Thinking Outside the Pillbox Transform Vial Filling to Multi

Thinking Outside the Pillbox
Transform Vial Filling to Multi-Medication Dispensing
As the number of chronic illness patients continue to grow, poor medication adherence is an increasingly “significant source of waste in our health care system.” Studies show that more than half of patients who are taking multiple medications have very low rates of medication adherence and do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctor. Poor medication adherence has grown over the years to become a $300 billion problem with $100 billion primarily due to medication non-­‐adherence. Forward-­‐looking companies like Pearson Medical Technologies are developing technologies and software to meet the challenges of patient safety and non-­‐adherence. The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation, NEHI, defines poor medication adherence as “any deviation from the prescribed course of medical treatment.” It often leads to “preventable worsening of disease, posing serious and unnecessary health risks, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses.” More than half of the US population is living with at least one chronic illness. This fact alone suggests that poor medication adherence will continue to be a serious and costly issue in health care. In general, patients with chronic conditions and illnesses are less likely to adhere to their medication regimen. Chronically ill patients who practice poor medication adherence are more prone to experience worsening of diseases and becoming vulnerable to serious medical risks, which can lead to increased hospital admissions. A study of diabetic, hypertension, high cholesterol and congestive heart failure patients shows higher hospitalization rates, translating into poor health outcomes and increasing excess health costs, as well as nearly double the mortality rate. Because 75 percent of US health care spending is directed to the treatment of chronic disease, poor medication adherence or non-­‐adherence presents a serious roadblock to improved overall health care and affordability. “As chronic diseases consume more and more of our health care spending, it is critical that we help patients manage their conditions by taking their medications appropriately,” says Valerie Fleishman, Executive Director of NEHI. Easy-To-Open Multi-Medication Pouch with allMyMeds™
The current debate over health care reform presents opportunities to connect proven efficiency and outcomes of adherence programs with the larger goals of the health care reform. NEHI reported four solutions for policymakers to pursue in addressing poor medication adherence: creating health care teams, patient engagement and education, payment reform, and leveraging health information technologies. By creating health care teams, physicians and their personnel, along with pharmacists focus on providing more in depth counseling on a face-­‐to-­‐face basis, as well as telephone services including call-­‐centers and automated voice responses to provide additional support to chronically ill patients. Pharmacists alone have already taken steps by implementing new tools and technology such as Medication Therapy Management (MTM) using multi-­‐
dose dispensing packaging to meet the challenges of medication adherence. When counseling chronic patients, experts agree that patient engagement and education can motivate patients to sustain their medication adherence. Ensuring that patients understand their condition, how their medications work, and how following their medication regimens correctly are important in keeping patients engaged and educated to maintain their medication adherence. In terms of payment reforms, realigning reimbursement incentives toward rewarding good outcomes and improved medication adherence will motivate health care providers to provide more valuable services to their chronic patients in order to improve patient outcomes and increase patient medication adherence. Reimbursements would allow providers to invest in pharmacy automation technology that would facilitate medication adherence. This type of technology provides multi-­‐dose packaging or multi-­‐medication for chronic illness patients greatly increased in recent years. Maintenance medications for each administration time are conveniently packaged in easy-­‐to-­‐open pouches, labeled for simple understanding. Pharmacies around the US are now investing in this type of technology like the IP128APS and the allMyMeds™ program to provide this type of medication dispensing right in their own pharmacy for their chronically ill patients. Whether policy makers address medication non-­‐adherence as part of overall health care reform or as a stand-­‐
alone issue, it is important to understand that quality of health care outcomes must include medication adherence. In order to see improvements in patient outcomes, all sectors of health care should make medication adherence a goal. References:
Thinking Outside the Pillbox: A System-wide Approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic
Disease. 2009. NEHI. http://www.nehi.net/writable/publication_files/file/pa_issue_brief_final.pdf