Chateau D, Enns M, Ekuma O, Koseva I, McDougall C, Kulbaba C, Allegro E. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, 2015.

In June 2011 Manitoba Health launched the IMPRxOVE program (Improving Medication Prescribing and Outcomes Via medical Education). The program is a first of its kind in Canada and is expected to improve the safety and health outcomes for Manitobans receiving medications for mental-health conditions. IMPRxOVE is administered by Comprehensive Neurosciences of Canada (CNSC), using proprietary clinical algorithms and a proven audit-and-feedback intervention. CNSC conducts monthly reviews of Drug Program Information Network (DPIN) pharmacy claims data to evaluate the appropriateness of the prescriptions of psychiatric and related behavioral medications, in order to identify patients at risk due to potentially inappropriate prescriptions. If a potentially inappropriate pattern of prescriptions is identified, a feedback alert in the form of an educational mailing package is sent to the prescriber. Prior to launch, Provincial Drug Programs (PDP) obtained input from Dr. Murray Enns (Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba), the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP), and Dr. Harold Carmel (Vice President, Care Management Technologies) to establish preliminary research objectives and hypotheses, criteria for evaluation, and data requirements for a full evaluation of the IMPRxOVE's impact. As part of this process, 1,417 physicians eligible to receive the educational mailing packages were randomly assigned to a control group or an active mailing group. The purpose of this study was to evaluate IMPRxOVE by examining changes in prescribing practices of physicians, and what characteristics of physicians or their practices may be associated with a positive impact of the educational mailing packages.

Links:

• Full Report (PDF)
  Summary (PDF)
  Media Release (PDF)
  

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