REMUNERATION for the Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) program needs to be reassessed to ensure its continued viability, according to a warning from pharmacists working in aged-care.
Challenges facing the program were highlighted in a study published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, citing a range of barriers to initiating RMMRs, including "inadequate financial and professional supports for collaborative practice" and a lack of professional accountability within the program's structure.
While "pharmacists generally asserted a belief that interdisciplinary medication reviews had excellent potential to improve medication management", the study found "the overarching narrative was of pharmacists, GPs and long-term care (LTC) nurses finding ways around the constraints of the RMMR program to improve quality and safety of prescribing".
The authors reported that while the program allows RMMRs to be conducted on a needs basis, the majority of referrals reflected a default biennial cycle.
"Conducting reviews every two years was seen as inadequate to monitor the needs of residents with dementia, whose health status might change drastically within this period," the authors said.
"Infrequent referral was partly seen to arise from the arduous process involved.
"However, inadequate remuneration was considered the most important barrier to both more frequent referral and to high quality reviews."
Pharmacists also expressed concerns that "GPs sometimes did not refer residents because they lacked trust and willingness to collaborate with pharmacists due to experiencing poor quality reviews in the past".
The report said pharmacists were also concerned about the lack of accountability for GPs to take actions following a RMMR.
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