These policies will shape the practice of pharmacy in all sorts of capitated payment systems for many years to come. During the past few months, I've done a lot of thinking about how consultant pharmacy has evolved over the past 30 years. Over the past three decades, consultant pharmacy has come to be strongly identified with federally mandated drug regimen review. Retrospective DRR has long been a staple of our practices. I would argue it is not.
Regulatory mandates are no longer enough to justify our existence.
Retrospective DRR and DUR will always have a place in consultant pharmacy, but these are activities firmly rooted in our past. We need to refocus these activities toward spotting patients at high risk for drug-related problems on a prospective basis. For years, consultant pharmacists have shared the value of their activities largely through anecdotes cost savings achieved, hospitalizations averted, lives saved through astute detection of medication misadventures. Such anecdotes are certainly valid and compelling. Clearly, they are not.