The Research Rainmaker is a publication of the research office at University of Tennessee Health Science Center. In it’s fall publication of 2015, it shared the story from Dr. Junling Wang’s research team. Below is the shared story:
A UT research team headed by Junling Wang, PhD, a Professor in Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the College of Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been funded by NIH/NIA to study a Medicare policy. Dr. Wang received a UTHSC Bridge Support Award while working on the proposal.
Dr. Wang’s group was the first in the U.S. to find Medicare eligibility criteria for medication therapy management (MTM) services as a cause for racial/ethnic disparities. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, recently cited Dr. Wang’s findings as a main reason for planning MTM reform.
For this new project, Dr. Wang’s group aims to find equitable and effective MTM eligibility criteria. Dr. Wang’s co-investigators include Marie A. Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, from College of Pharmacy; Jim Y. Wan, PhD, Samuel Dagogo-Jack, MD, FRCP, and William C. Cushman, MD, from College of Medicine (Cushman also from Veteran Affairs Medical Center); Julie Kuhle, PharmD, from Pharmacy Quality Alliance; and Ya-Chen Tina Shih, PhD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ms. Yanru Qiao, MS, is the Data Analyst on the team. Israel A. Goldberg, PhD, a grant consultant for UTHSC, guided Dr. Wang closely in the grant application process.
Source: https://www.uthsc.edu/research/documents/newsletter/rainmaker-fall-2015.pdf