A key component of improving patient health outcomes is ensuring medication adherence. Outpatient pharmacies are no different from retail pharmacies in their mission to ensure adherence among patients.
Medication adherence remains a persistent problem for the national healthcare system. Studies show that approximately 25% of prescriptions are left unfilled by patients.1 And the estimated annual cost of non-optimized medication therapy, including medication non-adherence, exceeds $500 billion in the US.2 The most common reasons for medication non-adherence include high drug costs, fear of adverse events, and being unable to keep up with multiple medications.
The effects to the patient and quality health outcomes are significant. Studies show that 26% of readmissions are potentially preventable and relate to medication non-adherence.3 As many as 60% of all medication errors occur during the transition from one healthcare setting to another, and 72% of all adverse events that occur following discharge are related to medications.4,5
The pandemic only intensifies the struggle, raising the stakes for medication adherence. COVID-19 disproportionately affects patients with underlying health conditions, making conditions like asthma, hypertension, and diabetes even more deadly if patients fail to take their medications as prescribed.
As many as 25% of patients being discharged never pick up their first month of medications.6
With the right technology platform and patient engagement approach, your outpatient pharmacy can help put an end to the patient health risks and negative impacts on the health system that result from medication nonadherence.
Medication synchronization technologies deliver significant value to outpatient pharmacies, helping them remove barriers and making medication adherence easier and more convenient for patients. While improving patient adherence and health outcomes are the primary benefits, medication synchronization can also help improve patient retention and pharmacy efficiency, and drive script growth.
EnlivenHealth’s Medication Synchronization solution, available as part of our OutpatientPowered solution, leverages pharmacy data to align your patients’ refills to a convenient, single refill and pick-up date. Patients enrolled in appointment-based med sync solutions are three times more likely to remain adherent to their medications.7
While improving patient adherence and health outcomes are the primary benefits, Medication Synchronization from EnlivenHealth® can also help you:
- Boost Operational Efficiency – Automated engagement frees up pharmacists to focus on patient care and revenue-generating value-added services such as Meds to Beds, vaccinations, and specialty pharmacy.
- Increase Script Volume and Profitability – Patient enrollment in Medication Synchronization results in an average 2.3% increase over current script volume.
- Improve Adherence and Outcomes – Med Sync leverages pharmacy data to help you identify patients, provide counseling, and bring them back into compliance. This results in improved health outcomes and a reduction in hospital readmissions.
Learn how you can leverage EnlivenHealth’s OutpatientPowered and its Medication Synchronization technologies today.
1 Patel, Nihar, USciences, “Why Don’t Patients Take Their Medications?” October 24, 2018.
2 Watanabe, Jonathan H., McInnis, Terry, and Hirsch, Jan D., “Cost of Prescription Drug-Related Morbidity and Mortality,” Annals of Pharmacotherapy, March 26, 2018.
3 Drug Topics, “Up to 26% of Hospital Readmissions Are Preventable and Medication-Based,” July 7, 2017.
4 Pharmacy Today, “Preventing Medication Errors in Transitions of Care: A Patient Case Approach,” March 1, 2015.
5 APhA/ASHP, “Improving Care Transitions: Optimizing Medication,” March 2012.
6 Fallis BA, Dhalla IA, Klemensberg J, Bell CM. “Primary medication non-adherence after discharge from a general internal medicine service,” PLoS One, May 2, 2013.
7 Holdford, D. A., & Inocencio, T. J. “Adherence and persistence associated with an appointment-based medication synchronization Program,” Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, November 2013.