Medco sponsors program aimed at avoiding prescription problems

WILLINGBORO, N.J. Medco Health Solutions is launching a new program where 700 trained pharmacists will review prescriptions written by doctors and counsel with patients and talk to doctors to ward off costly, potentially deadly problems, according to The New York Times.

The pharmacists will each be trained for one of seven complex, chronic conditions. The company will set up a resource center for each condition at its mail order pharmacies.

Computers will flag incoming prescriptions with those conditions, such as diabetes and cancer for a pharmacist to review. The pharmacists will look for dosing errors, interactions with other drugs, whether the patient is filling a new prescription or refilling an old one.

The program will have a 24-hour a day call center and will have an advertising campaign featuring famous Olympic gold medal winning athletes with chronics health conditions.