Study: Med sync programs a 'win-win-win'

ALEXANDRIA, Va. —The adoption of technology-driven medication synchronization by community pharmacies results in improved patient adherence, increased revenue streams, and overall improvement in business optimization for pharmacies. That’s according to an analysis of five pharmacy case studies conducted for the National Community Pharmacists Association.



In two NCPA studies, pharmacies used Ateb’s Time My Meds to identify patients for enrollment and to manage the daily operations of medication synchronization. An analysis of the data collected from these studies revealed the following results for patients enrolled in medication synchronization:

•    Pharmacies achieved a nearly 91% proportion of days covered score for medications of patients enrolled in the program. This compares with a PDC score of 72% for patients assigned to a control group.

•    Average days on therapy, a measure of medication persistence, was significantly higher in the intervention group, averaging approximately 20 additional fills per patient per year.

•    Patient disenrollment from the program resulted in recidivism, yielding a 63-day reduction in average days on therapy.

•    Use of automation yielded a 35% higher enrollment rate than manual medication synchronization programs.



In addition to the tangible patient care benefits, the case study analysis and pharmacy owner interviews, which were conducted by David Holdford of Virginia Commonwealth University, showed that, by using the automated medication synchronization solution, pharmacies were able to:

•    Increase prescription sales;

•    Enhance the efficiency of pharmacy workflow and operations;

•    Achieve smarter purchasing and better timing of deliveries; and

•    Improve patient satisfaction.



“We received compelling evidence from these studies that a personalized, automated medication synchronization service delivered by community pharmacies is impactful, scalable, and able to be replicated in any community pharmacy,” stated NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey.  “The results also confirmed community pharmacists are ideally positioned to counsel patients and ensure they take medications as prescribed and understand their importance to better health.  With the increased focus on measuring the quality of health care through initiatives like the Medicare Star Ratings, medication synchronization offers an excellent opportunity for pharmacies to achieve higher adherence scores.”



“These studies demonstrate the tremendous impact that community pharmacies can have on improving patient adherence and healthier outcomes,” added Frank Sheppard, president and CEO of Ateb.  “We are proud to work with NCPA to measurably demonstrate the effectiveness of medication synchronization.  Studies like these prove how valuable community pharmacies are in addressing many of the critical issues in health care today.”



Estimates indicate that more than 10,000 community pharmacies are providing medication synchronization services, including NCPA’s Simplify My Meds program, which is utilized by more than 2,400 independent community pharmacies nationwide.