People with complex health and social needs frequently have complicated drug regimens, often taking 10 or more medications daily, with hard-to-understand dosage instructions, prescribed by numerous providers. Too often these individuals are overwhelmed by their medication routine and face significant challenges around medication adherence, risk of medication errors, and avoidable complications caused by drug interactions or adverse drug events (ADEs).

Jim Slater, PharmD, executive director of Pharmacy Services at CareOregon, labels this concept Medication Trauma and is championing solutions to address the issue. During this webinar Dr. Slater explored innovative opportunities to: (1) identify people at risk for medication trauma; (2) support comprehensive medication management; and (3) implement medication regimen simplification solutions.

The webinar is a product of the Community Management of Medication Complexity Innovation Lab, a national initiative made possible by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation that is working to refine and spread promising community-based medication management strategies to improve outcomes for people with complex needs.

Agenda

I. Welcome and Overview of the Community Management of Medication Complexity Innovation Lab

Speaker: Caitlin Thomas-Henkel, Senior Program Officer, CHCS

Caitlin Thomas-Henkel welcomed participants and introduced Jim Slater, Executive Director of Pharmacy Services at CareOregon. She provided a brief overview on how providers and health systems are addressing medication complexity through community-based medication management strategies.

II. Medication Trauma: Discoveries, Opportunities, Challenges

Speakers: Jim Slater, PharmD, Executive Director of Pharmacy Services, CareOregon

Jim Slater introduced the concept of medication trauma and described the prevalence and negative impact of medication trauma on vulnerable populations. He outlined CareOregon’s multi-disciplinary, data-driven approach to identifying and addressing medication complexity, including its use of pharmacy data to create a medication risk score for each CareOregon member, a patient-centered outreach and engagement approach, interdisciplinary care teams, and engagement of community pharmacists.

III. Moderated Q&A and Closing Remarks

Moderator: Caitlin Thomas-Henkel