Bio
As President and Founder of
Blue Thorn Inc., Dr. McInnis interacts nationally with government, providers,
payers, and plans to help forge a more financially sustainable and quality
enhancing delivery system. A former Co-Chair of the Center for Public Payer Implementation and Co-lead of the Medication Management Task-force for the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) with over 1000 organization members, she remains active on the executive committee and leadership for the Advocacy and Public Policy Center where she continues to lead strategies including policy and benefit design changes aimed to successfully coordinate care, improve patient outcomes, and reduce overall healthcare costs. In 2010 and 2012, her leadership efforts were accredited with the successful compilation, launch, and wide-spread adoption of the PCPCC Resource Guide- Integrating Comprehensive Medication Management to Optimize Patient Outcomes , first and second revision, where she along with a group of stakeholders definitively defined the role of medication management (a $300 billion a year reduction in cost opportunity) as a critical component in the success of coordinated care systems such as the medical home. Adopted by AHRQ in their Quality Toolkit Innovation Exchange, this has become the most requested document published by the PCPCC through 2012. Dr. Paul Grundy, PCPCC President and IBM's Global Director of Healthcare Transformation wrote- "the world's foremost expert on Real "Pharmacy of the Future" and the integration of that into a working delivery system is Terry McInnis." She has suggested language and demonstration projects at the State and Federal level that have become law or agency policy by working with both legislators and their staffs, key agency experts, and multiple stakeholders, while continuing to work on meaningful reform focused on the value proposition and practical implementation of patient-centric 'coordination of medications'. This includes uniform expansion of practice and documentation standards for pharmaceutical care, delivery system integration, and payment reform alignment to improve patient outcomes.
Prior to founding Blue Thorn, Inc. in 2010, Dr. McInnis served as the Medical Director for Health Policy and Advocacy in the U.S. for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company. While there she worked in Government Affairs and was instrumental in shaping GSK policy and healthcare reform positions related to delivery system redesign, credible Rx benefit coverage standards, and comprehensive medication management. Subsequently, she successfully helped craft legislative positions externally by serving with the US Chamber Benefits Committee, the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (as Co-Chair of the Center for Public Payer Implementation, Co-lead Medication Management Taskforce and member of the Legislative Committee) where she served on the committee publishing PCPCC- A Purchaser Guide, and member- Rx Benefits Coverage Committee for PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s trade organization). She suggested language and demonstration projects at the state and federal level that have become law by working with both legislators and their staffs, PhRMA, and federal and state agencies. Dr. McInnis presents frequently at the request of organizations such as the National Governor’s Association, the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Americas Health Insurance Plans, Women in Government, large integrated delivery systems, and was featured in the Washington Redskins’ “Time-out for Your Health” segments.
She has over 25 years of senior executive and clinical experience in various employer, military (US Air Force Flight Surgeon), and hospital/group practice health management segments. Prior to joining GSK, she was an Assoc. Medical Director and Health Care Manager with GE and later the Corporate Medical Director for Michelin North America where she helped engineer the redesign of the healthcare benefits for nearly 50,000 beneficiaries. Prior and current experiences include work with the National Business Group on Health, Carter Center, Pharmacy Quality Alliance, and Lansdowne Group.
Given this experience, the vision of Blue Thorn Inc. is to share best practices that align financial incentives for payers, providers, and patients with quality outcomes. Supported by robust integrated IT infrastructures, appropriate medication use- coupled to clinical goals of therapy- will enable systematic changes for continuous, coordinated, and proactive care- reducing total healthcare cost. Blue Thorn, Inc is committed to taking the guesswork out of medication therapy and drastically improving medication adherence. Comprehensive medication management promises to inform evidence based point-of-care clinical decision making in drug prescribing and dosing, comparative effectiveness outcomes of products, and lead to effective patient sub-population management- all while drastically reducing costs and improving health outcomes.
Clients and affiliates include provider and professional organizations, government agencies, academia, collaboratives, think-tanks, and pharmaceutical companies among others. As President of Blue Thorn, Inc. Dr. McInnis also serves or has served as a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Assoc. (PhRMA), Univ. of Maryland, College of Pharmacy, Medication Management Systems, Inc, and many others.
Dr. McInnis graduated from Erskine College with a BS (summa cum laude), and received her Doctor of Medicine degree from Wake Forest Medical School being designated a NIH clinical scholar. She completed a residency in Occupational Medicine as an OPSF scholar, and a
