JMCP’s Call to Action in Addressing Racial Disparities in Medication Use

November 2, 2020

In a recently published article, the editorial team at ‘Journal of Managed Care + Specialty Pharmacy’ (JMCP) raised the question of what role peer-reviewed journals play in perpetuating racial injustice and how can they be part of the solution. There appears to be no easy answer to this question as there is no known precedent for peer-reviewed journals in this regard.

However, in line with their mission “to advance evidence-based decision making to improve patient health,” JMCP affirmed its commitment to improving patient health regardless of age, gender identity, community, culture, ethnicity, race, or insurance status. As such, JMCP has an important role to play in addressing racial injustice since it fits into their broader mission of improving patient health through evidence-based decisions.

This month’s issue of JMCP features another eye-opening piece by Dr. Stephen Kogut entitled “Racial Disparities in Medication Use: Imperatives for Managed Care Pharmacy.” The article, which highlights racial disparities in medication use systems, inspired the JMCP editorial advisory board and editorial team to focus on reducing such inequalities by publishing more papers on racial injustice in medication use and by increasing the racial sensitivity of all papers they publish. In addition, the journal is actively seeking to increase diversity among the voluntary editorial advisory board. The board is comprised of individuals with experience in managed care pharmacy research who have served as a peer reviewer for JMCP and includes professionals such as Dr. Patti Peeples, founder of Healtheconomics.com.

In addition to original research on design and evaluation of interventions aiming to reduce racial disparities, JMCP further encourages submission of commentaries and letters to the editor discussing various aspects of racial injustice as it relates to managed care pharmacy. Read more here.