Why Warfarin Should Be Managed in Primary Care

For 5 years, our family medicine clinic's physician-pharmacy team managed anticoagulation onsite. Now, against our recommendations and desires as a clinic, anticoagulation at our site is no longer managed by our local interdisciplinary team. Instead, it is being managed by our system's centralized anticoagulation team. Although some may point out that anticoagulation management is one small element of our practice, we believe eliminating this could open the door to other changes to our scope of practice. Anticoagulation belongs in primary care where comprehensive care, ongoing relationships between patients and care teams, and flexible office visit agendas optimize this service. Key words: anticoagulation; family practice; patient-centered care; patient care team; integrated health care delivery
Management of anticoagulation belongs in primary care. Family medicine physicians and pharmacists provide comprehensive, whole-person care. Family physicians are dedicated to the whole person and serve as guides to define [...]