/EINPresswire.com/ -- PLANO, TX--(Marketwired - Jan 19, 2017) -  The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute released the second edition of its Pharmacy Trends in Accountable Care Organizations Report today, sponsored by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, U.S.A., Inc. This is the industry's only report exclusively dedicated to exploring pharmacy management trends in the commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare ACO space. The report reflects responses from 141 providers representing 8.3 million patients from across the country.

"ACOs help drive much needed change and improvements in the healthcare system," says Jane Lutz, Executive Director of PBMI. "Our report validates that the management of prescription medications is quickly taking a more central role and is important to the vision of ACOs."

To keep pace with the changes in the industry, the survey was redesigned to delve deeper into how ACOs effectively manage prescriptions, and identified their concerns, needs, and views for the future. 

Key findings from this report include:

ACO entities continue to be diverse in geographic location, model type, and ownership

• Serve all communities: 38% urban, 43% suburban, and 18% rural
• 42% physician owned, 33% health system owned, and 26% other

Most respondents incorporate similar management strategies

• Value-based contract (94% Medicare, 69% Medicaid, and 92% commercial)
• Processes in place to assess risk (94% Medicare, 81% Medicaid, and 93% commercial)
• No formal strategy in place to manage drugs (only 35% do)

Similar to last year, health information technology and reporting continues to be an area of opportunity

• Twenty-seven percent have a single electronic medical record (EMR) system, 68% more than one EMR, and 23% use paper charts)
• Sixty percent of respondents utilize point of care decision support tools, but only 38% find them effective
• Ninety-five percent use quality reporting tools, but only 34% find them effective

Respondents continue to be optimistic about increased savings in 2016 compared to 2015

• Medicare - 60% vs. 57%; Medicaid - 33% vs. 17%; and commercial - 72% vs. 66%

PBMI will host a live webinar January 24^th at 1:30 pm Eastern to discuss the findings from this report. Register today. Download or order a printed copy, click here.

About PBMI
The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute provides research and education to help healthcare and benefits professionals work with pharmacy benefit managers to design prescription drug benefit programs. Learn more at www.pbmi.com.