AMCP Comments on ‘National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States: Updated to 2020' Managed Care Pharmacy Can Play Key Role in Improving Outcomes of HIV/AIDS Patients
The newly updated White House strategy to combat HIV/AIDS includes principles that are at the heart of managed care pharmacy practices.
PRESS RELEASE
Alexandria, Va., Aug. 4, 2015 — The newly updated White House strategy to combat HIV/AIDS includes principles that are at the heart of managed care pharmacy practices. Increasing access to care, boosting medication adherence and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV are among the key goals outlined in a July 30 report, “National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States: Updated to 2020.”
The strategy calls for developing models of competent care that treat the whole person, as well as the virus. “A culturally competent and skilled workforce is vital to this effort, and includes a range of providers such as peer navigators, nurses, doctors, case managers, pharmacists, and social workers,” according to the document.
Ongoing patient support is needed to maintain the necessary high levels of adherence to antiretroviral treatment to achieve and maintain viral suppression, the report notes. “Implementation research, to learn how to scale up effective programs and incorporate them into clinical practice, is needed for adherence interventions.”
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) CEO Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM, issued the following statement:
AMCP is pleased to see that the White House’s national strategy for HIV/AIDS includes pharmacists as vital members of the interdisciplinary health care team to improve outcomes along the care continuum. Managed care pharmacists, in particular, work with prescribers and other providers to ensure patients have access to effective, safe, and affordable HIV medications. Our profession has been at the forefront of identifying and implementing effective programs designed to improve both outcomes and adherence. At the same time, we employ tools that ensure HIV/AIDS drugs and other medications are properly used and preserve valuable health care resources.
The report can be found at
. A White House executive order in the Aug. 4 Federal Register endorsing the strategy can be found
.
