Pharmacy Students Match Senior Citizens
UConn Foundation newsletter Momentum, Summer 2006 issue
A group of students in UConn’s School of Pharmacy has been helping many of the Connecticut Department of Social Services’ 48,000 ConnPACE clients find the appropriate Medicare Part D plans to pay for their medications.
Each of the ConnPACE clients – some seniors, some disabled people – takes between three and six “maintenance” medications a month, not including occasional other prescriptions for infections or other problems.
The students’ job is to review each person’s medication regimen and narrow the choices down from the 44 options available in Connecticut to three plans that cover all the person’s medications, wherever possible. The partnership between the School of Pharmacy and the state – believed to be a first nationwide – has been lauded by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and has drawn inquiries from other states hoping to duplicate it, says Peter Tyczkowski, educational outreach coordinator for the School.
The students recently took second place in a national competition for Medicare outreach programs held by the National Council of State Pharmacy Association Executives.
In addition to the 16,000 cases the students are currently working on, they may also be asked to review 4,000 additional patient profiles with slightly more complex drug regimens.
“The students are performing an invaluable community service by providing individualized reviews of our clients’ medication regimens,” says Department of Social Services Deputy Commissioner Michael Starkowski. “They also are helping reduce confusion at the pharmacy counter and reduce the need for doctors and pharmacists to request exceptions for non-formulary drugs.”
The students, in turn, “are receiving first-hand knowledge of Medicare Part D and the complex combinations of medicine on which our seniors rely,” he adds. The students, organized and led by five student “captains” who review their work before handing it to Tyczkowski for quality assurance, say the project has not been without challenges.
The workload is heavy, and time is tight. Also, no two patient profiles are identical, so each one involves finding solutions to different problems. But the students say the rewards far outweigh the challenges.
“It’s astounding the number of seniors we have been able to help with this project, says Meghan Scagliarini, a fifth-year pharmacy student and one of the captains. “We are all proud that the state of Connecticut looked to student pharmacists as a valuable resource in such a project. Knowing we can make a difference in our state as students is exciting and makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
