OBJECTIVES: Medication Therapy Opportunities (MTOs) consist of avoidable medication errors and adverse drug events that may lead to patient harm as well as opportunities to optimize medication treatment. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, in keeping with their mission to improve the health and lives of Louisianans, have launched an innovative clinical pharmacy dashboard making actionable data available to providers to minimize avoidable adverse events and optimize medication treatment. The Medication Therapy Opportunities component of the dashboard focuses on the following key elements (1) Therapy Duplication – multiple medications within the same or a similar therapeutic class taken at the same time (2) Drug-Drug Interactions – medications known to have an adverse event when taken together (3) Condition Related – medications known to exacerbate a medical condition or potential opportunity to optimize care and (4) Omissions of Care – discrepancy between guideline recommendations and/or standards of care. This research reports projected benefits resulting from using the clinical pharmacy dashboard.

METHODS: Historical medical and pharmacy data was used to determine incidence of MTOs between August 2019 and July 2020. Currently more than 30 MTO rules were defined and calculated. On average, 28,523 members are identified with an MTO each month out of 615K eligible members. Timely and actionable MTOs are made available to providers and nurses through ‘Clinical Pharmacy Dashboard’.

RESULTS: 415,435 MTOs were identified across 70,409 members in a rolling 12-month period for various rule categories. Annual savings were estimated to be between $4.3M and $7.0M. Pharmacy claims saving amount to $2.2M. 27% of potential savings attributed to a single rule. Medical claims savings were between $2.1M - $4.8M. Values varied based on estimated efficacy of future intervention.

CONCLUSIONS: Working with providers to resolve MTOs may prevent avoidable adverse events and reduce total cost of care.