Patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-provided telephone medication therapy management program.

BACKGROUND Patient satisfaction with medication therapy management (MTM), a required component of the Medicare Part D benefit, is an important outcome to consider when evaluating MTM programs. OBJECTIVE To measure patient satisfaction with a pharmacist-provided telephone MTM program. METHODS The study design was nonexperimental and cross sectional. A survey was mailed to Scott & White Health Plan Medicare Part D beneficiaries (n=60) who received telephone MTM in 2007. The survey was composed of 15 Likert-scaled questions (1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree) that assessed satisfaction with MTM. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data analysis. A qualitative content analysis of patients' responses to 3 open-ended questions was also conducted. RESULTS The response rate for the survey was 80% (47 of 59). Study participants were 70.8 (+/-7.9) years old, and most were white (84.1%) and female (54.3%). The alpha coefficient for the satisfaction scale was 0.88. Overall mean satisfaction score was 4.0 (+/-0.6), with items ranging from 3.6 to 4.3. The highest level of agreement (mean=4.3) was with the following statements: (1) I can easily contact my pharmacist when I have questions or concerns; (2) My pharmacist adequately answers my questions; and (3) I am content receiving MTM over the telephone. The patients agreed least (mean=3.6) with the following statements: (1) When necessary, my pharmacist has encouraged me to receive preventive health care services; and (2) When needed, my pharmacist refers me to other health care providers. CONCLUSIONS Most of the beneficiaries were satisfied with their MTM care. The positive response to telephone MTM is important because Medicare Part D plans are using the telephone as a method of MTM delivery. Education regarding the pharmacist's role in preventive care and pharmacist follow-up with non-pharmacist health care providers may lead to greater satisfaction levels.