Evaluation of a Consumer-Generated Marketing Plan for Medication Therapy Management Services

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to utilize a consumer-directed, care model redesign methodology to develop and evaluate a marketing plan for medication therapy management services (MTMS) provided in community pharmacies. This was accomplished through a six-step process: (1) application of “design thinking” for eliciting consumer input on redesigning MTMS and marketing approaches, (2) exploratory research, (3) focus group analysis, (4) marketing plan development, (5) marketing plan implementation, and (6) marketing plan evaluation.

The findings showed that the application of “design thinking” and focus group analysis was useful for creating a consumer-directed marketing plan for medication therapy management services (MTMS). Implementation and evaluation of the MTMS Marketing Plan revealed that the most successful pharmacies were those that had established business associate agreements with the medical clinics closest to their site of practice, including access to electronic health records. This “virtual electronic presence” of pharmacists in the medical care system was highly consistent with the consumer demand we uncovered for a visible relationship between pharmacists, physicians and other health care providers.