Alliance Releases Guidelines for Pharmacies Providing LTC Pharmacy at Home Services

FYI From Bruce: I just saw this and feel to share. I spent several months helping a pharmacy contemplate and then try to establish an LTC@home service, and I sure wish we'd had the documents NCPA has created. I am a BIG believer that doing something with this opportunity is one-way pharmacies can build for the future. ?

WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, the Alliance for Long-Term Care Pharmacy @ Home released a set of comprehensive guidelines intended to support pharmacies providing LTC pharmacy at home services and to establish standards by which these services should be evaluated. These guidelines, developed by an expert panel within the Alliance, align with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines for LTC facility-based patients, ensuring that individuals receiving care at home have access to the same high-quality pharmacy services as those in institutional settings

The newly released documents present these requirements in two formats: (1) a paragraph-style version that integrates the original CMS guidance with the Alliance’s recommendations, and (2) a table version that clearly delineates each standard and how it applies to LTC pharmacy services at home. These standards include critical elements such as medication inventory management, pharmacy operations, special packaging, IV medication availability, pharmacist on-call services, and emergency delivery protocols. ? “The Alliance is committed to ensuring that patients receiving long-term care pharmacy services at home have the same level of support as those in institutional settings,” said Rebecca Snead, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Long-Term Care at the National Community Pharmacists Association.

“By establishing clear requirements based on CMS’s existing framework, we aim to create consistency in the delivery of these services and improve access for medically complex patients who wish to remain in their homes.” ? With the growing demand for home-based care, the Alliance hopes these standards will serve as a foundation for ensuring that pharmacy services for long-term care patients living at home are evaluated and reimbursed appropriately. For more details, access the full documents on our website at www.pharmacyathome.org/resources. ?

About the Alliance for Long-Term Care Pharmacy @ Home ? The Alliance for Long-Term Care Pharmacy @ Home is a coalition of long-term care pharmacies, professional associations, and care management groups dedicated to increasing access to LTC pharmacy services for medically complex patients living in their homes and communities. For more information about The Alliance for Long-Term Care Pharmacy @ Home and our members, visit www.pharmacyathome.org.