SOS Rx Update

SOS Rx is a collaborative coalition dedicated to promoting outpatient medication safety. The National Consumers League convenes the SOS Rx with support from Express Scripts as founding sponsor. More than 50 organizations have officially joined the coalition, attended one or more SOS Rx meetings or participated in a work group meeting.

The purpose of SOS Rx is to make the outpatient use of medicines safer. Our voice is national and our actions evidence-based. SOS Rx will focus on campaign-style education/information initiatives aimed at securing consumer actions and system changes that enhance the safe outpatient use of medications. Participating organizations signify support and commitment to work together to assure the safe outpatient use of medications for all consumers and patients, with initial focus on safe use by senior citizens.

The Challenge:

There is great interest and concern about the safe use of prescription drugs. A special focus has been on senior citizens and research has found that senior citizen prescription claims generate twice as many safety warnings as for those who are younger. The debate over a senior prescription benefit in Medicare focuses attention on senior medication safety and more specific challenges, including prescribing errors, lack of physician-patient communication, potentially hazardous interactions, therapy duplication, patient noncompliance, and unheeded safety alerts or signs of side effects or adverse drug reactions.

While there appears to be great concern over the problem, even a sense of urgency, there is not a concrete, broad-based, collaborative effort to address it. This provides an extraordinary opportunity – in fact, a great need –for this alliance of concerned partners to search for answers and create actionable plans to positively affect many consumers and the system as a whole.

The Coalition:

The coalition meetings have featured presentations by nationally recognized experts. At the inaugural meeting in July 2003, Dr. David Classen reviewed recent research and reported on initiatives under way at the Institute of Medicine and the Leapfrog Group. Dr. Classen is a vice president at First Consulting Group, where he leads the quality of health care initiatives practice area. He is also an associate professor of medicine at the University of Utah.

At another meeting of the coalition, Dr. Tejal K. Gandhi, one of the nation’s leading authorities on outpatient medication safety issues, reviewed the results of studies conducted at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital where she is director of patient safety. She also maintains an active outpatient practice. Also speaking was Barbara Rudolph, director of leaps and measures for the Leapfrog Group. She briefed the group on expansion of Leapfrog’s focus beyond inpatient care to include physicians’ offices.

The coalition has established two work groups. The system change work group focuses on those things within the health care system that could be changed to enhance the safe outpatient use of medications. The consumer action or education work group focuses on those actions that consumers can take to improve the safe use of outpatient medication.

During a retreat at the Aspen Institute at Wye Mills, Maryland in November 2003, about 35 experts, including some coalition members, identified the consumer actions and system changes with the greatest potential for enhancing the safe outpatient use of medications. Facilitator for the consensus retreat was Hugh Tilson, steering committee chair of the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTS).

The prioritized consumer actions and system changes that emerged from the consensus retreat serve as targets for the education campaign and communication initiatives to be undertaken by SOS Rx. In preparation for that campaign, media and resource audits have been performed.

SOS Rx materials are available at http://www.nclnet.org/sosrx.

Defining and Differentiating SOS Rx

The initial focus of the coalition is on senior outpatient medication safety, however, because all populations are affected by adverse drug events, it is reasonable to expect that SOS Rx will expand the effort beyond seniors. The following details provide definition of the key focus areas of SOS Rx:

Focus: Outpatient

(Not Inpatient)

Emphasis: Most at risk populations, initially seniors.

(Not low risk populations)

Objective: Increase safe use of medicines/reduce harm from unsafe use

(Not surgical, radiological, laboratory, diagnostic, etc. errors)

Scope: Includes over-the-counter, supplements, herbals and prescriptions

(Not prescription drugs alone)

Target: Consumer actions and system changes for safer use

(Not discovery, approval, formulation, manufacture or counterfeit)

Activity: Education and communication campaigns

(Not another brochure)

Members: “Everyone around the table”

(Not just consumers or industry or health professionals, or patient groups.)

SOS Rx Participation

SOS Rx Membership/Outreach Update

As of January 6, 2004

Organizations Officially Signed On:

· Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy

· Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality

· Alliance for Aging Research

· American Academy of Nurse Practitioners

· American Academy of Physicians Assistants

· American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

· American Medical Women’s Association

· American Pharmacists Association Foundation

· American Society of Consultant Pharmacists

· American Society of Health-System Pharmacists

· Center for Information Therapy

· Department of Defense

· Employer Health Care Alliance (Ohio)

· Express Scripts

· Four Rivers Health Care Purchasing Alliance (Kentucky)

· Generic Pharmaceuticals Association

· Institute for Safe Medication Practices

· Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

· Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission

· Medical Group Management Association

· Medical Records Institute

· National Alliance for Caregiving

· National Consumers League

· National Family Caregivers Association

· National Health Council

· National Quality Forum

· Niagara Health Quality Coalition (New York)

· Visiting Nurses Association of America

· Western North Carolina Health Coalition

Verbally Committed and/or Participating in Workgroups:

· AARP

· AFL-CIO

· American Academy of Family Physicians

· American Association of Black Cardiologists

· American Benefits Council

· American College of Law and Medicine

· American Hospital Association

· American Medical Association

· American Nurses Association

· Cardinal Health, Inc.

· Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics

· Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

· Connecticut Geriatrics Society

· Department of Veterans Affairs/Veterans Health Administration

· Families USA

· Food and Drug Administration/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

· Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society

· Kellogg School of Management

· Laborer Health & Safety Fund of North America

· Leapfrog Group

· Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors

· Mobile Health Care Association

· National Alliance for Hispanic Health

· National Council on Aging

· National Hispanic Council on Aging

· National Patient Safety Foundation

· NCPIE (on own and on behalf of NCCMERP)

· Older Women's League

· Rite Aid

· United Labor Life Insurance Company

· United States Pharmacopeia

· WebMD (George Lundberg)

Others Still Considering:

· Administration on Aging

· American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging

· American Clinical Laboratory Associations

· American Geriatrics Society

· American Health Information Management Association

· American Healthcare Association

· American Medical Group Association

· Black Nurses Association

· California Medical Association

· California Medical Association Foundation

· MD Consult

· National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

· National Medical Association

· National Patient Advocate Foundation

· RxIS

· Walgreen's