Under the prodding of the federal government, health plans nationwide are adopting a unified approach to helping seniors and other consumers use medications appropriately and safely, thereby reducing medication-related health complications.

Adoption of the program coincides with an increased emphasis from the federal government for Medicare plans to offer more robust Medication Therapy Management (MTM) programs in 2010.

The program uses a common communications platform that links participating insurers to a network of more than 25,000 pharmacies across the country. The platform and network are administered by Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.

Through the program, pharmacists at Walgreens, SuperValu, Kroger, and other retailers receive alerts and information concerning medication use patterns as well as guidance on working with patients and doctors to fix potential drug complications. The retailers also receive service fees in order to free up pharmacist time to perform MTM activities.

Among the 30-plus participating health plans are Medicare plan sponsors, commercial insurers, employer groups, and state-funded health and welfare programs. Patients covered by the programs reside in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

“The broad-scale adoption of this program by insurers and pharmacies further validates the value of the unified platform,” said Tom Halterman, Outcomes CEO. “Rather than navigating the complexities of thirty different programs, pharmacists can focus on what they do best—helping consumers get the best results from their medication purchases.”

Medica Health Plans in Minneapolis, Minn., began using the Outcomes platform in January 2009, with great success.

“The exceptional return-on-investment we experienced in 2009 really made the case for expanding the MTM program to all of our Medicare members this year,” said Justin Weiss, Medica’s manager of Government Pharmacy Services.