Walgreens study finds results from pharmacy, specialty clinic collaboration
A recent Walgreens Center for Health and Wellbeing Research study assessed a collaboration between Piedmont Healthcare’s Hepatitis C specialty clinic and a Walgreens local specialty pharmacy and showed that a high proportion (94%) of Hepatitis C patients who were prescribed direct-acting antiretrovirals were able to achieve the primary outcome goal, sustained virologic response, even though many patients had advanced liver disease, previous treatment failure or previous liver transplants.
“Collaboration between pharmacists and providers is key to optimizing patients’ response to treatment," stated Shauna Markes-Wilson, study author and local specialty pharmacist for Walgreens, a Deerfield, Ill.-based retail pharmacy operator. "Pharmacists provide high-touch support to overcome treatment challenges such as insurance prior-authorization and high copays. We ensure patient safety through drug interaction screening and patient education," she said. "We communicate regularly to ensure that patients are adherent to their care plans and address any side effects, while keeping our providers in the loop.”
“Our providers and nursing staff at Piedmont Transplant had known that a collaborative approach with the Walgreens specialty pharmacy was improving access to expensive but highly curative hepatitis C medications, but we had never examined the data to quantify the benefits,” added Lance Stein, hepatologist, of the Piedmont Transplant Institute. “By combining our patient level data we now can quantify this collaboration’s benefits in expediting access to medications, lowering costs and still achieve the high rates of cure seen in DAA clinical trials.”
The descriptive, retrospective study, which published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, used a joint clinical and pharmacy database of patients who were prescribed DAAs. Outcomes assessed included time-to-therapy, SVR, insurance appeals and copay assistance amount.
In addition, Hepatitis C patients managed jointly by this clinic-pharmacy collaboration had a shorter average prescribed time-to-therapy and lower copays compared to other published studies. After insurance appeals and financial assistance, patient copays were reduced to less than $20 per month for the majority of patients.
Walgreens has nearly 100 Hepatitis C specialized pharmacies across the country where trained pharmacists and pharmacy staff collaborate with Hepatitis C medical providers to ensure timely and affordable access to potentially life-saving treatment, the company reported.
“Collaboration between pharmacists and providers is key to optimizing patients’ response to treatment," stated Shauna Markes-Wilson, study author and local specialty pharmacist for Walgreens, a Deerfield, Ill.-based retail pharmacy operator. "Pharmacists provide high-touch support to overcome treatment challenges such as insurance prior-authorization and high copays. We ensure patient safety through drug interaction screening and patient education," she said. "We communicate regularly to ensure that patients are adherent to their care plans and address any side effects, while keeping our providers in the loop.”
“Our providers and nursing staff at Piedmont Transplant had known that a collaborative approach with the Walgreens specialty pharmacy was improving access to expensive but highly curative hepatitis C medications, but we had never examined the data to quantify the benefits,” added Lance Stein, hepatologist, of the Piedmont Transplant Institute. “By combining our patient level data we now can quantify this collaboration’s benefits in expediting access to medications, lowering costs and still achieve the high rates of cure seen in DAA clinical trials.”
The descriptive, retrospective study, which published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, used a joint clinical and pharmacy database of patients who were prescribed DAAs. Outcomes assessed included time-to-therapy, SVR, insurance appeals and copay assistance amount.
In addition, Hepatitis C patients managed jointly by this clinic-pharmacy collaboration had a shorter average prescribed time-to-therapy and lower copays compared to other published studies. After insurance appeals and financial assistance, patient copays were reduced to less than $20 per month for the majority of patients.
Walgreens has nearly 100 Hepatitis C specialized pharmacies across the country where trained pharmacists and pharmacy staff collaborate with Hepatitis C medical providers to ensure timely and affordable access to potentially life-saving treatment, the company reported.