Generating demand for pharmacist-provided medication therapy management: identifying patient-preferred marketing strategies.

OBJECTIVE: To identify effective strategies for marketing pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services to patients in a self-insured employer setting.
DESIGN: Qualitative study.
SETTING: University of Pittsburgh during March through May 2008. PARTICIPANTS: 26 university employees taking at least one chronic medication. INTERVENTION: Three focus group sessions were conducted using a semistructured topic guide to facilitate the discussion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Employees' perceived medication-related needs, perceived benefits of pharmacist-provided MTM, potential barriers for employee participation in MTM, and effective strategies for marketing MTM.
RESULTS: Participants reported concerns with timing of doses, medication costs, access, and ensuring adherence. Participants generally felt positively toward pharmacists; however, the level of reported patient contact with pharmacists varied among participants. Some participants questioned pharmacists' education and qualifications for this enhanced role in patient care. Perceived benefits of MTM noted by participants included the opportunity to obtain personalized information about their medications and the potential for improved communication among their health providers. Barriers to patient participation were out-of-pocket costs and lack of time for MTM visits. Participants suggested use of alternative words to describe MTM and marketing approaches that involve personal contact.
CONCLUSION: Pharmacists should emphasize parts of MTM that patients feel are most beneficial (i.e., provision of a personal medication record) and use patient-friendly language to describe MTM when marketing their practice. Patients will need greater exposure to the concept of MTM and the pharmacists' role in order to correctly describe and assign value to this type of pharmacist patient care practice.