CVS Health Research Institute study touts savings through adherence interventions
CVS Health Research Institute study touts tailored adherence interventions
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The CVS Health Research Institute has published a new study in The American Journal of Managed Care highlighting the cost-effectiveness of interventions aimed at keeping patients with chronic conditions adherent to their medication — with particular savings potential when adherence programs are focused on patients with three or more chronic co-morbidities. A preliminary analysis in the study shows that payers might be able to save between $38 million and $63 million per 100,000 members by focusing on these patients.
“There is extensive evidence supporting the relationship between better adherence, improved health outcomes and reduced health care costs, but efforts to improve medication adherence, while effective, can be costly,” CVS Health chief medical officer Dr. Troyen Brennan said. “We are now trying to better understand how to maximize health care resources to have the greatest impact on adherence and provide the maximum benefit for payers and patients. This research indicates that targeting adherence interventions to patients based upon their adherence history and co-morbidities would result in greater cost-savings and a better use of health care resources.”
Using de-identified medical and pharmacy claims data for more than 1.3 million patients with at least one of three chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol, researchers found that the best approach is working with already adherent patients to keep them adherent. Based on the review, patients who begin therapy adherent and become less adherent over time spent an additional $2,663 on care. And patients with three or more chronic conditions could save up to seven times more money through improved adherence than patients with one or two conditions.
“Short-term changes in adherence can have a meaningful and immediate impact on health care costs, and this kind of research is important in helping our clients understand the value of medication adherence and where the greatest cost-savings opportunities exist for their member populations when it comes to maintaining medication adherence,” Jonathan Roberts, president of CVS Health’s pharmacy benefits manager, CVS Caremark, said. “We have a number of analytic tools that we use with our clients and offer adherence programs tailored for specific member populations to help improve health outcomes and deliver significant value for our clients.”
Among these tools is CVS Health’s recently launched Care 1-on-1 solution, which connects members with multiple chronic conditions to a Pharmacy Care Team that is available 24/7 to support member needs, coordinate medication delivery and address adherence challenges.