After years in development, the new Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoPs) became effective on December 2, 2008. Hospice Pharmacia is uniquely qualified to help our clients meet these standards, thanks to our long heritage of proven strategies for medication management.

In fact, many of the practices that help hospices meet the new CoPs have been standard operating procedure at HP for years. For example, while most pharmacies only keep records about the specific medications they dispense, HP requires documentation of a patient’s full medication profile (prescriptions, OTCs, herbals, non-hospice-related medications, etc.) upon admission. We conduct regular medication reviews to identify ineffective medications, adverse effects and possible drug interactions, and our specially trained pharmacists use the annually updated Medication Use Guidelines (MUGs®) to ensure that every prescription is appropriate. Our proprietary software aids in the identification and prevention of drug interactions, and facilitates collaboration between pharmacists and clinicians.

HP’s Resource Manual includes a sample medication disposal policy, a copy of federal guidelines for medication waste, and a medication waste and destruction decision tree to assist our clients in meeting the new Medication Disposal Policy standard. And to help our clients meet the new Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) guidelines, we’re the only hospice medication organization to create a special QAPI platform that creates easily downloaded reports that track resource allocation, patient symptom outcomes, medication-related problems and other clinical indicators. This platform is called the Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROM) program.