CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF AGING
AND HEALTH 2012 ANNUAL REPORT
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IMPROVE SERVICES FOR OLDER ADULTS

1983

Preventing Medication Errors: Evidence-Based Medication Management Intervention

2001-2010 Based on earlier work in geriatric pharmacology (Geriatric Pharmacology), the Hartford Foundation provided close to $400,000 to the Partners in Care Foundation to disseminate the Medication Management Intervention to home health and social service providers and facilitate the model’s adoption.

In 2006, the Foundation awarded the Partners in Care Foundation $1.6 million to test and demonstrate the feasibility of a technology-enabled version of its medications management program, now known as HomeMeds. Using the HomeMeds intervention, health care workers who interact with older adults in their homes can perform a simple assessment to identify medication issues by entering the current medications used into a software program and asking key question that signal potential medication problems. Close to half of older adults in the pilot study were found to be at risk for serious medication-related injury.

The HomeMeds medication management system is being used in 26 sites in California, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Sites include post-acute care transitions programs, Area Agencies on Aging, and Medicaid waiver programs that keep older adults out of nursing homes.

During the four-year grant to disseminate the model, an estimated $1.2 million in health care costs was saved by preventing falls and other serious adverse drug events.

“You can start a medical intervention, but if it’s undermined by improper use of medications, a bad combination of medications, too much medication, lack of nutrition, or other modifiable risk factors you won’t get the health results you are trying to achieve.” W. June Simmons, MSW
President and CEO
Partners in Care Foundation

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