Content about Compliance

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Catalina Health’s latest program and two previous studies illustrate the ways in which electronic health records and e-prescribing open the door for new ways to monitor medication nonadherence and, along with them, new ways to combat it.

(THE NEWS: Catalina Health addresses medication nonadherence with Health Consumer Journey. For the full story, click here.)

ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — A division of Catalina Marketing has introduced a healthcare solution designed to drive medication adherence and create healthier outcomes for patients.

Catalina Health said its Health Consumer Journey turns in-depth insights — gathered from its privacy protected, proprietary pharmacy databases — into personalized patient education that is clinically and emotionally relevant, and delivers it to health consumers where they need it most — right at the pharmacy point-of-care, the company said.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Monday announced the establishment of two awards that will be presented annually, beginning in 2012.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Twenty-four percent of patients given a new medication by their doctor did not fill the prescription, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University, Brigham and Women's Hospital and CVS Caremark.

Industry members would likely agree that those patients who are adherent to their prescription medications use less health care and have lower overall costs; however, how much adherence lowers total costs, why some patients do not take their medications as prescribed and whether what’s saved in health care offsets higher drug costs are among the questions that have not been as clearly understood.


While medication nonadherence is a perennial problem that costs the healthcare system $290 billion per year, one of the least explored facets of it is primary nonadherence, when patients receive new prescriptions on paper or electronically and never drop them off or pick them up. But some researchers hope to change that.


A group representing independent pharmacies is urging Congress to cut the deficit by reducing healthcare expenditures, but “without compromising patients’ access to their pharmacy of choice or harming local jobs.” In a letter sent last month to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the National Community Pharmacists Association suggested increasing use of generic drugs, encouraging such services as medication therapy management, collecting manufacturer rebates, and allowing patients to choose their pharmacies and avoid requirements to use mail-order services.

WOONSOCKET, R.I., and NEEDHAM, Mass. — To curb avoidable hospital readmissions among seniors, CVS Caremark has teamed up with a provider of transitional care services to help these patients better manage and understand their medication regimens.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced on Thursday that it issued a letter calling on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to urge collaboration with community pharmacy in developing solutions to curb healthcare costs, while at the same time maintaining patient access to prescription medications and pharmacy services.

Highlighting the accessibility of local pharmacists, the letter urged improved medication adherence as key to improved health and reduced costs.
 

DENVER — Patients using an integrated healthcare system that uses its own pharmacy and electronic health records get their medications filled at a higher rate than those in nonintegrated systems, according to a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Prescription drug costs “cannot be viewed in a vacuum” and pharmacist-provided medication therapy management and counseling must be considered in any comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and National Community Pharmacists Association urged in a joint statement issued on Thursday amid the release of two studies on medication adherence.