Our host Scott Vondeylen is joined by Chief Scientific Officer for Tabula Rasa HealthCare (TRHC), Jacques Turgeon, BPharm, PhD to discuss how MedWise® Science is empowering pharmacists to impact patient outcomes—now and in the future.

MedWise Science, TRHC’s proprietary technology, is a clinical decision support system that provides pharmacists—and other health professionals—with highly valuable information that helps them make the proper decisions for the pharmacotherapy of their patients.

Beyond ensuring patients receive the proper medication for a particular disease state, MedWise Science also helps ensure that the combination of drugs prescribed—the patient’s drug regimen—is optimal. This is critical because when patients have several conditions, they are often required to take multiple medications, which can put a patient’s health at risk by significantly increasing the risk of an Adverse Drug Event (ADE), the 4th leading cause of death in the United States.

Preventing and decreasing ADEs is important for multiple reasons. When patients start to experience side effects, they may stop taking the medication, which means patients are no longer receiving the intended benefit of their medication. Further, non-adherence leads to poor outcomes, an increase in doctor and emergency room visits, and an increase in medical expenditure—it’s all linked.

Utilizing decision support tools backed by science in conjunction with taking a holistic view of drug regimens can have a major impact on the way pharmacists deliver care to improve medication safety and patient outcomes. To that end, MedWise Science utilizes a one-of-a-kind algorithm to establish the MedWise Risk Level and to cumulatively compare how patients’ medications interact together, all at the same time.

Pharmacists can leverage the MedWise Risk Level to determine a patient’s risk for experiencing an ADE, and then be properly alerted to intervene and recommend a Medication Safety Review™ to address concerns and improve medication efficacy. TRHC provides training to ensure that pharmacists can properly use the MedWise decision support tools to conduct Medication Safety Reviews in the pharmacy, as well as offering telephonic support via its national clinical contact centers.

The value of MedWise Science has been proven and now there is scientific data to show an association between the level of risk and outcomes. As a patient’s MedWise Risk Level increases, so does their risk of experiencing an ADE, which ultimately leads to an increase in medical expenditure. In fact, TRHC’s Precision Pharmacotherapy Research and Development Institute recently conducted a study in conjunction with DARTNet Institute and found a correlation between risk of premature death and higher medication risk scores, affirming that the appropriate use of medications is critical to avoid harm.

The current use and value of the MedWise technology is clear, but that begs the question: What’s next? According to Dr. Turgeon, it appears the future value of MedWise Science could be virtual.

Imagine being able to virtually add different medications to a patient’s regimen and then conduct simulations to determine how the MedWise Risk Level may change, altering ADE risk and subsequently impacting outcomes. Well, this is exactly how Dr. Turgeon and his team have already utilized the MedWise technology in two studies—one with elderly patients and another with Medicare patients.

By continuing to generate data in large cohorts with multiple disease states, who are managing various drug regimens, can ultimately become a tool for the pharmaceutical industry to test the impact of a new medication coming on the market. Imagine being able to know in advance if and how a medication could change a patient’s MedWise Risk Level. In this scenario, prescribers would have a good idea of potential risk factors, pre-identify populations for ADEs, and be able to limit exposing patients to unwanted side effects.

The MedWise Risk Level is now available in the PrescribeWellness Patient Engagement Center at no cost. Interested in learning more? Listen to our latest PharmacyNow Podcast: Precision Pharmacotherapy through MedWise®, or contact us today.