Quality Insights of Delaware - Regional Extension Center  
Improving Hypertension and Diabetes Care & Prevention   
Pharmacy Technology to Address Medication Adherence

Many pharmacies have a comprehensive reporting system for patient medication adherence. System reports allow pharmacists to measure the Medication Possession Ratio (MPR) and Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) values of all patients for all monitored drug categories. These reports can even average the MPR and PDC scores for a given period, and provides the pharmacists with data on which patients are properly taking their medication and which are not. Once the pharmacy identifies which patients require more counseling, they can use technology features to assist patients to improve their medication adherence. 

Many pharmacies also notify providers (via fax notification or through your EHR messaging system) when patients are due for refills. It is important for physician offices to run these reports to assure patients have an upcoming appointment prior to the actual refill due date, or assure that the patient has enough medication to see them through until their next medical appointment.   

Quality Insights of Delaware encourages providers to work with your local pharmacies to learn more about the technology resources that your local pharmacies have in place to help improve medication adherence. 

Additionally, Quality Insights is piloting a new program to improve hypertension medication adherence. If you are interested in this new pilot program, please contact Barb Vugrinec
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Podcast: CMS Innovation Panel Looks to Medication Adherence as Potential Delivery Innovation 

According to Dr. Janice Pringle, Director of the Program Evaluation Research Unit at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, medication adherence rates for patients enrolled in a collaborative program developed by the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Highmark, Rite Aid and CE City (a technology company) not only showed significant improvement, but rates continued to improve over time when compared to a control group.
 
Dr. Pringle describes an intervention that takes a patient-centered approach to pharmacy visits and combines this with motivational interviewing by the community pharmacists to improve adherence rates. Dr. Pringle also shares how the collaborative has evolved following its first year results, and her recent appointment to CMS' Innovation Advisors Program. As part of her focus on the Innovation Advisors Program, Dr. Pringle will be working with Research Triangle Institute to develop pay for performance models for the community pharmacist program.

Click here to learn more about the pharmacist's role in medication adherence.
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Why is Medication Adherence So Hard and What Can We Do About It? 

aspirin CVS Health has an ambitious goal: to increase medication adherence by 5 to 15 percent by 2017. The company discusses this objective in a new report in the CVS Health Research Institute's Insights series that explores the complex problem of medication non-adherence - and what can be done about it. 

Click here to learn more.
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Medication Adherence in America: A National Report Card

How do Americans score when it comes to taking their prescription medications? Do they earn a passing grade? Find out as the National Community Pharmacists Association hosts a special online briefing to look at the state of the nation's medication-taking behavior.

Click here to listen to a previously recorded webinar.
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Contacts:
1.877.987.4687, Ext. 137

1.877.987.4687, Ext. 116
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This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number 1U58DP004799-01 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.