Blog on the 340B drug program, health reform and more. Insights from a team of people working where the rubber hits the road.
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Friday, January 21, 2011
Todd Baker: Some Doctors Question Medicare Program in Health Law
Interesting ACO article in the Huffington Post
O'Malley proposes cutting Medicaid spending to Md. hospitals by $264M | Baltimore Business Journal
Sure to be a continuing trend across the country.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Medication Adherence Leads To Lower Health Care Use And Costs Despite Increased Drug Spending — Health Aff
CVS Caremark just released the results of their study “Medication Adherence Leads to Lower Health Care Use and Costs Despite Increased Drug Spending” in the January issue of Health Affairs.
- Looked at pharmacy and medical claims
- 135,000 patients
- Patients with with one of more of the following – congestive heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia
“There have been many studies through the years that suggest adherence can save on health care costs, but the issue has not been central to health care cost discussions because those studies did not establish a causal link. We took the research further and what we found is that although adherent patients spend more on medications – as much as $1,000 more annually – across the board they spend significantly less for their overall health care costs” by Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH, EVP and Chief medical Officer of CVS Caremark (source)
The savings associated with being adherent were:
- Congestive heart failure = $7,823
- Diabetes = $3,756
- Hypertension = $3,908
- Dyslipidemia = $1,258
Engaging Providers in Medication Adherence
Engaging Providers in Medication Adherence: A Health Plan Case Study | American Health & Drug Benefits
Medication Adherence is going to increase in importance as ACOs start to pull themselves together
Medication Adherence: Effectiveness of Physician Alerts to Resolve Potential Gaps in Pharmacotherapy | American Health & Drug Benefits
By Joshua N. Liberman, PhD; Janice Moore, MPH; Asif Ally, RPh, MBA; and Troyen A. Brennan, JD, MD