TMF Part D Drug Safety Project

TMF is implementing a unique quality improvement project that targets potentially inappropriate medications and drug-to-drug interactions. This project should reduce adverse drug events that lead to emergency department and inpatient hospitalizations of Medicare patients in Texas.

Information on this site is for Texas health care providers and patients:

• Physicians
• Pharmacists
• Prescription Drug Plans
• Medicare Patients

Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIMs) Fall Project

Two-thirds of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in Texas in 2007 (narcotics, antihistamines and skeletal muscle relaxants), cause drowsiness, sedation and confusion which can lead to potential falls and fractures in the elderly with direct medical costs of $6 - 8 billion dollars per year in the U.S.1

TMF has developed a project that addresses some of the causes of polypharmacy (the use of multiple medications that increases the risk for adverse drug interactions) in the elderly and offers alternative drug therapies and resources to patients and providers.

Warfarin Drug-to-Drug Interaction (DDI) Project

TMF proposes a unique quality improvement project that targets warfarin with amiodarone as a preventable drug-to-drug interaction (DDI). The project would prevent and reduce both emergency department2 and inpatient hospitalizations that are due to adverse events attributable to the use of warfarin with other drugs in the elderly population in Texas.

Contact Information

Jim Turpin
Quality Improvement Consultant
DrugSafety@tmf.org 
1-866-439-5863, ext. 644
512-334-1787 fax

Sources

1 “The Cost of Falls Among the Community-Dwelling Elderly,” Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy, 2005; 11 (4): 307-16.

2“Medication Use Leading to Emergency Department Visits for Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults,” Annals of Internal Medicine, 4 December 2007, Volume 147, Issue 11, pages 755-765.