A coordinated approach to pharmaceutical care for seniors

Now Omnicare is bringing its unique and comprehensive knowledge of pharmaceutical care in the elderly to independently living seniors.

Of the more than 35 million people aged 65 and older in the United States, more than 90 percent are living independently and often receiving their health care from multiple practitioners who have prescribed multiple medications. Seniors are highly susceptible to medication errors and drug-related problems due to their special needs with medications and uncoordinated care. Further, the side effects of medications in seniors often are more severe. Hospital admissions among the elderly due to drug misadventures are six times that of the general population.

Through Omnicare Senior Health Outcomes^SM managed care organizations, insurers and large employers with funded pharmacy benefit plans now can help seniors obtain coordinated, optimized drug therapy to improve outcomes while reducing costs by:

• targeting patients taking unnecessary multiple prescriptions (often duplicate or triplicate therapies) that can cause serious harm and waste valuable resources
• reducing the number of seniors at risk for side effects of drugs considered inappropriate for use in the elderly
• working with physicians to optimize drug therapies by increasing the use of medications considered to be best medical practices
• providing therapeutic interchange for certain drugs to provide equal or better clinical outcomes