to create real-time reports at the time of admission and offer it to the care team. In the absence of other major information infrastructure in the field hospitals, this helped the admitting care team view active medications that indicated any underlying medical conditions for patients as a way to triage them efficiently. Patricia also highlights the success rate of ActualMeds in the corrections system, where obtaining prisoners’ active medications during intake can be difficult. This could take days for collecting data by interviewing the person or calling local pharmacies. The risk can be extreme in these cases as the unavailability of critical medication can result in adverse drug events if intake processing is delayed, which is frequently the case in this setting. Nurses can utilize ActualMed’s tool for on-demand reports, thus preventing any delay in delivering critical patient care, while the corrections facility is accountable for the patient’s well-being.
Moving ahead, ActualMeds plans to roll out its Pharmacist-On-Demand Service (PODS)™ before the end of this year. Interestingly, this illustrates the company’s farsightedness as they started on the strategy at the end of the last year, and Covid-19 has accelerated the plans to bring it to the market. Through this technology-enabled service, ActualMeds allows pharmacists’ clinical services to be scaled across the care continuum and fill the current market gap that cannot be filled by telehealth solutions alone.
Company
ActualMeds
Management
Patricia S. Meisner, Co-Founder & CEO, ActualMeds
Description
ActualMeds is the first solution to provide “medication reconciliation on demand” at point of care and to automate the process for the care team. Seamlessly combining medication information from the electronic health record, Health Information Exchanges, prescription claims databases, and a direct provider-conducted structured interview with the patient, ActualMeds produces the best possible medication history (BPMH) --when and where it is needed. Information displayed from Provider, Payer and Patient is validated and aligned and ready for reconciliation, saving time. Clinically validated rules identify risk in the patient’s medication profile including usage behaviors to guide immediate intervention by the care team when it can have the greatest impact on improving outcomes and reducing the cost of care
ActualMeds News
ActualMeds Acquires Consultant Groups to Meet Demand to Support High-Risk Patients at Scale, Fuel Next Phase of Growth
TALLAHASSEE - ActualMeds, announced the acquisitions of SRx Consultant Group (SRx) and Senior Care Consultants Group (SCCG). ActualMeds is now poised to deliver even greater value to its customers while also expanding its footprint to serve more high-risk patients in Medicare Advantage Part D plans and in post-acute long-term care facilities, and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The services of SRx and SCCG are powered by the company’s InConcert Medication Management (ICCM) platform, which provides comprehensive medication management, patient relationship management, and automated outreach protocols to engage patients and improve outcomes.
Through the acquisition of SRx, ActualMeds introduces a team of skilled pharmacists and medication care coordinators into its expanding workforce. These professionals bring extensive expertise and industry best practices, enhancing the capability to achieve exceptional outcomes for STARs and Adherence concerning Medicare Advantage Part D Plans. As a component of the integration process, ActualMeds will automate various components of SRx team's effective methodology, thereby expanding the scope of the service and catering to a broader range of organizations. Furthermore, Emily Schmitz, Pharm.D, the founder and CEO of SRx Consultant Group, has assumed the position of Executive Vice President of Managed Care Services and has also become a board member at ActualMeds.
“We’re thrilled to bring our proven solutions to patient-related medication issues in managed care to ActualMeds,” said Schmitz. “We are confident that we can make an even bigger impact together with our new tech-enabled services and industry-leading results for improving medication adherence with even the hardest to reach patients, many of whom face the challenges presented by social determinants of health.”
By acquiring SCCG, ActualMeds has embraced an extensive network comprising over 100 consultant pharmacists and nurses who serve in excess of 1,000 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) spanning across 41 states. Gaylon E. Fruit, the CEO and originator of SCCG, has assumed a role on the company's Board of Directors, providing advisory insights.
“We’re pleased to join the ActualMeds team as more than ever before, our pharmacists need greater efficiencies to deliver best practice medication management and medication reconciliation to care teams and their patients,” said Fruit. “We look forward to making a difference for ActualMeds customers and their patients.”
Patricia Meisner, the CEO of ActualMeds, reiterated the sentiment. "We are enthusiastic about extending a warm welcome to the SRx and SCCG teams as part of the ActualMeds family. Our cutting-edge technology will empower these hands-on medication management services to broaden their reach and scalability, enabling them to assist a greater number of high-risk patients and healthcare institutions in achieving improved outcomes while reducing costs."
ActualMeds' patient-focused strategy towards medication management has demonstrated a measurable influence on patient outcomes, reported satisfaction levels, and quality ratings. This approach has concurrently led to reductions in care management expenses and the overall cost of care. Through technology-enabled solutions, ActualMeds supports healthcare organizations in enhancing efficiency, facilitating greater access to quality care, lowering labor-related expenses, averting errors, and fostering improved outcomes for both the organizations and their patients.