ESI launches ScreenRx, offers preview of 2011 'Drug Trend Report'

ST. LOUIS — Fresh off the heels of its merger with Medco Health Solutions, pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts announced Monday the launch of a medication nonadherence detection system and offered a preview of its annual "Drug Trend Report."

ScreenRx uses predictive modeling to detect future risk for nonadherence and tailors interventions for individual patients, offering them interventions to help them stay on their therapies once they're identified. The program considers more than 400 known factors about the patient, physician, disease and therapy to identify who is most likely to stop taking their medications and identify ways to prevent nonadherence, such as daily alerts, 90-day fills or auto-renewals.

"ScreenRx enables Express Scripts to provide the most appropriate assistance to help each individual patient make healthier decisions, months after they might stop taking their medication," ESI chief medical officer Steve Miller said. "This solution brings the country one step closer to more affordable and effective care."

According to the 2011 "Drug Trend Report," for many therapies, less than 50% of patients take their medications as prescribed, costing the country's healthcare system $317.4 billion in 2011, while eliminating nonadherence would cover the cost of providing health care for more than 44.8 million uninsured Americans.

The report also found that spending on prescription drugs increased 2.7% in 2011, the lowest annual drug trend the PBM has ever recorded. Trend for traditional medications fell to 0.1%, while specialty drug trend increased by 17.1%, with the top three specialty classes — inflammatory diseases, multiple sclerosis and cancer — accounting for 57.6% of total specialty spending. Meanwhile, hepatitis C had the highest cost increase of any specialty therapy class thanks to the introduction of new drugs.

Meanwhile, a 7% trend was found in diabetes, which accounts for the largest drug spend.

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