Geisinger awarded ASHP award of excellence

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) announced this week that it has awarded Geisinger Health System with its Board of Directors Award of Excellence during the ASHP Summer Meetings.

This award recognizes excellence in pharmacy practice in ambulatory and acute settings and contributions to this area of the medical field.

Geisinger was recognized for its Medication Therapy Disease Management program (MTDM), which was initiated in 1996 with one pharmacist working within an anticoagulation clinic. It has since gone on to serve an approximated 23,000 patients with approximately 1,000 patients added on a monthly basis.

In the program, pharmacists are working in collaborative agreements with physicians in order to serve a wide spectrum of diseases and conditions that require complex medication to treat. Among these are chemotherapeutic needs, heart failure, multiple sclerosis, anemia, metabolic diseases, diabetes and others.

There are 54 clinical pharmacists at its 49 clinics now working in the MTDM program. Through collaboration pharmacists, doctors, caregivers and patients are involved in the design of individual treatment regimens and clinic pharmacists are able to provide therapy and medication reviews.

This program has also allowed patients to save on costs associated with the treatment of their respective conditions and illnesses.