Patients with Too Many Meds, Too Little Time?

Call the Chronic Care Clinic

UH Clinical Update | January 2022

For patients on multiple medication prescribed by different doctors, the Chronic Care Clinic offers a solution: a pharmacist to meet with patients to explain their prescriptions and help them understand the purpose and dosage for each one.

For physicians short on time who would appreciate a pharmacist’s assistance in explaining the purpose of each medication to their patients and helping to coordinate a complex medical condition, this can be a major benefit also.

“Having a Chronic Care Clinic has allowed us to better care for patients with long-term conditions that will impact their health,” says James Hill, MD, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Operating Officer of UH Parma Medical Center. “We have seen great benefit in the care of patients with diabetes, heart failure, respiratory conditions and many other chronic disease states. The pharmacy-led clinic has done a great job working collaboratively with primary care physicians to improve patient’s quality of life and keep them healthy out of the hospital.”

The concept developed by Pharmacy originated with the Anticoagulation Clinic. For the past decade at UH Parma Medical Center, pharmacists have collaborated with physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners to regularly check patients’ INR and adjust their warfarin dosage accordingly.

Now Pharmacy is looking to expand its services to care for patients with poorly controlled disease states such as diabetes, heart failure, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). Pharmacists also can tackle smoking cessation and polypharmacy, or the simultaneous use of multiple drugs to treat a single condition.

Clinical Pharmacist Stefanie Lehmier emphasizes that this referral in no way supplants the physician’s relationship with their patients. It’s a perfect example of population health management – a major focus at University Hospitals. Primary care physicians and specialists can enter collaborative practice agreements with the Chronic Care Clinic and put in referrals for individual patients for this service. The pharmacist can then schedule an initial 30-45 minute visit and subsequent follow-up visits. Patients are typically discharged from the program within three months, much better informed about their medications and medical conditions.

”Within these visits, clinical pharmacists work with patients to provide medication management, education, and assist in meeting provider established health goals,” says Dominique Loparo, a Pharmacy Resident who is helping to spread the word about the Clinic. “Our goal is to work with patients in between visits with their primary care provider to help with medication selection, titration, monitoring and more.”

The Chronic Care Clinic is located in Medical Arts Building 1, Suite 302, on the campus of UH Parma Medical Center. It is staffed Monday through Friday with one to two clinical pharmacists and two medical assistants. 

Click here for the Chronic Care Clinic referral form, which lives on the UH Digital Workplace for easy reference.