COMPARATIVE STUDY
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

Impact of provider mailings on medication adherence by Medicare Part D members.

Healthcare 2016 September
BACKGROUND: The Medicare 5-Star Rating System measures and provides incentive for improving Medicare Part D plans through a quality-based payment program. Adherence to medications for chronic conditions is key to the Star ratings. Our objective was to assess the impact of direct-to-provider letters on improving medication adherence.

METHODS: Members of a large US pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) who did not adhere to prescription of oral diabetes (antidiabetics), cholesterol-reducing (statins), or hypertension (renin angiotensin system [RAS] antagonists) drug therapy were identified from the prescriptions claims data of>600,000 continuously enrolled Medicare members. Nonadherence was defined by the Star ratings definition of proportion of days covered (PDC)<80%. The PBM sent letters to prescribing physicians of nonadherent members, requesting that they discuss adherence barriers and potential solutions with their patients. A historical control cohort was constructed from the PBM satisfying the same eligibility criteria as the intervention cohort. Both binary (≥80%) and continuous PDC measures were assessed as outcomes through multivariate logistic regression and difference-in-difference models, respectively.

RESULTS: Final sample sizes were 21,044; 106,829; and 73,560 patients for antidiabetic, statin, and RAS antagonist use, respectively, with approximately equal number of intervention and control subjects in each drug class. Physician mailing was associated with 11%, 16%, and 7% higher odds of being adherent by members in antidiabetic, statin, and RAS antagonist cohorts, respectively (all P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Within limitations of historical controls, physician mailing was associated with improved medication adherence.

IMPLICATIONS: Physician mailing can be an impactful tool for improving medication adherence.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app