Evaluation of Pharmacist Involvement in Medicare Wellness Visits

To evaluate the difference in the number of drug therapy interventions between patients seen by pharmacists and patients seen by nonpharmacist providers during Medicare Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs).

Pharmacists completed the medication history portion of AWVs at a primary care, interdisciplinary clinic in Central Texas. Drug therapy problems were collected and compared to those identified by physicians conducting AWVs. Drug therapy problems were grouped into 4 categories: indication, effectiveness, safety, and adherence. Each category was divided into subcategories to further specify the problem.

Fifty patients received an AWV in each group. Pharmacists identified more drug therapy problems in all 4 categories as compared to physicians (100 vs 20 interventions, respectively) and significant differences were detected in most subcategories: indication without medication (P = .005), suboptimal regimen (P = .0034), drug-drug interaction (P = .0267), warning/precaution requiring additional monitoring (P = .0267), nonadherence (P = .0058), and patient lack of understanding medication therapy (P = .005).

Pharmacist involvement in AWVs helped identify drug therapy problems.