title: Current trends in outpatient pharmacy services and billing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide a summary of community and ambulatory pharmacy practices and billing patterns for medication therapy management (MTM) services and to identify reasons pharmacists report not billing for direct patient care services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  United States, February 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Members of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Ambulatory and Chronic Care Practitioners, and American Pharmacists Association MTM e-community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Practice setting, pharmacy services performed, billing technique, and payer, as well as reasons for not billing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MTM services were provided by 287 pharmacists. The most common practice settings included physician office (23.6%), health-system outpatient facility (21.7%), and community pharmacy (20.2%). A total of 149 of 276 pharmacists (54.0%) reported billing for MTM services; 16 of 276 (5.8%) did not know if they were currently billing. Community pharmacists were more likely to bill than all other sites combined (80.5% vs. 53.1%, P < 0.001), and pharmacists with >75% of visits face-to-face were more likely to bill (66.2% vs. 46.6%, P < 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A variety of MTM services are provided in outpatient settings with inconsistent billing techniques and reimbursement. Pharmacists should continue to work toward consistent, sustainable reimbursement to expand MTM services.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. beatty.52@osu.edu
authors.forename: Stuart J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Beatty
authors.forename: Kelly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Beale
authors.forename: Athena M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bruggeman
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Rodis
authors.forename: Bella H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Marialice S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics*; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D010595:Pharmacists; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States