CHARACTERISTICS, IMPORTANCE, AND IMPLICATIONS OF COMPREHENSIVE DRUG-THERAPY MANAGEMENT

Ideas and opinions about comprehensive drug therapy management (CDTM) were gathered from an expert panel representing health care practition ers, educators, and consumers. A qualitative method of inquiry, the De lphi technique, was used to aggregate opinions of an expert panel of h ealth care professionals, health care educators, and consumer represen tatives. The 66 experts who agreed to participate in the study consist ed of 10 from pharmacy education, 10 from pharmacy professional associ ations, 20 from managed care, 19 from primary care, and 7 consumers (p ublic members of health care regulatory and governing boards). Each pa rticipant was sent a questionnaire designed to evaluate a preliminary definition of CDTM and gather opinions on related topics. A second que stionnaire was sent to the participants to determine the extent of the ir agreement with each statement generated by the first questionnaire. A third questionnaire was sent, asking participants to reconsider the ir ratings in light of the group's responses and to choose the most im portant elements. The response rates were 83% for the first questionna ire, 70% for the second, and 76% for the third. The panel reached a hi gh level of agreement on a definition of CDTM. Panel members also iden tified many critical aspects of CDTM, including what makes it worthwhi le, barriers to and facilitators of engaging in CDTM, key participants , ways in which responsibility for CDTM may be shared, and the compete ncies needed for CDTM. An expert panel of health care leaders and futu re leaders, within and outside the pharmacy profession, reached a high level of agreement on a definition of CDTM and identified many critic al aspects of this concept.