VITAS Healthcare Corporation and Hospice Pharmacia Enter into Agreement to Provide Patients with High-Quality Medication Management

02/21/2013

MIAMI, FL & PHILADELPHIA, PA - VITAS Healthcare Corporation, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, and Hospice Pharmacia, a premier provider of medication management services for end-of-life patients that is part of Omnicare’s Specialty Care Group, today announced they have entered into a three-year agreement to provide services to patients under VITAS’ care, in their places of residence. As part of the agreement, VITAS physicians and nurses will have access to pharmacists from Hospice Pharmacia 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to effectively manage patient symptoms and ensure that clinicians have timely access to information about pharmaceutical best practices.

VITAS and Hospice Pharmacia have worked together for almost a decade to achieve positive patient-specific outcomes. “This long-term agreement ensures that our patients will continue to have access to the very best medication management available,” said VITAS CEO Tim O’Toole. “Hospice Pharmacia’s staff pharmacists have demonstrated extensive expertise in helping VITAS manage the unique issues faced by patients at the end of life.”

Added John L. Workman, CEO of Omnicare: “We are very proud of our 10-year partnership with VITAS. Over the past decade we collaboratively developed new systems to support VITAS clinicians in the field and provided consultative support for VITAS leadership to help ensure high quality care. We will continue to provide clinical support and education resources to all VITAS hospice staff so that the best decisions for patient care and comfort can be made at the bedside.”

VITAS’ National Medical Director, Joel S. Policzer, M.D., said: “As leading providers of care to patients facing serious illness, VITAS and Hospice Pharmacia are skilled at expert symptom management and share the common value of putting the needs of patients first. Appropriate management of patient medications, focusing on optimal palliation and relief of distressing symptoms, can reduce the burden of care on patients and their families. Our common goal is to help patients feel better and maximize their comfort as we care for them in this part of life’s journey.”