ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current situation of domestic and overseas medication therapy management (MTM) and the value of pharmacists in this service, to provide new ideas for the development of pharmaceutical care in China.METHODS: By viewing related literatures about MTM at home and abroad, the development background, related concepts, core elements, work pattern, implementation and research status at abroad and development situation at home were reviewed. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS: MTM is a service strategy that evolves from the practice of pharmaceutical care. It includes five core elements and is mainly provided by pharmacists either face-to-face or using telephone for patients who have chronic disease, use multiple medications and with excessive drug costs. Foreign MTM service is well developed and extensive studies have demonstrated its clinical, economy and cultural effects. Chinese government attaches great importance to the chronic disease management in old patients, which used to be administered mainly by doctors and nurses. And pharmacists' pharmaceutical care has gradually increased in the past five years. Currently there are a lot of reviews on MTM at home but the practical contents have just started and the empirical studies on the effectiveness evaluation are lacking. Pharmaceutical care model of chronic disease management in China can be explored and carried out learning from foreign MTM model.