Safe and Effective Use of Medications in Older Adults

Event Start Date: April 18, 2018 - 4:00 PM EDT
Event End Date: April 18, 2018 - 5:30 PM EDT

Supporting documents such as webinar slides, transcript, and additional resources are available to download by scrolling to the attachments section below.

Podcast:

This webinar is also available as a podcast on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid have on average, a 25 percent higher rate of chronic conditions than beneficiaries who are not dually eligible.1 Dually eligible beneficiaries also tend to use a variety of medications and have higher Medicare Part D prescription drug costs than Medicare-only beneficiaries.2 It is therefore important to address medication management, medication misuse, and adverse drug effects among dually eligible beneficiaries. This interactive webinar provides an overview of these critically important issues related to older adults. In addition, the need for management and coordination among the care team members and the beneficiary are described. Participants also learn about effective strategies to empower individuals and their families to manage multiple medications to maintain their health.

By the end of this webinar, participants should be able to:

  1. Define polypharmacy and the implications for patient safety.
  2. Name at least five classes of medications that are known to have a high risk of adverse reactions in older adults.
  3. Recognize challenges that beneficiaries and their family members may experience when managing multiple medications and define how each member of the care team can assist with medication regimens.

Featured Speakers:

  • Todd Semla, MS, Pharm D, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
  • Donna Fick, PhD, RN, College of Nursing and College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University
  • Tom von Sternberg, MD, Senior Medical Director, HealthPartners
  • Marisilis Tejeda, Health Coach, City Health Works

Intended Audience:

This webinar is intended for a wide range of stakeholders – physicians, nurses, social workers, care managers, family caregivers, staff at social service agencies, Medicare-Medicaid plans, Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs), managed long-term services and supports programs, and consumer organizations.

References:

1 Segal, M., Rollins, E., Hodges, K., & Roozeboom, M. (2014). Medicare-Medicaid Eligible Beneficiaries and Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations. Medicare & Medicaid Research Review, 4(1), E1-E10. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5600/mmrr.004.01.b01.

2 Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2018). Medicare fee-for-service and managed care enrollment, CY 2013. https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/import_data/scrape_files/docs/default-source/reports/mar18_medpac_entirereport_sec_rev_0518.pdf.

Attachments: