Pharmacy Schools Will Provide Medicare Drug Benefit Assistance
The Amgen Foundation has awarded $3.7 million to the UC-San Francisco School of Pharmacy to establish a program that will provide assistance to California Medicare beneficiaries in choosing a prescription drug plan, the San Francisco Business Times reports. UCSF will work with the six other pharmacy schools in the state to create the Partners in D program.
The 3.5 year program will train student pharmacists, who will then train other health care professional students about the Medicare drug benefit. Once the training session is complete, students will provide individual assistance to Medicare beneficiaries in community pharmacies and community meetings.
California beneficiaries can enroll in one of more than 70 Medicare prescription drug plans. Each plan has its own set of guidelines and requirements (Robertson, San Francisco Business Times, 12/8).