Designing Pilot Programs to Distribute Patient Medication Information

On February 23, the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform convened the third meeting on the topic of improving patient medication information (PMI). While previous discussions focused on the content and format of the single-page PMI document, this meeting focused on the process of delivering PMI to patients, a process that currently is both inconsistent and unreliable. Several independent groups presented outlines for potential distribution pilots and experts commented on pilot design, implementation of pilots, and proposed strategies to evaluate distribution through pilots. These pilots will test distribution of PMI for real products to real patients.

Discussion specifically focused on:

• What researchers have learned about how medication information is currently distributed, particularly within the current pharmacy work-flow
• Types of medical products that would be suitable for pilots
• How to create accompanying PMI prototypes
• What the community can hope to learn from such pilots
• Appropriate metrics for evaluating the distribution process