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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Catalina Health is launching a quality improvement initiative that aims to provide patients with clearer medication information when they pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy.
The Catalina Marketing subsidiary said Tuesday that starting this week, it and and other health care partners will disseminate newly designed patient medication information (PMI) to patients filling prescriptions at participating pharmacies.
The effort stems from an ongoing workgroup convened by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution under a cooperative agreement with the Food and Drug Administration.
Plans call for Catalina Health to survey patients via telephone and online to confirm that they have received the new PMI, determine if they found the information useful, and find out how they would like to receive this newly formatted information in the future.
"Patients frequently receive safety information about their prescriptions that is difficult for them to understand and too often not followed correctly," explained Renee Selman, president of Catalina Health. "Catalina Health has a long history of working to get patients clearer information. In 2008, Catalina was one of the groups that spearheaded a citizen’s petition urging FDA to improve the information patients receive. Based on efforts the FDA had taken, the citizen petition was withdrawn. We are proud to be leading this quality improvement initiative to see what patients think about the newly formatted information."
The quality improvement workgroup includes Catalina Health, the Medical Cognition Laboratory at Duke University, Emory University School of Medicine, the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Pfizer, the Purdue University College of Pharmacy and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Effectiveness Research. The FDA has served as an observer.
According to Catalina, the workgroup was convened in March 2011 after workshops held by the Engelberg Center found that more evidence was needed to develop a standardized PMI document delivered to patients when they pick up their prescriptions at the pharmacy. Members of the workgroup addressed needed reforms by developing a pilot PMI similar to one of the single-page prototypes developed by the FDA.
"The FDA wants patients to have the most important information needed to take their medications safely," stated Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA. "We commend these organizations for helping to generate evidence to ensure that PMI meets that need."
