Content about Compliance

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.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — It's a strategic next step in retail pharmacy, a setting that has fast evolved as the intrinsic destination for all health-related matters: health advice, self-care solutions, medication therapy management, compliance programs, acute-care services and now, if the reports turn out to be accurate, branded healthcare insurance. And by the time this offering would be available in 2014, the need for affordable healthcare insurance may go well beyond the 48.6 million uninsured that exist today.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Specialty pharmacy services company Armada Health Care has enlisted a New York pharmacy professor to assist in the review of developed clinical protocols and medication assessment tools, Armada said Monday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced on Thursday that it submitted comments to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which held a hearing Thursday titled "FDA User Fees: Advancing Public Health," outlining community pharmacy's commitment to addressing drug safety and the appropriate use of prescription medications to help improve patient health.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced Thursday that it has submitted comments to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging outlining the value of the pharmacist-patient interaction in helping improve health and reduce costs in the Medicare program, and urged the committee to support the Medication Therapy Management Empowerment Act of 2011, which seeks to increase access to pharmacy services for Medicare beneficiaries.

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Polyglot Systems and CarePoint have partnered to help healthcare providers communicate medication instructions more effectively to patients, the two companies said Thursday.


WASHINGTON — In a move that not only shed more light on how to battle the $300 billion problem of medication nonadherence but also helped to raise consumer awareness on the importance of adherence, CVS Caremark convened its first-ever national forum in late May.


NEW YORK — A company best known for keeping credit scores on consumers is planning to rate their medication adherence as well, according to published reports.

The New York Times reported that FICO developed the FICO Medication Adherence Score, designed to predict when patients might not use their medications properly or take their doses. Payers will use the scores, based on such data as homeownership and employment, to determine which patients should receive various reminders to take their drugs.

Improving patients’ beliefs about their medication therapies may significantly improve medication adherence, according to a set of studies sponsored by drug maker Merck and presented last month at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research’s 16th annual international meeting in Baltimore.


RICHMOND, Va. — Patients who used a calendar blister packaging system for their medications showed greater medication adherence than those using traditional vials, according to a new study published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark is enhancing its hepatitis C patient support program following the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of two new add-on therapies for hepatitis C, the company announced on Friday.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The fact that CVS Caremark convened its first-ever national forum in an effort to battle the $300 billion problem of medication nonadherence is important on several fronts, including the simple fact that retail pharmacy deserves credit for more effectively communicating what adherence is and why it's important.