Seizure Management Across Care Settings

Experts address seizure management across health care settings from four different care setting perspectives: Payer, Health Systems, Long-Term Care and Healthcare Provider.

Speakers Featured in This Series:

Payer Perspective: Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH, PhD, CEO of Enlightenment Bioconsult, Wethersfield, CT
Long-Term Care Perspective: Donald E. Vollmer, MD, Medical Director, Millennium Care & Rehab, Huntsville, TN
Health Systems Perspective: Steven Chung, MD, Executive Director of the Neuroscience Institute, Director of the Epilepsy Residency Program at the Banner Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ
Physician Perspective: Mohamad Koubeissi, MD, MA, Director of the Epilepsy Center at the GW Medical Faculty Associates, Professor of Neurology at George Washington University, Washington, DC

Moderator: Winston Wong, PharmD, President of W-Squared Group, Longboat Key, FL

Roundtable topics discussed:

Impact of treatment setting on the selection of treatment
Access challenges on selecting treatment for seizures
Challenges of transition of care
Solving challenges of treatment setting and access

Speakers are paid consultants of Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.

In relation to seizures in the Long-Term Care setting, Dr. Vollmer discusses the following key topics:

Increased risk of falls and negative impact on quality of life
Burden of medication load and cost of medication
Fear that many residents experience seizures when walking

When Dr. Vollmer selects an antiseizure medication for long-term care residents diagnosed with focal seizures, he’s looking at tolerability and efficacy profiles. His preference is a medication that can be given with or without food through a feeding tube, with once daily administration. And it's especially ideal if blood work levels do not need monitoring, as this can be difficult to coordinate in the facility, and/or difficult to draw blood from patients.

Speakers are paid consultants of Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.

Dr. Pezalla sheds light on the Payer perspective of seizure management while centering discussion around the following:

Impact of formulary restrictions and need for individualized treatment
Ability for patients to select an individualized treatment
Utilization management programs and seizure medication

In constructing a formulary, the first thing Dr. Pezalla looks for is the track record of the drug, efficacy (seizure-free days), and safety. There are many seizure medications that have been available for a long time. These medications have proven their usefulness, which is why they are still around and are often the backbone of therapy.

We want to be sure that we have the different forms of those drugs, ie a liquid form for children or older adults, as well as an understanding of difference in the molecules. For example, there may be some that are modified, so that they are longer lasting, thereby improving compliance.

Speakers are paid consultants of Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.

Gain an understanding of the Health System perspective on seizure treatment, covering the challenges and solutions in supporting seizure patients during transitions of care and the impact between health care settings on continuity of care and treatment.

Programs that a Health System can implement to try to ease this transition of care
Considerations related to health care resource utilization
Methods to decrease hospital readmission rates

Speakers are paid consultants of Sumitomo Pharma America Inc.

Seizure Management Across Care Settings

Share this resource