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Funding Priorities |
MEDICATION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
Map - Medication Assistance Program Grants
List - Medication Assistance Program Grants
List - Medication Assistance Program Phase IV Grants
Background North Carolina's Institute of Medicine later listed HWTF's statewide MAP program as a "significant safety net for the uninsured" in its NC Healthcare Safety Net Report 2005. Objective Program A second phase of 44 grants totaling $4.7 million were awarded in April 2004, bringing the total to 61 organizations receiving $15 million in MAP grants. These grantees across the state represent many organizational types including local aging agencies, senior centers, health departments, hospitals, community health centers, clinics and more. Funding for these 61 organizations expires on June 30th, 2006. In May 2006, HWTF Commissioners voted to fund a third phase of the program. Fifty Phase III MAP grants, totaling $2 million were awarded, and will be primarily focused on helping those under the age of 65 since the federal Medicare program began its coverage of seniors over 65 in January 2006. Additionally, Phase III MAP grantees will help seniors figure out their optimal federal plan, while providing assistance as needed to address gaps in the federal drug coverage. Outcomes
North Carolina citizens that are uninsured or who qualify for Medicare coverage often find that they cannot afford the medications required to treat or ameliorate their chronic health problems. And those folks who are taking multiple medications are at risk for adverse reactions as a result of drug interactions because their care is not coordinated. Recognizing that Senior Care, HWTF's former statewide prescription drug program for low-income seniors, was not a complete solution to these problems that North Carolina seniors and low-income individuals under 65 are facing, HWTF sought to find a network of Medication Assistance Programs (MAP) to serve the uninsured populace. As a result, in 2003, HWTF awarded 23 grants totaling $8.7 million over three years to create local MAP programs across the state.
HWTF’s vision was (and remains) to help North Carolina’s neediest populations not only gain access to prescription drugs but also to help provide them with counseling on safe use of their medications to prevent adverse drug interactions and other avoidable dangerous situations.
MAP grantees help seniors and other low-income individuals identify and apply for the lowest-cost prescription drugs available through public and private programs, including Patient Assistance Programs and discount card programs offered by pharmaceutical companies. In order to simplify the application process, HWTF equipped each grantee with computers and custom-design software (MARP) that had been developed by the NC Office of Research, Demonstrations and Rural Health Development (ORDRHD) that also provides technical assistance to grantees. Most MAP grantees also contract with local pharmacists to counsel seniors in identifying drug utilization issues such as drug-to-drug interactions and duplicative therapies.
The Medication Assistance Program has been a great success by almost any measure. To date, MAP grantee sites have provided over $68.8 million worth of free medications to nearly 40,000 patients since January 2003 to December 2005, representing a 6:1 return on HWTF’s grant investment. In addition, more than 8,000 of these patients also received medication management (MM) services.
And while health outcomes for medication management seem intuitive but have proven to be hard to measure across the initiative, some MAP grantees have conducted program-level evaluations and reported positive outcomes. AlaMAP, based in Alamance County reported a 50% reduction in emergency room stays for 200 seniors who were receiving MM at their clinic. Senior PHARMAssist in Durham documented that after 2 years in its prescription card program, which features medication therapy management, participants cut their rate of any hospital admissions by 51%.
Partners/Technical Assistance
ORDRHD provides technical assistance and MARP software to all grantees.
RFP for Medication Assistance Program Phase III - Due 04/17/06
RFP for Medication Assistance Program
Phase II - Due 03/22/04
RFP for Medication/Disease Management and Prescription Drug Access
for NC Seniors - Due 09/27/02
